How popular is suicide?

[Eternal Thetan]

Well said! I agree. How many people do you know that have that same position?

Most of my friends and family (about 20 people) are apathetic, or strong believers in personal freedom. They all have a "let them die if they want" attitude. In my religious life (like 5 people), all share the same belief as ne. I am the minority in my social circle.

 

[sun rise]

Do you like the idea of people freely choosing to die? This isn't a discussion about the ethics or legality of suicide but a search to see what proportion of people in society see suicide as a free choice to die. Do most people want to be able to kill themselves without being prevented by the authorities to do so? Or is the idea of freely choosing suicide a minority opinion?

That's two questions. The first question is my opinion. The second question is what I think the law should be.

I don't like the idea of suicide (with very few exceptions) because of the trauma it causes other people and from my belief that suicide just postpones dealing with issues to a future life. And suicides are tied to earth unable to move on because they have cut short their lives and have unfinished business that ties them to the physical plane.

The sole exception is someone who might fast to death, for example, for a high ideal and not for personal reasons.

I think the law can't prevent suicide but should not enable it.

 

[Jagella]

Most of my friends and family (about 20 people) are apathetic, or strong believers in personal freedom. They all have a "let them die if they want" attitude. In my religious life (like 5 people), all share the same belief as ne. I am the minority in my social circle.

I've often wondered what free suicide would be like. Would we set up firing ranges for people to shoot themselves? Others may prefer tall platforms to jump off of. Drowning and even burning might be other options. No doubt the most popular methods would involve drug overdoses.

So getting back to the topic, if suicide becomes overwhelmingly popular, then that's what we might be in for.

 

[Heyo]

No, I do not support suicide and believe society has an imperative not to support it, either. I will probably be a social worker working with vulnerable populations so it would be pretty awful of me to think suicidal people should just be allowed to off themselves. It's common practice for people threatening suicide to be forced into the psych ward and put on, at least, a 72 hour hold. The cops will make you go if they're called, regardless of if you want to or not. And you know what? Nothing about that should change.

I agree as long as you are talking about people who have a momentary lapse of reason, i.e. are not able to choose freely (which are most cases of attempted suicides).
But when it comes to "freely choosing to die" - OP, no-one and no law should hinder people who have made that free decision.

 

[Heyo]

I've often wondered what free suicide would be like. Would we set up firing ranges for people to shoot themselves? Others may prefer tall platforms to jump off of. Drowning and even burning might be other options. No doubt the most popular methods would involve drug overdoses.

If you are in the US, you forgot one popular option for assisted suicide: suicide by cop. High success rate and totally legal.

 

[Twilight Hue]

No, I do not support suicide and believe society has an imperative not to support it, either. I will probably be a social worker working with vulnerable populations so it would be pretty awful of me to think suicidal people should just be allowed to off themselves. It's common practice for people threatening suicide to be forced into the psych ward and put on, at least, a 72 hour hold. The cops will make you go if they're called, regardless of if you want to or not. And you know what? Nothing about that should change.

There's also that matter of professionals telling a perfectly healthy person that they are beyond help and ought to die.

Remember Zoraya Ter Beek? Well she is dead now. I'm sure those so called professionals are quite happy with 'healing' her as they dispose of of her corpse.

 

[Vinayaka]

Most people aren’t aware of what they’re doing, will shorten their lifespan. As they get older they’ll get wiser regarding such matters and make changes or try to.

How could they not be aware? Information on that is everywhere.

 

[Jagella]

If you are in the US, you forgot one popular option for assisted suicide: suicide by cop. High success rate and totally legal.

I'm wondering how we will deal with suicidal people if suicide becomes so popular that "majority rules." I suppose we must then allow people to take their own lives. Suicide hotlines might go out of business. Police officers would wait patiently and need to keep onlookers at bay to keep them safe from the suicidal person's body falling from the tenth floor. Coroners would then move in to take what's left of the suicide's body from the sidewalk and clean up the pavement. It would all be in a day's work.

 

[mangalavara]

I've often wondered what free suicide would be like. Would we set up firing ranges for people to shoot themselves? Others may prefer tall platforms to jump off of. Drowning and even burning might be other options. No doubt the most popular methods would involve drug overdoses.

All of that would be rather morbid. If I wanted to commit suicide, I'd choose a method that would not be gruesome and definitely would not involve drugs. I would do something worthy of a great vegetarian such as myself: I would eat 100 barrels (wooden, of course) completely filled with broccoli and butter. It might even draw spectators whom the government could charge admission fees.

 

[PureX]

Do you like the idea of people freely choosing to die? This isn't a discussion about the ethics or legality of suicide but a search to see what proportion of people in society see suicide as a free choice to die. Do most people want to be able to kill themselves without being prevented by the authorities to do so? Or is the idea of freely choosing suicide a minority opinion?

The more common suicide becomes, the more it indicates that as a collective society we are failing each other. And I find that both sad and troubling.

 

[Jagella]

The more common suicide becomes, the more it indicates that as a collective society we are failing each other. And I find that both sad and troubling.

Thanks for the commentary which I mostly agree with, but again I'd like to discuss the popularity of suicide. I used to debate at the IIDB board, but I eventually got banned there. The folks at IIDB are mostly atheists, and they overwhelmingly supported suicide as a right. When I discented with them on that issue, I soon found myself being flamed. One person there even threatened to kill me if I interfered with his compassion to put the dying out of their misery. So at least for some people, suicide is a great blessing.

 

[PureX]

Thanks for the commentary which I mostly agree with, but again I'd like to discuss the popularity of suicide. I used to debate at the IIDB board, but I eventually got banned there. The folks at IIDB are mostly atheists, and they overwhelmingly supported suicide as a right. When I discented with them on that issue, I soon found myself being flamed. One person there even threatened to kill me if I interfered with his compassion to put the dying out of their misery. So at least for some people, suicide is a great blessing.

Are you asking or telling?

I thought this thread was not supposed to be about the legality or illegality of suicide. Or even the morality of it, but only the "popularity" of it. And my only comment on the popularity of it is that as that popularity grows, it indicates to me a fundamental failure of our cultural collective to respect and nurture each other.

It's interesting that in a time and place in history that affords human beings incredible luxuries that we have never had before, that more and more of us are feeling so bad about living that we want to die. Clearly we are missing something very important about what makes our lives worth living. And it's not materialism.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I agree as long as you are talking about people who have a momentary lapse of reason, i.e. are not able to choose freely (which are most cases of attempted suicides).
But when it comes to "freely choosing to die" - OP, no-one and no law should hinder people who have made that free decision.

Society still has a duty to try to help the person and discourage suicide as much as possible. I wanted to die for years. Guess I should've been allowed to get it over with.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

There's also that matter of professionals telling a perfectly healthy person that they are beyond help and ought to die.

Remember Zoraya Ter Beek? Well she is dead now. I'm sure those so called professionals are quite happy with 'healing' her as they dispose of of her corpse.

That's just evil. They have no business in the healthcare profession.

 

[Twilight Hue]

---

That's just evil. They have no business in the healthcare profession.

Yep. Only 29 years old and in perfect physical health. Doctors helped her die.

She Was 29. And Doctors Helped Her Die.

I told Zoraya ter Beek I understood her suffering, but hoped she would decide to live.

www.thefp.com

I still think that if you want to off yourself then by all means you're free to do it but not when it comes to so called medical professionals encouraging her to do it by saying she's essentially beyond help.

When it comes to suicide I think foremost in my mind would be Japan, where suicide has been pretty much the norm in this country , but even now in this day the Japanese themselves are just trying very hard to discourage it.

Suicide prevention in Japan: a public health priority

The Japanese government has prioritized nationwide efforts to promote a comprehensive suicide prevention strategy to realize a society in which no one takes their own life. From 2006 to 2022, the suicide rate has fallen by more than 35%, reflecting, in part, the impact of the national suicide...

www.who.int

 

[Koldo]

Society still has a duty to try to help the person and discourage suicide as much as possible. I wanted to die for years. Guess I should've been allowed to get it over with.

There are, roughly speaking, two groups of reasons as to why people suicide. One of them is the group of solvable problems and the other is the truly unsolvable problems.

The former often only requires some money to be solved, while the latter can't be fixed by any ammount of money in the world.

The way we treat both groups should be completely different. We should always prevent people from suiciding for solvable problems, and we should, as a rule of thumb, support people that want to suicide because of truly unsolvable problems.

Just to make myself clear: If Joe doesn't have money to buy food, medication or to put a roof above his head, that is never an unsolvable problem. The society/State's unwilligness to solve a problem has no relevancy to determine whether a problem is solvable.

And since people often have to deal with a mix of problems, it is essential to understand that even though people might attribute their desire to suicide due to an unsolvable problem, what might actually be pushing them over the edge are the solvable ones that are overwhelming them, making them unable to deal with the truly unsolvable ones.

 

[Heyo]

Society still has a duty to try to help the person and discourage suicide as much as possible. I wanted to die for years. Guess I should've been allowed to get it over with.

Did you have a good reason? Something like an incurable disease that would let you live in pain for the rest of your life?

 

[Heyo]

Society still has a duty to try to help the person and discourage suicide as much as possible. I wanted to die for years. Guess I should've been allowed to get it over with.

Did you have a good reason? Something like an incurable disease that would let you live in pain for the rest of your life?

 

[Balthazzar]

Do you like the idea of people freely choosing to die? This isn't a discussion about the ethics or legality of suicide but a search to see what proportion of people in society see suicide as a free choice to die. Do most people want to be able to kill themselves without being prevented by the authorities to do so? Or is the idea of freely choosing suicide a minority opinion?

I don't know and I would not be qualified to speak for anyone other than myself, so that's what I will do. I don't think it matters much to people how other people feel about something and that may be the point, as opposed to the point of the semi colin, which to me suggests someone who seriously thought about ending it and chose not to.

It has become a somewhat popular tattoo choice by quite a few people.

 

[libre]

Albert Camus wrote: “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest — whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories — comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer.”

I think that most people in the world have made that judgment -- that life is definitely worth living -- and do everything in their power to continue living. But surely, that seems to be also the most subjective of all philosophical questions, because in answering it, we are answering with "whether my life is or is not worth living to me." How on earth would any of us be able to answer that question for anybody else?

The other existentialists tried to answer questions of suicide in a more satisfying way in my opinion.

Sartre thought that suicide had no meaning could be demonstrated on the level of ontology - as per his work in Being and Nothingness.
Suicide can only take on meaning only in relation to the future, from this he concludes it could only have meaning if the attempt failed.