Sports writer kills himself, leaves behind website describing how and why

I've always thought it's incredibly selfish of people to want their loved ones to stay around who are living in misery. If you REALLY loved them you'd be compassionate and understanding. "Suicide is selfish for leaving your loved ones behind" is just such utter bullshit guilt to me. It's akin to people being anti-abortion while pro-cutting childcare/health/etc services to the bone.

I was expecting to see he'd been diagnosed with parkinsons or gehrigs or some debilitating mostly untreatable condition.

While I do think there are situations where assisted suicide (or just straight up suicide) is a justifiable option... it sounds like he jumped the gun.

Done is done he made his choice it was his choice to make et cetera... but after seeing that he didn't have an -actual- reason to do it beyond fear of aging or just outright fear I stopped reading his manifesto.

That's all it is. A killers manifesto.

I love how people hate on suicide because it's 'selfish'. The entirety of modern western capitalism, our fucking way of life, from love to work to everything in between, isbuilt on selfishness.

Dumar_sl said:

I love how people hate on suicide because it's 'selfish'. The entirety of modern western capitalism, our fucking way of life, from love to work to everything in between, isbuilt on selfishness.

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Life itself is built on being selfish. Every act people do is for self gain.

"Suicide is selfish" doesn't apply unless you're leaving minor children behind. Your life is yours alone. If you deem it unworthy of continuing, no one has a right to say you should continue in misery. Maybe most people still have a chance at turning things around, which makes suicide a tragedy, but it has nothing to do with selfishness

He didn't think 9/11 was a conspiracy. Thanks for doing the world a favor.

I only did a lazy browse of his blog so I can't say too much, but it seemed like he was a reasonable person who decided when he wanted his life to end. At the very least he is going to open a dialogue on a subject which we should have started talking about a long time ago. Good for him.

Ichu_sl said:

I only did a lazy browse of his blog so I can't say too much, but it seemed like he was a reasonable person who decided when he wanted his life to end. At the very least he is going to open a dialogue on a subject which we should have started talking about a long time ago. Good for him.

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Having known children, wives and friends of people who have done something similiar - I'm going to go with screw him. Suicide screws them all up, especially the kids. Tolerance of suicide is not a good thing.

I only skimmed but he hoarded gold and silver and thought we were headed towards financial collapse, I think he just watched too much Glenn Beck.

Plus, suicide isn't selfish. No one wants to be old and worthless.

Meh, a little conflicted on this one I guess. I too know, well, five people now that have killed themselves and that's a little scary right there. Two I knew well enough that it stayed with me a good while and honestly, I'm pretty cold when it comes to that sort of thing.

So, narcissistic? Obviously. Selfish? Of course.

Still, although I could honestly just never imagine taking my own life I do think people should be able to do so without undue condemnation. If someone finds themselves in a situation or circumstance where they no longer want to live then I do think they should spend some time working on their problems rather than taking the chickenshit way out but hey, that's entirely up to them in the end. After all, once they are dead the opinions of the rest of us don't exactly matter anymore now do they?

As a society we need to discourage it of course but that's another matter entirely.

He didn't have a good reason, but it is a right of self-determination which should not be denied--discouraged, sure, but denied, no.

Everybody, or almost everybody, goes through down periods, some people go through major depressions. If we let people kill themsevelves just because they feel bad a lot of people would be dying long before they should. I'm opposed to abortion, suicide and the death penalty - not because there aren't any criminals who don't deserve to die, or that someone grappling with a painful wasting cancer deserves to endure that pain until he naturally pops off, or because the odd girl isn't getting pregnant from daddy or Mr. Rapist, but because we can't draw grey areas so if the only thing we can do is draw a bright line, then I'm going to side on keeping shit alive, versus letting it die.

tad10_sl said:

If we let people kill themsevelves

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It's none of your business, stay out of it. I agree with nixing the death penalty (for a different reason) but still, that's something you DO TO someone. Abortion and suicide is a choice one makes. Who the fuck are you to tell me what I can do with my own life? (not that I'm suicidal)

OneofOne_sl said:

It's none of your business, stay out of it.

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Of course it's my business. There are societal wide effects from a casual attitude towards death. Sure the media has a huge responsiblity for the various post-Colombine attacks, but so does the increasing blase attitude we have towards death in all its forms. It's a slippery slope.

Oh, I don't think it is necessarily a casual attitude at all though. At least the suicides I've known personally all did so for what they felt were good reasons and not because they were momentarily depressed or felt that life was cheap.

The attitude towards suicide need not be reflected in the attitude towards murder or abortion if you feel that abortion is murder. A personal choice to stop living is about as personal as it can get.

Northerner_sl said:

At least the suicides I've known personally all did so for what they felt were good reasons and not because they were momentarily depressed or felt that life was cheap.

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I'd say that categorically anyone choosing to commit suicide probably falls under the DSM-IV definition of clinically depressed or other problematic mental condition. Oh there may be some exceptional perfectly sane Vulcan-like decision made by someone, sometime, somewhere, but I doubt it.

I'll contrast a suicide attempt with DNR orders which I think are perfectly rational.

tad10_sl said:

I'd say that categorically anyone choosing to commit suicide probably falls under the DSM-IV definition of clinically depressed or other problematic mental condition.

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Well that's just wrong. And even in a crazy, mixed-up world where that statement was correct (and it isn't), what does that even mean? A human wants to leave the world.

tad10_sl said:

Everybody, or almost everybody, goes through down periods, some people go through major depressions. If we let people kill themsevelves just because they feel bad a lot of people would bedying long before they should.I'm opposed to abortion, suicide and the death penalty - not because there aren't any criminals who don't deserve to die, or that someone grappling with a painful wasting cancer deserves to endure that pain until he naturally pops off, or because the odd girl isn't getting pregnant from daddy or Mr. Rapist, but because we can't draw grey areas so if the only thing we can do is draw a bright line, then I'm going to side on keeping shit alive, versus letting it die.

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When they should? Who decides that?

tad10_sl said:

I'd say that categorically anyone choosing to commit suicide probably falls under the DSM-IV definition of clinically depressed or other problematic mental condition. Oh there may be some exceptional perfectly sane Vulcan-like decision made by someone, sometime, somewhere, but I doubt it.

I'll contrast a suicide attempt with DNR orders which I think are perfectly rational.

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Most people who work and live by the DSM will say that the desire to commit suicide automatically defines one as having some kind of mental condition.

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Suicide does in fact impact those you leave behind quite seriously and has to be a serious consideration for someone contemplating it. However, I do hold that that there is a valid quality of life issue and people in that person's life should be considerate of as well. I agree with previous posters saying while people say someone committing suicide is terribly selfish, forcing some people to stay around because them dying would make you sad is at least as much so.