Is suicide a selfish act?

[headvoid]

The act of suicide - is it a self centred pansy wimp out?

Or is this method of thinking, in itself, a selfish thought - i.e. I am not thinking about the person who has died.

Is there less selfish ways of killing yourself - i.e. is chucking yourself off a boat in the Atlantic less selfish that hanging yourself in the spare bedroom.

I need to know, it is antagonising my already chronic insomnia.

 

[Hambil]

Suicide is a desperate and tragic act. As to it's selfishness, how can we judge such a thing without knowing the pain of the one who chose it. I believe our energy should be on preventing the act, not judging after the fact.

 

[Sarek]

The act of suicide - is it a self centred pansy wimp out?

Or is this method of thinking, in itself, a selfish thought - i.e. I am not thinking about the person who has died.

Is there less selfish ways of killing yourself - i.e. is chucking yourself off a boat in the Atlantic less selfish that hanging yourself in the spare bedroom.

I need to know, it is antagonising my already chronic insomnia.

Try it and then submit a 2000 page essay on your findings.

 

[headvoid]

Thanks for your sensitive response as ever, you twat.

I have witnessed the two above examples in the last 6 months.

Fuck off

 

[Sarek]

Thanks for your sensitive response as ever, you twat.

You're welcome.

I have witnessed the two above examples in the last 6 months.

I've had insomnia before. Go read a couple of Luci's posts and it will clear it right up.

Fuck off

Wow. Talk about a lack of appreciation. See if I ever help you out again.

 

[headvoid]

I hope you find your cousin, cold and blue swinging in the back bedroom.

Your such a fuckwit it makes me puke

 

[Sarek]

I hope you find your cousin, cold and blue swinging in the back bedroom.

Interesting ceiling light. Would the voltage on that be 110 or 220? I'm looking for a new ceiling fixture for the basement.

Your such a fuckwit it makes me puke

Please try and make it to the toilet. Or at least have the courtesy to clean up the floor before you leave.

Thanks you.

 

[headvoid]

I'm glad your keeping your chin held high through all of this. It suits you.

Thanks for ruining the thread, and perhaps a little discussion. I didn't want to bring up any personal experience with this, but it has shown the latent shite that hides beneath the surface of your skin.

 

[Sarek]

*sigh*

They just don't make noobs like they used too.

 

[HeroicFool]

Indeed it is selfish.

It becomes what seems like the only option when weighed against the pain of living. You want that pain to stop and there is one sure way to do that in a hurry.

Those that choose death take the quickest path to relief for themselves and they add grief to the lives of those they have left behind.

What could be more selfish than that?

 

[Hambil]

Indeed it is selfish.

It becomes what seems like the only option when weighed against the pain of living. You want that pain to stop and there is one sure way to do that in a hurry.

Those that choose death take the quickest path to relief for themselves and they add grief to the lives of those they have left behind.

What could be more selfish than that?

Asking someone to live in constant pain so you won't miss them when they're gone?

 

[HeroicFool]

True, everyone is selfish in the end..

 

[Ogami]

HeadVoid asked:

Is suicide a selfish act?

Yes, because it is a betrayal of the work one's parents suffered through to bring one into this world. It's pure selfishness to declare that one's problems are too tough and end it all. Things are tough all over, as Cheech and Chong once said. Deal with it. Live.

-Ogami

 

[headvoid]

Thanks for the response Ogami, but with respect I believe that to be a simplistic answer.

What if your parents abused you?

Hambils point is valid, but this can be argued effectively from both sides - a devils advocate would love this. I still think it's ultimately a selfish act - the person who does the deed creates the initial situation, wether you are selfishly thinking "You selfish bastard" afterwards is a response.

It does fascinate me the method people choose though - providing no body to bury could be construed as a less selfish way to commit the act. In fact it's just as bloody hard because there is no closure.

 

[Ogami]

Headvoid wrote:

What if your parents abused you?

I believe my answer is complete and correct. It's why attempted suicide is considered a crime. No one's life is so tough that suicide is the answer. Especially in today's modern world. Try reading accounts of what tough life is really like, histories of World War II, or heck, what life is like today in many third-world countries.

Life today is so easy, people who complain that life is harder now are lying to themselves. How tough was life two thousand year ago, when barbarians could come riding into your village and mount everyone's head on a stake? Or being taken and put into a lifetime of slavery? Or dying of leprosy?

There is nothing in today's life worth being suicidal over.

-Ogami

 

[Hambil]

There is nothing in today's life worth being suicidal over.

Spoken like someone with an American prospective, who's never had his genitals mutilated, or his breasts ironed to make him less attractive so he might not get raped so often.

 

[Ogami]

And Hambil apparently can't read more than one sentence at a time. I also wrote:

Try reading accounts of what tough life is really like, histories of World War II, or heck, what life is like today in many third-world countries.

 

[headvoid]

I can see your point Ogami, and it is my first reaction - also when people in the western world complain about their lot. It is a logical response - but when does logic ever come into the mind of someone contemplating suicide? I am trying to open a discussion that is beyond the very black and white world you seem to be talking about.

This does also not explain someone who has a bipolar disorder, or may have some other mental condition. How can we say they are selfish when they have diminished responsibility - that is not about "pull yourself together man, there are starving africans" - many suicide victims would be more likely to do themselves in if they were shown that level of understanding.

 

[Ogami]

Headvoid wrote:

It is a logical response - but when does logic ever come into the mind of someone contemplating suicide? I am trying to open a discussion that is beyond the very black and white world you seem to be talking about.

It is true that the nature of human intellect is analog, not digital. Our thought processes bend and flow and twist and warp, we are not logical all the time. And there can be chemical imbalances that cause suicidal thoughts. I simply stand by my point that things are tough all over, life is tough, and no one is special in that regard.

-Ogami

 

[Laker_Girl]

Let's see, I knew four people who committed suicide. When I was a freshman in high school my brother's friend was all high on heroine and tweak and flung himself off the the 14th St. bridge onto the freeway below. A fairly simple death had it not been for the big rig barreling down the 91 that snagged is falling ass mid-fall. That funeral was closed casket. I don't think the kid was being selfish, he was just all screwed up on drugs.

Four months after my brother's friend killed himself the boy's father walked out into the fields (which are now track homes, creepy) and shot himself in the head. He had two sons and a wife but he couldn't cope with the death of his "good son". He was selfish, his poor loving wife was better off with out him but his other son (who knew his father hated him) just became a bigger and bigger fuck up as the years wore on.

About 15 years later, within this same family, after his mother's death from a sudden heart attack the "bad son" got stinking drunk and decided to lay down on some train tracks to end his life, that did the trick. I don't think that was selfish, I just think that was sad.

It was so weird that that entire family unit, a family I'd known since I was 7 years old were completely gone in a matter of 23 years.

And the fourth person was someone I barely knew, a neighbor and friend of Retrotrek's. He was taking Paxil for depression. One night he tried to stab his wife so she left him, when she returned the next day to get their son's clothes she found him swinging from a rope in their garage. I don't think that was selfish considering that taking anti-depressents can cause suicidal feelings but I also don't think smoking all the dope he did and snorting all the cocaine he did helped any.