Poll: Suicide - Your opinion

[Slayer_2]

{quote]i agree with you there, but only if you have no one depending on you

what if a father (or mother) of a household with kids decides to commit suicide? don't you think that is mighty selfish of them?[/quote] Perhaps, but it is still THEIR life.

 

[MaskedMori]

I see it as a form of cowardice. Loads of people consider it, but only a few actually do it.
I personally have a fear of dying and what's to come after death, I don't know why anyone would want to find out sooner.

Well, maybe because life becomes so harsh that it would be better to take a risk on it than have to suffer more. *Shrug* This only really applies to people locked in dungeons etc..

What if they won the lottery the next day but wouldn't know because they committed suicide?
That would really suck for them....

Personally I see it as an easy way out and cowardly....

Well, I see life to be rather meaningless. If there is life after death other than a black void, I think it would be better than a lot of people's lives now. Of course, suicide when you have responsibility as I have said before, (Child for example) is selfish.

 

[cridia]

After reading about 5 pages of replies, it strikes me as odd that people literally think that the only people committing suicide are the people who are depressed, have a temporary problem or are otherwise wimps because they cannot "face" that problem.

First of all, one thing I think is wrong with this train of thought is that you are not them. Their reason for choosing to end their life is just as valid as your choice to continue it. They have a problem they MUST solve otherwise they are cowards? Did it ever cross your mind that, due to the biological differences between humans, there are very well things you CAN and they CANNOT do? Here is a simple example; a certain person has a IQ of 90; his most severe weakness is math. Does this make him a retard because he is weak at math? Apparantly, according to some of the reactions I have seen here, he would be. Not all people are able to cope with their problems, for the simple reason that they just cannot process it. Some people have a stronger mindset than others. Before starting to slap labels on people for being a coward or stupid, it would do you good to try and understand their situation first; including the way they process their information.

Second, I have seen even more replies that said they were selfish. I can very well turn that around; isnt it even more selfish of people to force others to live just to fuel their selfish desires? Sure, we could all go on about how much it would cost and all the aftereffects, but isnt that a result of a human society the person who committed suicide never choose to be part of?

I fully agree with the reasoning that people do not have a choice in being born. That is the selfish desire of the parents who decided, for some reason or another, that they needed offspring. Even if that offspring is not actually needed in current day society; where humans are constantly increasing in number. Mostly, it is to fuel their own primary instincts. The fact that people will eventually build social networks is essentially because you have to; dont do it and you WILL be victimized at some point in time. And what happens then? People that start calling you everything such as coward if you want to end it. Not everyone is happy with the obligation to follow the masses.

I think it is okay for someone to commit suicide. It is their choice. They have a right to live, but they have the right to die as well. The world is not as easy that you can compare one's situation to that of an other, especially not if they live in different cultures (I find the earlier 3rd world comparison to be silly by the way). The only thing I would like to add is that they at least try not to involve others. If you go out, you can just as well go out clean without traumatizing a train driver or anything.

 

[Mozared]

Killing yourself does not get rid of your problems- it only dumps them on someone else. It's an admission that you think it's too much work to try improving a bad situation, so you're going to escape it via eternal sleep and hope that the people left around you can do a better job than you did.

Suppose you owe a massive debt, or your friends/relatives just died, or you're suffering from any other problem on earth (save a terminal disease.) How does committing suicide show yourself as being responsible instead of cowardly, in ANY way?

That's the point. You're acting as if the person in question can easily fix his problems and pick his life back up. A person like that is unlikely to commit suicide in the first place as usually their will to live will be that much stronger. I'm talking about people here who have one hell of life. Even if you can't imagine it, they exist - imagine you've been working in the mines in some Chinese off province 18 hours a day for a year or 10 now. Is it 'selfish' to commit suicide if you know with a good certainty that you cannot fix the problems and that you will remain your current situation?

People who actually do it are usually the ones who are that far down. If all it takes is taking back control of yourself and 'fixing it all', people who even have the plans to commit suicide usually don't get near that point. People generally aren't going to kill themselves over a huge debt or something relatively simple like that.

Edit: Basically, what Credia above me said. I completely agree.

 

[MaskedMori]

After reading about 5 pages of replies, it strikes me as odd that people literally think that the only people committing suicide are the people who are depressed, have a temporary problem or are otherwise wimps because they cannot "face" that problem.

First of all, one thing I think is wrong with this train of thought is that you are not them. Their reason for choosing to end their life is just as valid as your choice to continue it. They have a problem they MUST solve otherwise they are cowards? Did it ever cross your mind that, due to the biological differences between humans, there are very well things you CAN and they CANNOT do? Here is a simple example; a certain person has a IQ of 90; his most severe weakness is math. Does this make him a retard because he is weak at math? Apparantly, according to some of the reactions I have seen here, he would be. Not all people are able to cope with their problems, for the simple reason that they just cannot process it. Some people have a stronger mindset than others. Before starting to slap labels on people for being a coward or stupid, it would do you good to try and understand their situation first; including the way they process their information.

Second, I have seen even more replies that said they were selfish. I can very well turn that around; isnt it even more selfish of people to force others to live just to fuel their selfish desires? Sure, we could all go on about how much it would cost and all the aftereffects, but isnt that a result of a human society the person who committed suicide never choose to be part of?

I fully agree with the reasoning that people do not have a choice in being born. That is the selfish desire of the parents who decided, for some reason or another, that they needed offspring. Even if that offspring is not actually needed in current day society; where humans are constantly increasing in number. Mostly, it is to fuel their own primary instincts. The fact that people will eventually build social networks is essentially because you have to; dont do it and you WILL be victimized at some point in time. And what happens then? People that start calling you everything such as coward if you want to end it. Not everyone is happy with the obligation to follow the masses.

I think it is okay for someone to commit suicide. It is their choice. They have a right to live, but they have the right to die as well. The world is not as easy that you can compare one's situation to that of an other, especially not if they live in different cultures (I find the earlier 3rd world comparison to be silly by the way). The only thing I would like to add is that they at least try not to involve others. If you go out, you can just as well go out clean without traumatizing a train driver or anything.

Heh... I agree, it is ones choice to live or die. I think that has an exception though, a suicide should not change sombody else's life that you have responsibility for. They also have a choice to live or die and that is pretty much choosing for them.

 

[Latinidiot]

it's hard to tell. my dear friend has killed himself, out if despair. some people, who haven't felt it, might condemn it out of ignorance, but there are, as with everything, nuances. I don't respect or honor people who did this.....



nevermind, it's to nuanced to discuss on internet

 

[similar.squirrel]

I see it as the ultimate act of free will. A huge 'fuck you' to every biological urge [in most cases, anyhow].
Real freedom.

 

[Hitman 43]

Most suicides are caused by heavy series of depression. Atleast I believe so. It's certainly the wrong option to choose. I myself would never do it.

There are certain doctors of mental health, which can certainly help the depression.

 

[ThreeWords]

In my opinion, it doesn't matter. It's their life, and if they want to leave, that's their choice. It's not for me to decide that they are brave or cowardly, right or wrong

Of course, I have an opinion, but it would be different for each case, and not a generalised fact.

But even considering that I do, what does it matter? Who am I that my judgement matters?

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

I'm christian, so in my books suicide is the worst sin one may commit.... and not only because the Big Book says so, i also see suicide as supreme cowardice. I just can not think of anything in this world that would make one want to die.


Sure, sometimes life can suck monkey balls but still, things will get better, and if not, fuck it, start praying, doing good deeds and hope for the best.

Wow. Damn judgemental christian you are then. Wasn't your God supposed to be loving and caring and didn't he want the same thing from his subjects?

"Judgement is God's business, not mankinds" <-- ever heard that one before?

 

[Xvito]

It depends...

Although it's always a tad stupid.

 

[Haunted Serenity]

When someone wants to die, they usaully can't take the shame anymore and themselves are the last people they think of and they try to make everyone else's lives better by not existing. If you lose a fight and it's tradition to kill yourself or something along those lines, ok. If you are depressed and have lost your way, life isn't so bad when you get out of the rut.

I have too much expierence with this stuff....

 

[Haunted Serenity]

life can never be so bad that suicide is the right option, almost everyone who knows someone who has committed suicide wishes they could have stopped it.

i chose cowardly, because it is, simply, the quick way out, with no thought of relatives or friends' feelings

I beg to differ, usaully they hate themselves for killing themselves but they don't see any other route out. To them they can only protect the ones the love from their pain by removing to source which is them.

 

[Kingsman]

That's the point. You're acting as if the person in question can easily fix his problems and pick his life back up. A person like that is unlikely to commit suicide in the first place as usually their will to live will be that much stronger. I'm talking about people here who have one hell of life. Even if you can't imagine it, they exist - imagine you've been working in the mines in some Chinese off province 18 hours a day for a year or 10 now. Is it 'selfish' to commit suicide if you know with a good certainty that you cannot fix the problems and that you will remain your current situation?

People who actually do it are usually the ones who are that far down. If all it takes is taking back control of yourself and 'fixing it all', people who even have the plans to commit suicide usually don't get near that point. People generally aren't going to kill themselves over a huge debt or something relatively simple like that.

Edit: Basically, what Credia above me said. I completely agree.

A problem is only as impossible as people see it to be. Weren't people saying in the "prospective future tech" thread that whatever men can dream of, they can do? Hasn't that held for human innovation throughout the ages? Why is changing a social situation any more different? If you're REALLY at your absolute lowest point, where death is a reprieve, why would you just die, instead of trying something reckless in an attempt to improve your life? What can the Chinese do to you, kill you? Torture you? At the point you're talking, from what I understand, your life IS torture- it IS death. It's worth the risk (not like there's anything left to lose) to at least make an example of yourself and try to stand up for something before you're shot down again.

Believing that suicide is at all a good thing is what fuels ideas like jihad- it's okay if I die here, because I'm guaranteed paradise in the afterlife.

 

[RufusMcLaser]

Thomas Mann said something which dramatically altered my perspective on the whole affair:
?A man's dying is more his survivor's affair than his own.?
A suicide is dead, but his family and friends will have to deal with the consequences. In that light most suicides seem ill-advised, or at least very selfish.