What is your stance on suicide?

[Aseaxles]

For my inaugural thread on this forum I thought it best to choose something light and fluffy, so here it is; What is your opinion on suicide?

 

By this I mean, how do you feel the act weighs on the moral scales? Is it acceptable? Is it selfish, selfless, part of the right to self-ownership? Do their loved ones have a right to see them live? When is and when isn't it a conscious and contemplated decision, or an emotional and perhaps more neurotic reaction to stress and heartbreak? Might one lead to the other? Your thoughts, please.

[Collective Foal]

Attempted suicide is only considered a crime so that you can be detained and held in safety while you're tested and/or treated. Killing oneself is not a proper response to man's need to live, so it's ruled as an extremely abnormal behavior. In hopes that the abnormal behavior is reversible by either therapy or medication, attempting individuals are simply being given the best chance possible to not waste their life, as it is the most precious gift you've ever received.

 

I believe that anybody who wants to commit suicide should be counseled and helped if doing so will prevent them from carrying out the act. However, my stipulation is that people who are suffering from terminal illnesses, are brain-dead, or are in a vegetative state from diseases like Alzheimer's, have every right to have the plug pulled upon their own wishes, even if their family doesn't think they should, as it is a matter of one's own right to their body. If I couldn't remember my own sister's face or I was in constant pain or I was simply a mass on a bed, unable to think, I can't think of anything I'd rather be than dead.

[BTGBullseye]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSzz-t7ywVM

 

Watch it.

[Aseaxles]

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

 

To be honest I was waiting for someone to brighten the mood a little. Just because we're talking about something like suicide doesn't mean we have to be depressing about it.

 

Also, well said Foal, I think I'd agree with much of that, though I'm not sure of how much of a gift life is if it could be anything from a 5 million dollar check to a spring-loaded fist that dispenses mustard gas while laughing at you. But I guess it's like Christmas in that respect.

 

I think I'd contend that you have the permanent right to your life and to take it, even if that's the last thing most people would want to do. Most people would have a hard time justifying it and wouldn't want to anyway, unless they lived with chronic pain (or my friend who shall only be referred to hereafter as Cuddles). The problem is when all too often something traumatic happens and the person in question goes for a knife or a Jersey Shore marathon, when in truth they don't really want to kill themselves at all and just want to escape from pain. These people, the majority, should definitely be helped however possible to alleviate their pain (it can be a clingy bastard) and lead a good life. What I'm slowly getting to is that it's a sort of liberty everyone should have, just one that most people aren't terribly fond of exercising, and rightly so.

 

Any more thoughts? Some topics yet to be discussed like euthanasia and assisted suicide, as well as the impact a suicide can have on loved ones, are definitely worth considering.

[dashofweak]

For me, it depends. But aside from that here's an even bigger question: if suicide is illegal or the person viewed doing it is "selfish" does that mean in reality we don't have true control over our bodies and have little to know freedom to do what we want. Especially for people who are on their death bed and want nothing more than to die. Since it is illegal, in many states, to kill yourself does this mean none of us really have ANY control over what we do or where we want to go?

[Doublenature]

I think that you should be allowed to do anything you want as long as it doesnt harm anyone else. So basically, if you have a family and decide to take your own life, then you are going to hurt them.

At the same time I feel that if a person does not want to go on living then they should not be forced to do so.

 

But as previously mentioned in this thread, suicide is probably the weirdest thing that you can do since it goes against our strongest goal in life: surviving.

I dont like to say that people are mentally ill because I really dont think that anyone should be able to decide if another person is "wrong" in their head but people who are suicidal are not "sane". I have myself been suicidal and it was pretty clear that I was not sane during that period. (not sure if suicidal is the right term, I was depressed as fuck and I was close to taking my life a few times, not sure where the limit between depressed and suicidal goes tbh)

[BTGBullseye]

not sure where the limit between depressed and suicidal goes tbh

The line is when you start to have serious thoughts and urges to end your own life. Regular thoughts about ending self-life, and passing urges (there and gone before you recognize them) are perfectly normal, and not considered suicidal.

 

Honestly I've been suicidal a few times... Once it was just that I couldn't find the bullets before my parents got home... I had it all planned out too; .22 caliber rifle, through the lower jaw into the skull, while laying in the bathtub so it wasn't messy. Fortunately, I got past that, and now losing a job, and being unable to get a new one for months or years is normal, so I'm not suicidal about it.

[Jek Jek Roo]

I'm gonna say this: it surely doesn't solve any problem in such person's life.

[Arkady]

I'm gonna say this: it surely doesn't solve any problem in such person's life.

 

What life? When you commit suicide, you don't have any problems anymore.

[GordonFreeman]

I'm gonna say this: it surely doesn't solve any problem in such person's life.

 

What life? When you commit suicide, you don't have any problems anymore.

I think that means that committing suicide solves your problems the same way flipping the table does. You can't win, but you cant lose, and now you can't play.

[Doom Shepherd]

I encourage it. More resources for the strong.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Guest (see edit history)

[BTGBullseye]

To each their own...

[Alyxx Thorne]

For me it's extremely situational and depends very much on the person. I never think suicide is natural nor do I think it is morally right or should be encouraged. I see suicide as the last resort, the final outcome of a life situation that never got resolved or improved and it's always very sad for me to hear about it cause you know at that point it is too late to do anything.

[Aseaxles]

Hm, I didn't think I'd actually get a thread rolling. (Maybe the blight of my presence isn't as strong as I thought.) I noticed a chap up there mentioned free will (of a kind), how about another thread on that?

 

Anyway, I don't think it should be encouraged either, but I'd think it's justifiable in some circumstances. If some people are truly in such inescapable suffering, nonexistence (or some form of inevitable afterlife if you prefer) I'd think is preferable over hell, and to keep someone in such a state, ironically out of compassion, is one of the least compassionate things you could do. Now to lighten the mood I wrote this in yellow. BE HAPPY DAMNIT!! After all, death is universal, and what better would it be for another 10 or 20 years of pain before the same result? However, I'd have to stress this isn't at all true for most people, but being depressed they can easily think it is which I think we all agree on so really it's rather pointless for me to restate it but I like to have my metaphorical voice heard and ramble on for awhile until everyone loses patience at my lack of commas. Bear in mind I'm not including religious views on suicide, what with Christianity and others condemning it, that shifts the tables somewhat. Also bear in mind I've been suicidal for about half a year myself, properly suicidal mind you, and severely depressed for well over a year, though then again I'm not sure if that lends more or less credence to my view.

[Xalder]

Truly the entire situation is subjective as well as situational. If someone I know was contemplating suicide, I'd do everything in my power to stop it, but with the understanding that if they were to succeed, I can be content with the idea that they are better off as a result. As a whole, suicide is just one of those ways a person can die. Plain and simple. It's one of the more tragic ways to go, but again, one can only hope that they truly are better off for it.