Discussion Was CTB prevention less paternalistic as well as acquisition of methods more accessible before the Internet?

[TAW122]

Here is a topic that I wondered before, especially about life in the past century or so. Anyone is welcome to chime in though I would also like to hear from some of the older members here as they have actually lived through those decades and would be able to speak from experience. Anyways, so the topic in this thread is about whether CTB was easier in the past times compared to today's modern world. From what I learned, in the past, there was less surveillance and perhaps also less restrictions on various methods, even before the advent of the Internet itself. Maybe it was easier to acquire certain methods and not be scrutinized over one's shopping habits or even questioned?

As someone who grew up in the 90's, I believe I grew up in a time where things have been going through a transitional period, pre-9/11 and post-9/11, where surveillance and scrutiny has only increased since then. Also, during the 2000's when the Internet started to grow and become popular, but before the CTB prevention signs were plastered just about everywhere. I know in present day, almost everywhere is a vomit of CTB prevention advertisements and signages all over places that it is overwhelming. It is as though the pro-lifers believe that people are unaware of resources and mental health (when that is far from the truth!). In fact, many people who are determined to die don't want to be reminded of CTB prevention and pro-life messages about how great life is, and also the curtailment, restriction of peaceful, reliable methods to (reliably and even peacefully) CTB!

I did not grow up before the 90's and even then, I was very young in the 90's so I couldn't really remember much of the early 90's, but late 90's and early 2000's of how life was (just barely before 9/11 though). For those who have lived through the decades, especially in the 60's throughout the 70's, would you consider that CTB'ing was easier in terms of acquiring the materials needed and there was less scrutiny, oversight, and meddlesome people in the past?

 

[Lost in a Dream]

I almost wish I could've grown up in a time when acquiring methods was easier. I wasn't around for anything before the 90's, so I can't give much information on that. Maybe someone else can though?

I know in present day, almost everywhere is a vomit of CTB prevention advertisements and signages all over places that it is overwhelming. It is as though the pro-lifers believe that people are unaware of resources and mental health (when that is far from the truth!). In fact, many people who are determined to die don't want to be reminded of CTB prevention and pro-life messages about how great life is, and also the curtailment, restriction of peaceful, reliable methods to (reliably and even peacefully) CTB!

I get so sick of seeing this too. It's like these people don't even care about the reasons, they just think they're doing a good thing by prolonging a life at all costs, regardless of how much added stress it causes people. I used to see those kinds of posters or signs at work when I was a wage slave still. The pro-life virtue signaling almost made me feel sick some days.

I've been seeing a ton of pro-life billboards this past year too. I think they were all anti-abortion in this case, but to me, I get the same reaction from them. Even if I agreed with those pro-lifers about abortion being murder, it would be incredibly difficult for me to care, considering how much time I've spent during the last 3-4 years wishing I had been aborted or miscarried. It would've been better if that happened, just so I wouldn't have had to experience wage slavery. The same thing goes for suicide prevention virtue signaling, posters, or billboards. They are a reminder of how determined other people are to keep us imprisoned in this horror show we call a world.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Hmm, I maybe don't qualify for this. I grew up in the 80's. Bear in mind though- us 'oldies' didn't have the internet at all! So- even if those methods were more readily available- how would we have known about them? Asked a librarian? 'Hi- I'm looking for a book on how to kill myself please.'

I think maybe in the generations previous to mine, drugs may have been more lethal but again- where would you find out what and how much to take? I guess maybe there are books out there on toxicology. I guess a lot of people just winged it back then!

I know someone my age with two failed attempts with OTC medicine. If I'd tried the methods I thought about- OD on paracetamol and cutting wrists- I likely would have failed. The movies make it look deceptively easy.

Maybe the resources themselves were easier to get hold of but I'm not sure where you would have gone to find out how to use them.

I wonder in fact if the birth of the internet period was maybe the best time. Before authorities cottoned on. It seems almost unbelievable now that you could buy SN on Amazon without any restrictions. Maybe that wasn't even that long ago. The people here who knew about it back then must be kicking themselves now.

'The golden age of suicide'. I'm not sure there has been one really. Sounds like the ancient Greeks/ Romans would let certain people do it but- not all. I think a lot of other eras simply poisoned people without even knowing! Ever watched those history programmes on the dangers in the medieval/ victorian/ post modern home? It's a wonder anyone survived really!

 

[Slow_Farewell]

Hmm, I maybe don't qualify for this. I grew up in the 80's. Bear in mind though- us 'oldies' didn't have the internet at all! So- even if those methods were more readily available- how would we have known about them? Asked a librarian? 'Hi- I'm looking for a book on how to kill myself please.'

I think maybe in the generations previous to mine, drugs may have been more lethal but again- where would you find out what and how much to take? I guess maybe there are books out there on toxicology. I guess a lot of people just winged it back then!

I know someone my age with two failed attempts with OTC medicine. If I'd tried the methods I thought about- OD on paracetamol and cutting wrists- I likely would have failed. The movies make it look deceptively easy.

Maybe the resources themselves were easier to get hold of but I'm not sure where you would have gone to find out how to use them.

I wonder in fact if the birth of the internet period was maybe the best time. Before authorities cottoned on. It seems almost unbelievable now that you could buy SN on Amazon without any restrictions. Maybe that wasn't even that long ago. The people here who knew about it back then must be kicking themselves now.

'The golden age of suicide'. I'm not sure there has been one really. Sounds like the ancient Greeks/ Romans would let certain people do it but- not all. I think a lot of other eras simply poisoned people without even knowing! Ever watched those history programmes on the dangers in the medieval/ victorian/ post modern home? It's a wonder anyone survived really!

Same. Grew up in the 80's as well, struggled through the 90s and 2000's, and im still struggling now.

I wouldn't say it was easier to access the methods. If any, it's actually easier now.
Like @Forever Sleep said, what were we to do? ask a chem teacher or a librarian?

Certain CTB methods have been easily accessible as before. They were constant. I mean, you can get a rope just as easy as before, and you can just as easily walk into a busy intersection as before. There are more intersections, overpasses, road networks now than before, which makes it easier, in my opinion.

It was more difficult for us to be able to find a method that suited our purposes and what we wanted, what one could call peaceful. Methods, means, results and other data are more accessible than before, which means it can be more accurate nowadays if one is able to obtain the necessary equipment for the chosen method.

Personally, I dont think there's a generic, broad answer to "was it easier in the past..".. A lot more went unreported, probably. And for every method that seems reliable but difficult to obtain now(example: SN), there's a method out there that we may not have heard of but is effective, it just hasnt been reported yet.

 

[TAW122]

I almost wish I could've grown up in a time when acquiring methods was easier. I wasn't around for anything before the 90's, so I can't give much information on that. Maybe someone else can though?



I get so sick of seeing this too. It's like these people don't even care about the reasons, they just think they're doing a good thing by prolonging a life at all costs, regardless of how much added stress it causes people. I used to see those kinds of posters or signs at work when I was a wage slave still. The pro-life virtue signaling almost made me feel sick some days.

I've been seeing a ton of pro-life billboards this past year too. I think they were all anti-abortion in this case, but to me, I get the same reaction from them. Even if I agreed with those pro-lifers about abortion being murder, it would be incredibly difficult for me to care, considering how much time I've spent during the last 3-4 years wishing I had been aborted or miscarried. It would've been better if that happened, just so I wouldn't have had to experience wage slavery. The same thing goes for suicide prevention virtue signaling, posters, or billboards. They are a reminder of how determined other people are to keep us imprisoned in this horror show we call a world.

I agree, and even when I worked (regardless of the workplace), there are flyers and pro-life billboards that make me disgusted and annoyed. In fact (on an slight tangent), when I was on a roadtrip a few years ago, there was even a billboard with the hotline plastered on it for motorists to view! Yes, I would concur with the fact that pro-lifers will do just about everything to keep us trapped in sentience and suffering, while ignoring our plight and as long as they see that people are alive (and suffering), they don't care much else as long as it doesn't offend their atavistic moral code.

Hmm, I maybe don't qualify for this. I grew up in the 80's. Bear in mind though- us 'oldies' didn't have the internet at all! So- even if those methods were more readily available- how would we have known about them? Asked a librarian? 'Hi- I'm looking for a book on how to kill myself please.'

I think maybe in the generations previous to mine, drugs may have been more lethal but again- where would you find out what and how much to take? I guess maybe there are books out there on toxicology. I guess a lot of people just winged it back then!

I know someone my age with two failed attempts with OTC medicine. If I'd tried the methods I thought about- OD on paracetamol and cutting wrists- I likely would have failed. The movies make it look deceptively easy.

Maybe the resources themselves were easier to get hold of but I'm not sure where you would have gone to find out how to use them.

I wonder in fact if the birth of the internet period was maybe the best time. Before authorities cottoned on. It seems almost unbelievable now that you could buy SN on Amazon without any restrictions. Maybe that wasn't even that long ago. The people here who knew about it back then must be kicking themselves now.

'The golden age of suicide'. I'm not sure there has been one really. Sounds like the ancient Greeks/ Romans would let certain people do it but- not all. I think a lot of other eras simply poisoned people without even knowing! Ever watched those history programmes on the dangers in the medieval/ victorian/ post modern home? It's a wonder anyone survived really!

Your perspective is valid and also insightful too. I suppose gathering the information would have been challenging (without the Internet) with regards to having to scavenge for information regarding methods and efficacy. Despite there being more lethal substances and access to them in the past compared to the present. We do indeed live in a time where information is widely available, almost available to us in an instance (via the Internet), but we also live in a time where authorities have clamped down or limited our accessibility towards those methods. With regards to movies, yes I think they are deceptively misleading or just oversimplified (partly for dramatic and entertainment value - which doesn't always reflect reality) with regards to efficacy of certain methods or even how it works. For example, the firearms method, people in movies assume that getting shot means someone immediately dies, but given the research and study of gunshot victims, people don't die immediately and the "under the chin" has resulted in quite a lot of failures with serious, debilitating injuries and (most likely) permanent incapacitation (aka becoming a vegetable).

With regards to the golden age of CTB, maybe there was never one, or at least acknowledged throughout history, but I think it is very possible that there are various people who actually CTB'd but wasn't really properly documented or recorded in history for various reasons. Mostly religious and political reasons, depending on what the current status quo and society one was in during that period of history. There may even be 'accidental' deaths that were actually CTBs but just not regarded as such and simply written off as 'accidents' instead of intentional CTB.

Same. Grew up in the 80's as well, struggled through the 90s and 2000's, and im still struggling now.

I wouldn't say it was easier to access the methods. If any, it's actually easier now.
Like @Forever Sleep said, what were we to do? ask a chem teacher or a librarian?

Certain CTB methods have been easily accessible as before. They were constant. I mean, you can get a rope just as easy as before, and you can just as easily walk into a busy intersection as before. There are more intersections, overpasses, road networks now than before, which makes it easier, in my opinion.

It was more difficult for us to be able to find a method that suited our purposes and what we wanted, what one could call peaceful. Methods, means, results and other data are more accessible than before, which means it can be more accurate nowadays if one is able to obtain the necessary equipment for the chosen method.

Personally, I dont think there's a generic, broad answer to "was it easier in the past..".. A lot more went unreported, probably. And for every method that seems reliable but difficult to obtain now(example: SN), there's a method out there that we may not have heard of but is effective, it just hasnt been reported yet.

You raised really good points and yes, I think the inverse problem was true for people who lived decades ago. Reliable information was difficult to come by, and if one doesn't know of something/a method existing they would (theoretically) not have access or even knowledge of how to access, let alone execute said method. As for more peaceful methods, it was more accessible during the earlier part of the Internet coming to light, but also more difficult due to the ever-growing scrutiny, restrictions, and limitations in acquisition of said peaceful methods (some of which are nearly impossible or no longer easy to access). All of this is not even considering one trying to overcome one's own biological mechanism called the 'survival instinct', which of course varies from individual to individual.