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Status:
"Moldy Tater Gangrene, even before Moscow Marge."
(set 22 hours ago)
Location: Dallas, TX
5,790 posts, read 3,599,037 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by homenj
Am I the only one who is dumbfounded by this?
Absolutely I'd say so - especially given the strong (IMO profoundly unjustified stigma against) cowards. That's like looking down on a weak person getting attacked, losing the fight, and getting looked down upon for that reason alone - regardless if he or she did anything to start the fight.
First, there's the fact that each circumstance leading to suicide ideation is unique. Second, some people simply have more capacity to resist than others. Third, that capacity itself is shaped by a combination of brain structure and life experiences (I don't know neurology well, but I'd be very surprised if one didn't influence the other). Fourth, there's strong social stigma against mental illness, or even admitting "weakness" itself. Conceding that will, at least in the patient's mind, give pseudo-confirmation of his or her worthlessness given the link between admitting mental pain, "weakness", and worthiness of contempt. In effect, admitting he or she is not that strong is practically killing their own self-esteem and sense of self-worth.
That said, I do think a person with suicide ideation shouldn't just rush into it, for their acts very likely will have a profoundly negative emotional impact on their families and friends. It also means that they can't contribute to badness reduction after they're dead. I think only in cases where their mental illness is incurable even with modern methods and medicine could their suicide even be arguably the "least bad" thing.
Still, that psychology professor was being very unprofessional and even cruel - especially given the strong stigma against cowardice (as though cowardice is a deliberate willful attempt to hurt or degrade others).
People who say those who commit suicide are cowards are themselves a**holes. It can take great courage to override one's biological programming for self-preservation to end an existence that is characterized by only pain and distress. Some people choose to end their lives because of horrible, chronic pain. Some people just lose interest in this world. I think those who are so harshly critical of suicide are personally insulted by those who no longer think this life is "all that." They are troubled by the thought that anyone should want to leave this world, a world that they have so much emotion and value invested in.
I’m not sure if you are the only one, but I agree that suicide is cowardly. It is a long term solution to a short term problem. It is very selfish and does not think of the wreckage the person leaves behind.
The person committing suicide does not seem to care who will find them, and the damage it will cause.
My friend’s first husband committed suicide. It was she who found him, but it could just as easily have been their young child.
I've always wondered that if people are primarily concerned with their own reaction to someone's suicide, just how concerned were they with the actual person who was in so much pain that they were thinking about or carried out their suicide? Perhaps that was a contributing factor - even if only one of many.
Exactly. And that is just the point - they don't give a damn about other people and their affect on them. That is selfish, any way you slice it. By definition, when you don't care about others, you are selfish.
If people want to commit suicide, they will. But they should know that it has bad effects on other people.
I pray that everyone who is in emotional, physical, or spiritual pain will do whatever is possible to help themselves heal to the point where they will not want to escape (and in the links above, there is talk that there really IS no escape).
Have you ever considered YOUR position as selfish? You are demanding that people continue enduring a miserable, painful life just to spare you some soul-searching. Maybe it's a way for some to feel tougher than those who's pain becomes more powerful than the will to live. A weak person's imitation of strength.
You probably are the only one. Suicide is not only a cowardly act, but a very selfish act. The person doesn't think at all what his/her act will do to all the people they leave behind.
How selfish is it to demand someone continue to live in misery just to spare others some emotional distress? Consider someone with chronic pain, year after year until it becomes unbearable. Do you really demand that said person should continue living in such misery? Who is really selfish here?
People who say those who commit suicide are cowards are themselves a**holes. It can take great courage to override one's biological programming for self-preservation to end an existence that is characterized by only pain and distress. Some people choose to end their lives because of horrible, chronic pain. Some people just lose interest in this world. I think those who are so harshly critical of suicide are personally insulted by those who no longer think this life is "all that." They are troubled by the thought that anyone should want to leave this world, a world that they have so much emotion and value invested in.
Up to this point this has been a very mature discussion among people with differing opinions about suicide. Then someone comes along and calls those in disagreement with him "a**holes" and takes the discussion to a whole new level..................down to the bottom. There's always "that ONE person" who cannot abide someone having a differing opinion than his own.
Up to this point this has been a very mature discussion among people with differing opinions about suicide. Then someone comes along and calls those in disagreement with him "a**holes" and takes the discussion to a whole new level..................down to the bottom. There's always "that ONE person" who cannot abide someone having a differing opinion than his own.
When those "differing opinions" use words like "cowards" to describe those in great pain, yeah the invective is appropriate.
He sounds not so sympathetic to emotions ironically, but it could be part of what he said out of context so it sounds weird?
For example one someone commits suicide I feel it is selfish and that word is misunderstood in my opinion. Selfish is not a choice it is a mental state, mental illness puts one in a selfish mindset. I still have sympathy for those who are so inward looking (selfish) that they would commit suicide.
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