re: What are your thoughts on people who commit suicide?

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What are your thoughts on people who commit suicide?

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If only everyone was more judgmental toward the mentally ill

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You'll notice that I clarified the statement to be more about society at large than about suicide.

Who am I to judge NAMBLA?
Who am I to judge ISIS?

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Who am I to judge NAMBLA?

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since man/boy love is not a choice, shouldn't it be cool?

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since man/boy love is not a choice, shouldn't it be cool?

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Let's ask Owlie.

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What are your thoughts on people who commit suicide?

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Suicide is an inherently irrational and stupid act, subject to exceptions, such as a case where the person is dying already from a painful terminal illness and chooses to go on his own terms and avoid a lot of suffering or a person who sacrifices himself to save others, etc. Unless it is one of the exceptional circumstances that could actually make it a rational act, my first thought on people who commit suicide is that they are being irrational and stupid.

From a moral standpoint, it's more complicated and depends on the circumstances.

If you have no dependents, then your life is yours to do with as you please, even including the irrational and stupid act of ending it. There is no moral obligation to live if you don't want to.

If you have dependents, the situation is more complicated. It's probably immoral to some degree in any circumstances where you have dependents, but how they came to be dependent on you may possibly affect whether you can make some convoluted rationalization to justify suicide.

If it's a person who voluntarily hitched their wagon to a bad horse despite being given fair warning, then maybe you can convince yourself that it's OK to leave them behind. If it's a person who innocently relied on false representations from you that you would be there for them, then it's harder to justify. If it's a person who had no choice in the matter, such as your child, then I don't see how even the most delusional mind could justify abandoning them like that.

They must really feel alone and completely lost to do such a thing. I do wonder how many that do commit suicide are also drunk as hell or drugged up at the time.

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That David Wallace quote doesn't sit well with me. I find it hard to compare those who commit suicide and those who were stuck in the twin towers. That's basically his comparisons, and once again it isn't fair.

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He's not comparing the two directly, at all. He's using the flames as a metaphor. The people who jumped from the towers chose the jump instead of the flames. He's saying people choose suicide over the fear of the flames they feel in life, whatever unbearable stress it may be.

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Well luckily I don't know what it's like to have any of these parties around me commit suicide. I do know families that have gone through it, most recently a father who did it, leaving a very loving wife and 2 young children who are undoubtedly scarred for life because he couldn't handle it. It IS selfish and they've all gone through years of therapy because of it. These children have essentially grown to hate him and his memory because of what he did to them. It was probably THE most selfish thing this guy could have possibly done to them. I won't change my tune to that, and I doubt the family he abandoned will either.

You cannot commit suicide without being selfish. It's completely part of the equation. There is scores of damage that suicide inflicts throughout a family. It all ends for the victim but for those who are left, it's just the beginning of a lifetime of pain. How is that not the embodiment of selfishness?

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It's the "no sympathy" Part I was really talking about.