shocking lack of compassion - suicide online (ethics, death, vs)

[katzenfreund]

While a young man committed suicide, people egged him on and made jokes...
this is really sickening... is this how little compassion show for other human beings anymore?

Florida teen commits suicide in front of webcam - Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-webcam-suicide22-2008nov22,0,2749143.story - broken link)

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by katzenfreund

While a young man committed suicide, people egged him on and made jokes...
this is really sickening... is this how little compassion show for other human beings anymore?

Florida teen commits suicide in front of webcam - Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-webcam-suicide22-2008nov22,0,2749143.story - broken link)

This is absolutely appalling.

[th3vault]

Sad. The value of the "entertainment" for the viewers was more important to their selfish minds than the fact that another person was dying. Very sad.

[Chatteress]

This is an example of how our society has become more callous to the suffering of others. We don't value life anymore as a society.

[harborlady]

katzen I'm afraid this is the product of trolls/snerts crying wolf so often that people become hardened to what's real vs what isn't.

Similarly, hear enough stories in neurotic news of good Samaritans getting bludgeoned to death helping a scam flat tire or an infant on a doorstep used to gain entry for a break in... it really does erode at good will toward man.

[R.J. MacReady]

I read that yesterday and was deeply saddened. Distrubing that people were calling him names and telling him to do it Very sad.

[katzenfreund]

I wonder if people are becoming less caring to those in trouble, or have always been this way and it is just now more out in the open.

This is just so sad. I can't imagine egging someone on, even if I thought they were "faking" it for attention.

[harborlady]

Already saw this happen in chatrooms years back... some are more concerned about being thought a fool for getting duped than giving the benefit of the doubt. Yes, that's tragic.

[R.J. MacReady]

Originally Posted by katzenfreund

I wonder if people are becoming less caring to those in trouble, or have always been this way and it is just now more out in the open.

This is just so sad. I can't imagine egging someone on, even if I thought they were "faking" it for attention.

I agree. How you can treat sombody in obvious pain so badly is beyond me. I can't believe people would actually egg him on even if they thought it was joke. Suicide is no laughing matter. Yes some people use it for attention but most are truly hurting inside and need help from somebody. To tell them to go through with it and call them names just boggles my mind. It really made me sad to read the article

[goldengrain]

I am very much in favor of women working, but when society changed so that most woman now must work, then the kids born into some households who require extra monitoring and perhaps more bonding with parents are left by the wayside to fend for themselves.

I remember people commenting on some Slavic authors as being nihilistic. I used to think it was, in part, because of kids being dropped off in day care and both parents working. I think the same thing is happening here. Some children do not feel that they have loving, engaged parents. They develop their own code of ethics.

Some kids just need a lot more attention than others and now there is nobody available to supply that.

I cannot imagine how many more of these unwanted, uncared for kids would be with us if women did not have the choice of whether or not to have them.