I've seen his channel come up suggested for me before, but I've never watched any of his videos up until this point. So I'm not familiar with him or his views/opinions.
To his credit, he wasn't completely hyperbolic. While I don't like the title "death cult", which obviously has a highly negative implication, he does say 'alleged' before that. Any criticisms I've seen regarding the forum on YouTube or otherwise are usually all lies and completely disingenuous.
Even though he said some things I disagreed with, I'm not sure he made this video in bad faith. I think he was reasonably fair on some fronts and wrong on others. My two cents. Compared to the mainstream media who says "it's bad" and that's it.
What I will agree on being fucked up is not censoring people's usernames. That was wrong, period.
As he mentions, people suffering from ideation can't honestly talk about how they feel without fear of being put in a psych facility involuntarily.
They're referred to crisis hotlines that don't actually care, as he states in the video. He also gives cadence to censorship being an issue on mainstream platforms.
The point he makes about negative ruminating has some merit as well. There is a hint of truth in that. It's a double edged sword in regards to that point. The forum can leave someone open to ruminating but also allows them to discuss their feelings freely, and understand they aren't alone.
He did give credit to the "recovery" section as well, which I don't think anyone who's criticized SaSu has before. Although he didn't give it much merit and puts it down by comparing it's user volume beimg lower versus the 'discussion' forum.
And in regards to his point about individuals under eighteen, I blame that on the parents. Minors should not have unsupervised internet access for a plethora of safety reasons. The majority of parents I've known, allow their kids, regardless of age, free reign on the internet. They give their kid a phone/tablet so they don't have to actually parent. Authenticity of age verification is an issue on all websites.
Modern society, Western or otherwise, stigmatizes suicide, the discussion around it and the right to die.
You're not allowed to have an opinion besides anything else than "suicide is never the answer". Anything outside of that opinion is not allowed anywhere. It can't be discussed openly and honestly. Until that changes, forums and sites like this will exist.
This is why MAID should be allowed, for both unbearable physical and mental suffering with no chance of improvement.
I think the requirements to qualify should be highly, highly strict and stringent. It should be evaluated on a case to case basis, and minors under eighteen should absolutely NOT be allowed to qualify. And I say that as a person who's suffered from ideation since I was an young teenager.
There are some cases where suicidal ideation should be attempted to be treated and it is the "lens of depression" affecting the person's viewpoint and the problems they have can actually be addressed. And I've seen many instances of users seeing that and trying to help and offer solutions/alternatives.
There are others where ending things makes sense, is reasonable and there is no reasonable argument for improvement. Some people's lives genuinely do just suck and people don't like to acknowledge that.
Everyone and their situation is unique and showed be evaluated on a case to case basis.
Until talking about suicide and death openly and honestly, without "it's never the solution" being the only acceptable answer, things aren't going to change. And people don't like talking about either, which is understandable. They're uncomfortable topics.
