Suzy's Law and Suicide Education(?)

[[NoName]]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/g00/...Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8=&i10c.ua=1&i10c.dv=18

"What's less clear is the motivation behind these websites: Why would someone encourage others to kill themselves, often providing detailed instructions on how to do so? The relative anonymity of the internet makes this question challenging to study. Some academics have speculated that pro-suicide sites may serve as forums for commiseration, community or even rebellion, but there aren't much data to make firm conclusions."

Something I've noticed is how little people have thought about those who are suicidal that isn't just, "Oh no that's a sad story "

The way they talk about it reminds me of people who don't like sex education and abortion.

"If you teach them about sex, they'll do it!"
"Why would people want information about getting an abortion? I wouldn't want one so why do others talk about it?"

The idea of being pro-choice with suicide is a completely foreign concept to people. I only found out about all this maybe over a month ago. I wouldn't say having a course in high school on how to kill yourself would be good or anything, but I think discussions of why people do this would be beneficial to learn while growing up.

 

[DeletedUser4739]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/g00/lifestyles/health/ct-pro-suicide-websites-lure-too-many-people-20170424-story.html?i10c.encReferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8=&i10c.ua=1&i10c.dv=18

"What's less clear is the motivation behind these websites: Why would someone encourage others to kill themselves, often providing detailed instructions on how to do so? The relative anonymity of the internet makes this question challenging to study. Some academics have speculated that pro-suicide sites may serve as forums for commiseration, community or even rebellion, but there aren't much data to make firm conclusions."

Something I've noticed is how little people have thought about those who are suicidal that isn't just, "Oh no that's a sad story "

The way they talk about it reminds me of people who don't like sex education and abortion.

"If you teach them about sex, they'll do it!"
"Why would people want information about getting an abortion? I wouldn't want one so why do others talk about it?"

The idea of being pro-choice with suicide is a completely foreign concept to people. I only found out about all this maybe over a month ago. I wouldn't say having a course in high school on how to kill yourself would be good or anything, but I think discussions of why people do this would be beneficial to learn while growing up.

Removing the stigma would be quite empowering to young people.

 

[Ben]

I think the misconception is we are all rooting for everyone to die. We are here for support, nothing else. I would hope users here encourage life, but what's the point of being pro-choice if we are just going to leave the people who want to die, alone in the dark. Sharing methods, experiences, it's all a attempt to make somebody's choice have less speed bumps. There are plenty of places to help you get better if you want it, but there are next to none to get help if you won't/can't get better.

It's a thin fucking line we walk here, and it's understandable to see this as a negative, but the people they think we are hurting would tell them a different story.

 

[[NoName]]

I think the misconception is we are all rooting for everyone to die. We are here for support, nothing else. I would hope users here encourage life, but what's the point of being pro-choice if we are just going to leave the people who want to die, alone in the dark. Sharing methods, experiences, it's all a attempt to make somebody's choice have less speed bumps. There are plenty of places to help you get better if you want it, but there are next to none to get help if you won't/can't get better.

It's a thin fucking line we walk here, and it's understandable to see this as a negative, but the people they think we are hurting would tell them a different story.

Yeah that is the immediate assumption people make. "If you talk about X, that means you want X to happen in every situation!"

 

[Essie]

I *think* they are making some progress world wide in allowing people the freedom to choose. Some countries have voluntary euthanasia and some states in the US. It will be a long way coming, but eventually, they might cave, esp. as they run out of money to pay for all the ailing and older people and disabled people as people live longer. I am not advocating killing yourself for trivial reasons, but there are people out there that would prefer a safe alternative to months and months of suffering. My friend just died, and the family spent 90k in medical costs for a few months. That is not helpful either to the LIVING.

I think as discussions open up and people make the choice as "cavaliers" who did it on their own despite the stigma, then it will lessen and society might move toward the direction more. It is not so "scary" or "shocking" when you hear a story of a 90-yr-old using a helium tank or some such for a peaceful end. But they don't report these stories much as of now. Just the morbid ones for shock value.

 

[Essie]

I think the misconception is we are all rooting for everyone to die. We are here for support, nothing else. I would hope users here encourage life, but what's the point of being pro-choice if we are just going to leave the people who want to die, alone in the dark. Sharing methods, experiences, it's all a attempt to make somebody's choice have less speed bumps. There are plenty of places to help you get better if you want it, but there are next to none to get help if you won't/can't get better.

It's a thin fucking line we walk here, and it's understandable to see this as a negative, but the people they think we are hurting would tell them a different story.

Yes. Thank you for saying this. That was sort of my point. What good is it if people try and fail and wind up in worse shoes. That is why society needs to be more open and sites like this are helpful--if not just to not make a terrible mistake with a poor method, and I am finding in my testing that it is actually quite hard to get it right (sigh...)

 

[your pathologist]

There was a discussion here at one point that asked what if someone you loved was trying to ctb.
I mean everyone has their reasons sure.
I dont think it should be mainstreamed like a Futrama Suicide Booth...
But yeah
At least talk about it
People are so afraid to even speak of it.
I dont agree with that

 

[TiredHorse]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/g00/...Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8=&i10c.ua=1&i10c.dv=18

"What's less clear is the motivation behind these websites: Why would someone encourage others to kill themselves, often providing detailed instructions on how to do so? The relative anonymity of the internet makes this question challenging to study. Some academics have speculated that pro-suicide sites may serve as forums for commiseration, community or even rebellion, but there aren't much data to make firm conclusions."

This is an infuriating piece of yellow journalism; they have either deliberately or through disgraceful incompetance obscured basic causality. Specifically:

"In a survey of 1,500 young people living in the United States, browsers who visited pro-suicide sites were 11 times as likely to report thinking about self-harm and seven times as likely to report having suicidal thoughts as were young people who hadn't visited the sites. A 2015 study found that 20 percent of young adults with a history of suicidal self-harm had visited sites containing information on how to kill or hurt oneself, compared with just 3 percent of a young adults more broadly."

That makes it sound as though people who come to visit these sites are made suicidal by them, rather than those who are already suicidal seeking out those sites. As if the sites are brainwashing people into becoming suicidal.

Perhaps it should instead be stated that, "browsers who reported thinking about self-harm or having suicidal thoughts were significantly more likely to visit sites containing information on how to kill or hurt themselves, where only 3% of the more typical population were likely to have visited those sites."

But then, all of a sudden it becomes non-news.

Gosh, suicidal people seek out websites where they connect with other suicidal people and get information. Who'd have thought it?! It's almost like people who collect sewing machines or bottle caps are hundreds of times more likely to visit websites on sewing machine or bottle cap collecting!

Watch out! Bottle cap collecting could take over the world if we don't shut those sites down!

I know, it's a newspaper doing what newspapers do, and what they have always done, rabble-rousing for profit, but I am still incensed by such distraction from a far more worthwhile debate: whether competant, rational beings have the right to decide for themselves whether to end their own lives peacefully at a time of their own choosing.

/RANT

 

[DeletedUser4739]

This is an infuriating piece of yellow journalism; they have either deliberately or through disgraceful incompetance obscured basic causality. Specifically:

"In a survey of 1,500 young people living in the United States, browsers who visited pro-suicide sites were 11 times as likely to report thinking about self-harm and seven times as likely to report having suicidal thoughts as were young people who hadn't visited the sites. A 2015 study found that 20 percent of young adults with a history of suicidal self-harm had visited sites containing information on how to kill or hurt oneself, compared with just 3 percent of a young adults more broadly."

That makes it sound as though people who come to visit these sites are made suicidal by them, rather than those who are already suicidal seeking out those sites. As if the sites are brainwashing people into becoming suicidal.

Perhaps it should instead be stated that, "browsers who reported thinking about self-harm or having suicidal thoughts were significantly more likely to visit sites containing information on how to kill or hurt themselves, where only 3% of the more typical population were likely to have visited those sites."

But then, all of a sudden it becomes non-news.

Gosh, suicidal people seek out websites where they connect with other suicidal people and get information. Who'd have thought it?! It's almost like people who collect sewing machines or bottle caps are hundreds of times more likely to visit websites on sewing machine or bottle cap collecting!

Watch out! Bottle cap collecting could take over the world if we don't shut those sites down!

I know, it's a newspaper doing what newspapers do, and what they have always done, rabble-rousing for profit, but I am still incensed by such distraction from a far more worthwhile debate: whether competant, rational beings have the right to decide for themselves whether to end their own lives peacefully at a time of their own choosing.

/RANT

Fuck those bottle cap collectors. I always knew they were up to something.

 

[TiredHorse]

Fuck those bottle cap collectors. I always knew they were up to something.

See? You know it! ;-)

Don't get me started on all the automobile-oriented sites encouraging the desecration of the environment...

 

[[NoName]]

This is an infuriating piece of yellow journalism; they have either deliberately or through disgraceful incompetance obscured basic causality. Specifically:

"In a survey of 1,500 young people living in the United States, browsers who visited pro-suicide sites were 11 times as likely to report thinking about self-harm and seven times as likely to report having suicidal thoughts as were young people who hadn't visited the sites. A 2015 study found that 20 percent of young adults with a history of suicidal self-harm had visited sites containing information on how to kill or hurt oneself, compared with just 3 percent of a young adults more broadly."

That makes it sound as though people who come to visit these sites are made suicidal by them, rather than those who are already suicidal seeking out those sites. As if the sites are brainwashing people into becoming suicidal.

Perhaps it should instead be stated that, "browsers who reported thinking about self-harm or having suicidal thoughts were significantly more likely to visit sites containing information on how to kill or hurt themselves, where only 3% of the more typical population were likely to have visited those sites."

But then, all of a sudden it becomes non-news.

Gosh, suicidal people seek out websites where they connect with other suicidal people and get information. Who'd have thought it?! It's almost like people who collect sewing machines or bottle caps are hundreds of times more likely to visit websites on sewing machine or bottle cap collecting!

Watch out! Bottle cap collecting could take over the world if we don't shut those sites down!

I know, it's a newspaper doing what newspapers do, and what they have always done, rabble-rousing for profit, but I am still incensed by such distraction from a far more worthwhile debate: whether competant, rational beings have the right to decide for themselves whether to end their own lives peacefully at a time of their own choosing.

/RANT

I think more people would be understanding of pro-choice if we could educate them about it. Usually whenever people talk about suicide it's right after someone has done it. We see the devastated family and friends. So when that's all a person sees, why even look further? Why look into something that is obviously bad, and should be opposed at all costs?

I've been thinking about bringing up pro-choice when it comes to suicide with leftists. The US is becoming more and more left wing and so many more would at least be willing to hear a pro-choice stance than ever before.