Knowing jack shit about what Williams was thinking or feeling, I can only feel sad. It’s unfortunate that The Academy’s twitter post or any similar expression must be interpreted as “a formula for potential contagion,” a tipping point for those on edge, when the real problem is obviously what’s causing young people or any person to be on edge in the first place.
I think the greater danger here is the stance taken by the AFSP, the authoritarian attitude that “Suicide is never an option.” It may be well-intentioned but vulnerable people need real understanding; I don’t know how many people have been pushed further away by condemnation that suicide is selfish or that it is never an option: don’t even think about it. That’s harmful and that’s what people banding together against the tweet may not understand. I think the tweet is as dangerous as saying that someone is “in a better place” or talking about there being “peace” in the afterwards. And that may influence vulnerable people; I can’t deny that. Can we have a more honest conversation about all of it instead of summoning ultimate authority and censuring honest expression?
Suicide has a long history. It has been many things to many people over thousands of years and there is value in understanding the various thought processes that lead to such an act. Rebuking a positive expression of grief such as “Genie, you’re free.” with the commandment that “Suicide should never be presented as an option. That’s a formula for potential contagion.” is incredibly disheartening.
Robin Williams’s daughter, Zelda, posted this:
Might not that sentiment also violate the AFSP’s standards for public health?
You know how I feel. That kind of reaction is more harmful than good. What do you think?
I have spent a great deal of time thinking about this over the last couple of days.
I have lost friends to suicide (and murder for that matter) and I do believe it
is a selfish act but with that said, I support one’s right to commit suicide,
(and abortion for the same reasons) I believe pain, be it internal or external,
is a terrible way to live. I have back issues and have pain pretty much every day, for
many years now and I can tell you pain limits your life in ways you don’t even understand
if you don’t have pain. Every action or event I plan has to be with my back issues in mind.
If I am invited someplace, I have to think about the situation and what it might do for my back.
Every action I take is taken with my thinking about my back, every situation, every action.
At some point in time, if my back pain becomes too great, I might consider ending my life,
but that action if needed would be in the future but given that I too am in daily pain,
I can understand those who suffer internal pain where there is no relief or remedy.
I can at least take a Vicodin and get temporary relief whereas internal pain such as
depression doesn’t have such a pill. To those who say, learn to manage your pain, are
clearly people who don’t have such pain issues. Managing pain is far easier in theory
than in practice and far harder to accomplish.
Was Mr. Williams wrong in acting as he did, I can’t say, but I understand why he did it and
I support (if that is really the right word here) his actions.
Ever heard the phrase, “there no such thing as bad publicity?”
All it takes to promote something, like suicide, is to keep talking about it. It doesn’t matter what you say about it, as long as you keep it on the minds of weakened, confused people (just about everyone these days). Add a touch of drug use, financial problems, government problems, medical problems, misery of the world, death of friends, government and media incentives, or loss of the good in life, and the last thought concerning “what can I do” takes over.
That is what he meant by “a contagion”.
The “carrier” is the horde of people so careless as to keep talking about it.
So we should stay silent about many things because it might, might, cause people
to act in such a way? Silence is complicity. Bringing words, acts, taboo’s into the light
takes away their strengths and allows people a clear view into such actions.
Hiding, silence, ignoring is not the solution for anything. to be free is to be open and
honest and clear.
A man with enough money and influence to do whatever he wants, and what he wants to do is die.
There’s no way in hell that’s a healthy mind making decision we should be ‘respecting’.
It IS a contaigion. If you romanticize something, if you declare that it’s morally netural, if you ‘respect people’s decisions’ to do it, if you make it easier and more acceptable, then guess what? You get more of it. This is not unique to suicide, it is the way of the universe, of all things. And what’s more, nobody who has posted in this thread or who ever will post in this thread needs to be told what I just said, because we all already know. And yet, we strategically forget this truth when there is some political argument to be had. There’s a lot of political capital invested in the idea that anything a person chooses to do is somehow sacred, and cannot be criticized except in the most selfishly dire circumstances.
I reject the slippery slope argument, if you do weed, it leads to harder drugs,
and if you drink beer it leads to the hard stuff, and Nixon’s argument of
if you allow Vietnam to become communist then all of southeast asia will become
communist. Just about every single slippery slope argument has failed because it is
about the universal and misses the individual aspect of life. People act in individual ways,
not universal ways. If you talk about suicide it increases suicide. I reject that argument for
the simple reason it is done not for universal reasons, but private ones, individual ones.
One of the arguments against gay marriage is by making it legal, everyone would want one,
but the truth is, it only gives permission to those who are already gay, it doesn’t become
a universal truth, but a private one. I find it interesting that those on the right argue against
such private individuals truths as being gay and suicide whereas those on the left believe
the freedom to act as an individual sees fit. In other words, the left is fighting for freedom
of actions, the supposed calling card of the right. Private actions should remain private
and public actions are subject to the public whereas the right rejects this and declares
the private is subject to the public and the public should be private.
Thus the right approves laws banning gay marriage and suicide but want
less government in regards to public matters such as education and taxes.
The left wants more government action in public matters such as education and taxes
and less government actions in private matter such as gay marriage and suicide.
I respect RW actions because it is a private matter and a question of individual choice
which should be in the wheelhouse of the right, but isn’t because they are actually against
private freedom.
So you think this thread is irresponsible? What the hell? Am I just supposed to avoid talking about things I don’t understand because it’s adding to “publicity”?
By all means, let’s talk about suicide. Let’s talk about how evil and selfish and stupid and petty it is, and maintain a society where people don’t see it as a viable option in any case. We need more talk like that.
Why? So you can sit on your high horse and turn up your nose at people more desperate than you? I would never want to be part of such a shallow society. We need more understanding and less pontificating.
Thank you for adding this to the thread. I think it is a very complex thing to talk about but I think mature communication emphasizes the value of being on earth and understanding one another. I believe shutting others down and enforcing silence on hte subject only adds to the confusion and isolation people feel.
I gave you an explanation up front. You twisted it into a strawman and then asked a question. After I answered, you wanted a more direct answer. I have given that as well.
But I can accept that you are incapable of being responsible, so no explanation is going to change anything. Spread your disease with joy.
