Suicidal Thoughts?

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Steve Levicoff, Sep 11, 2019.

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  1. Steve Levicoff

    Steve Levicoff Well-Known Member

    I’d like to wish everyone a happy National Suicide Prevention Month. To celebrate, we have been treated today to news of two prominent suicides.

    First, the suicide of Jarid Wilson, an associate pastor of the Harvest Church (for you California evangelicals, that’s Greg Laurie’s church) who was active in mental health advocacy and suicide prevention. Story at https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/11/us/megachurch-pastor-mental-health-suicide/index.html.

    Second is the suicide of Gregory Eells, director of counseling and psychological services at the University of Pennsylvania, story at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/head-mental-health-services-university-pennsylvania-dies-suicide-n1052156?cid=referral_taboolafeed.

    I have to admit that both cases remind me of McKrae Game, the prominent conversion therapy dude who recently came out of his gay closet. (Kizmet recently cited an article at https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/founder-of-conversion-therapy-organization-comes-out-as-gay-and-apologizes about this.)

    As you can obviously tell, I enjoy good suicide jokes as much as, say, good Holocaust jokes. Yeah, I know . . . I’m sometimes tasteless. But funny is funny. So here’s my favorite suicide song, from the TV series Smash (the song begins at 1:38):



    (Oh, just to prevent any rumors arising from the subject line, I am personally not suicidal at all. I realize some of you might be disappointed in that, but as they say, you’ll get over it.) :D
     
  2. GregWatts

    GregWatts Active Member

    Interestingly, in other than cases of clear mental illness, I've encountered few Christians anxious to die so they can meet Jesus. Just an observation.
     
  3. Steve Levicoff

    Steve Levicoff Well-Known Member

    I concur. In fact, in cases where mass suicides in groups that have professed to be Christian have occurred (Jim Jones and the People’s Temple, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, Marshall Applewhite and Heaven’s Gate), the leaders have either professed to be prophets or to be God.

    Then there are those who have whacked out interpretations of Philippians 1:21 (y'all can look it up). Go figure . . .
     
  4. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    One of my Union seminars was on Suicidology and the Arts. It was interesting to learn the main archetypes of suicide, and to make the distinction between someone who is a suicide and someone who actually attempts it. Oh, and to bust the myth that those who talk about it don't do it. It's the reverse: those who talk about it are much more likely to attempt it.

    Then there is the positive correlation between gun ownership rates and successful suicides.
     
  5. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  6. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  7. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    SteveFoerster likes this.
  8. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  9. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Between the police and military, I've known many people who have committed suicide. It's never made sense, and I no longer try to make sense of it. My rationale is that they were in a very dark place where I've never been, and hope to never be, so I try to not judge them, and hope they found the peace they desperately wanted.
     
    SteveFoerster likes this.
  10. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    • The rate of suicide is highest in middle-age white men in particular.
    • White males accounted for 69.67% of suicide deaths in 2017.
    • In 2017, men died by suicide 3.54x more often than women
    Source: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/

    :(
     
  11. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

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