MetaFilter posts tagged with suicide

No Country For Old Men

msalt — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:52:26 -0800

On January 1st, the U.S. estate tax will disappear. For exactly one year. Then it will come back higher on Jan. 1, 2011. Will lots of old rich people die? Bush's 2001 tax reform law gradually reduced the estate tax to what is now 45%, with an exemption of the first $3.5 million. During 2010, there is no tax at all. In 2011, the pre-Bush tax resumes (55%, $675,000 exemption.) Dem. Senator Max Baucus expects to pass a retroactive tax next year. Republicans, while calling for total repeal, have offered 35% and $5 million. Estate tax previously: 1 2 3 4

Sexting or slut-shaming?

Ouisch — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:12:51 -0800

A teenage girl named Hope Witsell died after being tormented for sending a nude photo of herself to a boy. The mainstream media focuses on the sexting aspect of the case, just as they did in the case of Jesse Logan earlier this year. But perhaps the common thread between the two girls' deaths has less to do with the trendy moral panic of sexting (Previously: 1, 2), and more to do with the type of victim-blaming known as slut-shaming:

The fact is that [the school] punished her — they told her over and over again that she was being called a slut and a whore because of her own actions, that being a “slut” or “whore” are very, very bad things that deserve punishment and bring reason for shame, that sluts and whores deserve to be taken out of school and to be used as an example of what happens when girls display any form of sexuality (with their consent or not), and that sluts and whores cannot be trusted to advise other students, because apparently they have no moral compasses. And the fact is that they apparently failed to punish the other slut-shamers, sexual harassers, bullies, and sexual perpetrators for whom they were responsible. -From the first link above.

U.S. Census Worker Hanged Himself in Kentucky with the Word "Fed" Scrawled Across His Chest

Slap Factory — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:27:33 -0800

Cancer survivor, teacher, single father, and part-time U.S. Census worker Bill Sparkman was found dead September 12, hanging from a tree with the word "FED" written on his chest. It was actually a suicide. (Previously)

The quiet goalkeeper: Robert Enke (1977-2009)

starzero — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:41:28 -0800

Yesterday evening, Robert Enke, goalkeeper of Germany's national soccer team, committed suicide. At a press conference today, his wife revealed, that he had been suffering from depression for 6 years and had been in therapy. He covered it up out of fear to lose custody of his adopted daughter and his career as a professional footballer. Despite being the favorite candidate for the goalkeeper position in the German national team at the upcoming World Cup 2010, Enke's hit several professional and personal setbacks in his life. The popular keeper was also a prominent supporter of animal rights and appeared in a PETA campaign. Enke is another recent victim of depression in German professional football, a condition that already forced Germany's rising star, Sebastian Deisler, to end his career in 2007. The Guardian's Raphael Honigstein reminds German football, that sometimes you cannot go back to business as usual and Sweden's retired Patrick Andersson writes a personal tribute to his friend and former teammate.

The future's hell. The future's Orange.

Elizabeth the Thirteenth — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:07:27 -0800

A 51 year old father of two has just become the 24th suicide in 18 months at France Telecom, also known as Orange. Apparently, it had something to do with conditions at work, but France Telecom's CFO is punting a different theory.

Catch you later.

knave — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:43:43 -0800

Two AI Pioneers. Two Bizarre Suicides. Wired's David Kushner examines the work of two young, competitive AI researchers, and the eerie circumstances of their deaths.

Ask Me Anything

WCityMike — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 06:19:28 -0800

I was shot in the head two years ago. I was in prison for six years. I live in a Taliban hub. I need to be an amputee. I'm four. I'm six. I'm eight. I have a micropenis. I've had sex both with and without a foreskin. My sister and I are in love. I'm in love with my mother. I married and had a daughter with my first cousin. I love my dog. I have killed someone while driving drunk. I have superpowers from chemotherapy. I was in a cult for seven years. I own a woman. I used to be asexual (I am still asexual). I was in porn (and I'm still in porn). I took a boy's virginity. I am killing myself in a few months. I started the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I started Reddit.

I have a "state of deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing emotions". I have Alice in Wonderland syndrome. I believe free will doesn't exist.

I was driven gay. I am gay in a straight marriage. I was born a woman, became a man, and as a man, I'm gay.

I'm a pawnbroker, mortician, spammer, multimillionaire, working TV/film comedy writer, Freemason, actor's assistant, beekeeper, drug dealer, Catholic priest, kleptomaniac, nudist, prosecutor, suicide hotline volunteer.

I'm a pathological liar. I might be making all this up.

Ask me anything.

Asking for an apology.

idiopath — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:36:55 -0800

Alan Turing , one of the men responsible for computers as we know them today, was persecuted by the British government for being a homosexual. Richard Dawkins and John Graham-Cumming want the British government to formally apologize.

Baida is honest

zinfandel — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:15:05 -0800

How Baida Wanted to Die In Baquba, the Iraqi police detective flipped pointlessly through a file on his desk...“You will like Baida,” Maj. Hosham al-Tamimi said..."She is” — he paused — “honest...” She began in a soft voice: “My name is Baida Abdul Karim al-Shammari, and I am from New Baquba near the general hospital. I am one of eight children; five were killed. The police raided our home. It was a half-hour before dawn during Ramadan. The Americans were with them...” When we did finally go, we met with Baida alone, sitting together on a bed in the nurse’s office because there were no chairs. I asked her gently, and as nonjudgmentally as I could, whether she wanted to kill me because I was a foreigner. “Frankly, yes.” Then she added, to soften it, “Not specifically you, because I know you.”

"I live in hope I can jump before I am pushed."

Artw — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:44:40 -0800

Terry Pratchett: I'll die before the endgame

Its called Wipeout...WHY DON'T YOU SHUTUP ?

celerystick — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:22:05 -0800

Alan Vega live... It's not Billy Idol, Elvis, or Springsteen, its just Alan Vega and "Its called Wipeout...why don't you shut up"

"I have owed too many people..."

kkokkodalk — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:19:36 -0800

Former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun committed suicide on May 23. The former president jumped from a cliff in his hometown, where he had retired to. A country mourns (video and articles 1, 2), and clashes (more, WSJ), over the legacy of the former human rights attorney who fought for the rights of student protesters and against the corrupt presidencies of the 80s, had his presidency saved by protests and activism in the electronic age, and at the end of his life found himself being investigated for bribery. Roh practiced law, during the corrupt governments of former presidents Chun Doo-hwan (see also Gwangju Massacre) and Roh Tae-woo. He set up his platform as being part of a new era of clean and open politics (video of an ad Roh ran during his campaign, where he plays upon the theme of being for the people and against corruption of the old by singing the famed protest song "Sang Rok Su." The ad says that "the people are the president," and talks about how much Roh is indebted to the public who supported him in hardship, like when he didn't have money to run, and there were people who sent him their piggy banks. His campaign line is drawn as being a new president for a new Korea), and broke from his Millenium Democratic party to start the Yullin Uri Dang (“Our Open Party”), even though his political career was continuously plagued with accusations of incompetence and corruption of those around him. In 2004, Roh’s support for the Uri Party created an opportunity for the opposition party to vote to impeach him on charges of electioneering and incompetence. However, the impeachment also created an opportunity for a new chapter in Korean civic behavior, showing the potential of the fully-wired constituency of Korea as many supporters gathered online to voice their dissension and spread the message while organizing protests (video showing actor Moon Sung-geun giving a speech to protesters where he says the government "sees the people only as bugs" and asks for people to keep fighting against "the final gasp" of corruption, that the Korean people "have fought for with their lives" until now) and candlelight vigils. Videos and images spread of those in the assembly who supported Roh attempting to physically block the impeachment. spread online, and images of an assemblywoman dragged from her seat (4:58 in the video), as well as the triumphant looks of those of the Han Nara party, especially the grinning face of Park Geun-hye (5:37 in the video, daughter of former president Park Chung-hee, which made her involvement in the impeachment even more open to negative interpretation for those who found it undemocratic) further cast the opposition in a bad light when compared to images of Roh's despairing supporters who attempted stop proceedings even until the last minute by throwing objects (during the struggle, one politician even declares "I'm photographing all of this with my phone!"). In one of the more violent incidents, a man crashed his car into the National Assembly and set it on fire in protest. On May 14, 2004, the impeachment decision was overturned and Roh was reinstated as President. He eventually retired to his hometown of Bongha Village, however, political scandal followed him even after he left office. An investigation revealed that records were missing, in particular, several terabytes worth of records disappeared before incoming president Lee Myung-bak took office. Roh eventually returned the missing records, and the scandal went away, but in early 2009, bribery allegations were brought up. On May 23, 2009, Roh took a lone body guard with him on a hike to Owl’s Rock in his home village, where he fell. He sustained injuries that sent him to a hospital in Busan, where he died. Many gathered around Bongha Village, which became a tourist spot after the president broke tradition to retire there, to pay their respects to the former president, even some major websites have taken on grayscale coloring to show their respects. And Kim Jong-il (the two previously met) sent his condolences.

"I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish"

The Devil Tesla — Sun, 24 May 2009 10:12:11 -0800

Lai Jiansheng was fed up with a suicide jumper in the Chinese provence of Guangzhou that was blocking traffic, so he climbed up to where Chen Fuchao was and gave him a push onto an air mattress. This Chinese news source has some photos of the event. There is video of the push here, but unfortunately there's no sound.

That's one large with a twist of the lith, please.

joseph conrad is fully awesome — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:31:34 -0800

A Japanese study finds a link between lower suicide rates and traces of lithium in the drinking water. While the study's findings are "intriguing", external relations director Sophie Corlett of Mind warns that lithium is toxic, and that further research is needed.

April Harvest

hermitosis — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 11:42:39 -0800

Homophobia is still a bully's deadliest weapon.

Barefoot To The End

AzraelBrown — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 06:19:01 -0800

Wednesday, a woman jumped from the top tier of the Queens Center Mall, leaving by the railing a distraught companion, her purse, and her shoes. At first glance it would seem a spontaneous, strange thing to do, but it was most likely a premeditated action to show her intent. Workers on the Golden Gate Bridge use shoes as a clue of somebody about to jump, and Japan has long known that people who end their life leave their shoes behind. Age has little to do with it, and method seems irrelevant, so the common bond seems to be that taking off your shoes is the second-to-the-last decision some people make in their lives.

"Is it hard for the reader to believe that suicides are sometimes committed to forestall the committing of murder? There is no doubt of it." -- Karl Menninger

orthogonality — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 04:44:08 -0800

Four Dead in High School Massacre "Mentor high school officials confirmed that a girl and two other boys" in addition to Eric Mohat, died. "'We don't believe it's a problem,'" Justin Maynor, communications director for the Mentor Public School District, told ABCNews.com.

According to Janet Klee, a counselor at Chrysalis, a suicide survivors support group, who counseled two of the surviving families, the suicides were connected to bullying. "These kids," said Klee, "were extremely bright, and [the bullies] thought they were nerds. I say that not in a derogative but in a good sense. These were good kids who were easy targets for bullying." . . . . But school officials said that was an isolated incident. "Generally, there is a very low incidence of violence at the school," said Maynor. "Considering its population, it's a relatively serene place." Maynor confirmed that there had been "several" student suicides in the "last couple of years," but he said that they had no connection to bullying. He said the school had "come a long way" in combating bullying and addressing "social sensitivities."

“There’s culture shock, and then there’s the culture shock of moving to a country that started a war in your home.”

wander — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:49:47 -0800

"The war has uprooted 4.7 million people from their homes. So where are they?" With the election of Obama and the economic crisis, the topic of Iraq has fallen by the wayside. As hard as things may be right now, Iraqis have been going through far worse for years now. If you're curious about what they have to say, hear them tell it in their own words. Iraqi Refugee Stories. Lest we also forget the war's toll on soldiers: The Life and Lonely Death of Noah Pierce. If you're asking, "What can I do about any of this?" Go here. And if you feel you can't manage to do any of that, then be good to yourself, and your neighbors. Go out of your way to do one nice thing for someone, or challenge one of the preconceptions you might have about someone else. You don't have to save the world, but you can at try least make it just a little nicer than it was. If you know any Iraqis affected by the war (or have worked closely with them yourself), or even know of some through someone else, encourage them to share their stories here.

Nicholas Hughes

felix betachat — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:07:13 -0800

Nicholas Hughes has taken his own life. A marine biologist specializing in Alaskan stream fish, he has been preceded in death by his mother, Sylvia and his father, Ted.

Daddy Moonshine

Who_Am_I — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:24:43 -0800

Do you know how to make a frog drunk? I bet you don't. But I do. I fired my pot up one morning and got it going real good. It had just started running high shots. That is what you call it when it first starts to come out. For so many jugs, then it turns to backins. Anyway here come hopping up to the still a damn big frog. I thought to myself ol' boy I'll make you drunk as hell.
Legendary Appalachian moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton was arrested by the ATF in March 2008 [PDF]. At his arrest, agents found guns, three 1000-gallon stills, hundreds of gallons of sour mash, and over 800 gallons of white lightning. This week at 61 years old, and faced with 18 months in prison, he committed suicide.

The Plot Sickens

bardic — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 06:20:23 -0800

South Korea has one of the world's highest suicide rates (previously). The phenomenon has been acute in the entertainment world. In the past two years, over ten Korean celebrities (mostly actors, actresses, and singers) have taken their own lives. Most of them were under 30. The latest death was that of 26 year-old actress Jang Ja-yeon, star of the popular comedy-drama "Boys Over Flowers." Initial reports stated that Jang's death was yet another in a tragic line of Korean celebrities succumbing to depression due to the pressures of stardom and (according to one foreign commenter) the inability to "admit that there is a lot of intense depression and mental illness in Korea." But there's also an emerging twist in Jang's death. Her suicide note has been found, and it turns out that her death wasn't due to relative intangibles of depression and mental illness. In fact, she was allegedly being beaten and raped by various higher-ups in the Korean entertainment business, and the names of the guilty are beginning to come out (one of whom has apparently fled to Japan).

to take brass and fire into his mouth

batmonkey — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:21:09 -0800

Army reports highest rate of soldier suicides for three decades in 2008. Even the up-and-coming are at risk. Stars & Stripes mentions that leadership may bear some blame. Will twice the money for family programs help? [title: line from "Eulogy", PFC B. Miller 1980-2004]

How's the schadenfreude today?

joaquim — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:20:44 -0800

We had a discussion a couple months ago about VW stock. Betting against VW cost Adolf Merckle hundreds of millions of dollars last year and eventually destroyed his business empire. Yesterday, it cost him his life.

Love, Rockabilly Style

andihazelwood — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:03:12 -0800

How to best show your love if you're a rockabilly singer in the 50's? First, claim you might cry. Or die. Or commit suicide. If that doesn't work, you can threaten her vaguely, threaten her with a baseball bat, or even threaten her with death. Oh, you're female? Try the gun/sex metaphor (NSFW images) or just go hog wild and claim you'll blow his head off with nitro. Touched on previously. Can't be bothered with multiple YouTube links? Here are the songs and pertinent lyrics in order: Everly Brothers, Bye Bye Love: "Bye bye, happiness // Hello, loneliness // I think I'm a-gonna cry." Elvis Presley, Heartbreak Hotel: "I get so lonely I could die." Johnny Burnette Trio, Sweet Love on My Mind: "The river looks cold and the bottom is a long way down // If you're really leavin' baby that's where I'm gonna be found // When the mailman comes in the mornin', there's a note upon my door // Bring my mail to the bottom of the river I don't live here no more." Eddie Cochran, Mean When I'm Mad: "I need your lovin' and I need it bad // Watch it now baby if you make me mad... But don't resist me, a-baby // 'Cause I'm mighty, mighty mean when I'm mad." Big Joe Turner, Honey Hush: "Come in here woman, stop all that yackety yack // Don't make me nervous, 'cause I'm holdin' a baseball bat." (It's not rockabilly but it has been covered by several rockabilly bands including Johnny Burnette.) Elvis Presley, Baby Let's Play House: "I'd rather see you dead, little girl // Than to be with another man." Janis Martin, Bang Bang: "Cock your pistol and rooty-toot-toot // Bang-bang-bang, bang-bang-bang (etc)." Wanda Jackson, Fujiyama Mama: "Well you can talk about me, say that I'm mean // I'll blow your head off baby with nitroglycerine."

The unfortunate burden of genius

deusdiabolus — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:36:15 -0800

Medical studies have indicated that high intelligence is often synonymous with the likelihood of alcoholism and suicidal tendencies. Animal studies have suggested that being smarter can actually be bad for animals...and it's not always an advantage for humans either. There should be a point here, but I'm a little fuzzy on what it is.