The Internet Suicide

So, it's old news now about the teen who killed himself live on the Internet...

Family Outraged Over Teen's Online Suicide, Says Viewers Of Live Webcam Overdose Should Have Acted More Quickly To Save Him - CBS News

I was watching the news last week as they covered this story and noticed the amount of outrage over the people who watched it. The anchors were seriously angry! It got me thinking...why am I not angry and absolutely disgusted at those people who watched?

It just seems to me like another thing. Roaming the sewers of yesteryear, I've seen animals brutalized among other atrocious willful acts, and I feel desensitized to the whole mess. I don't see what the fascination was in watching a kid die, but it seems like if those news anchors came onto some Internet forum and proclaimed their disgust, you'd see a backlash of "Welcome to the Internet," and "Serious business, gtfo"


Did anybody else notice this phenomenon when the news hit? What are your general feelings over the incident?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm all for it. If you're dumb enough to broadcast your suicide, you can expect SOMEONE is going to watch.

I don't really have any particular interest in watching some idiot die, but I can understand how some people would tune in just to watch the idiot go all "hardcore."

Most amazing jew boots

Yeah! Freedom and all that. The anchors, though, were appalled that noone called for help sooner. My very first thought was "Welcome to the god damn Internet, old person"

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

You are doing a fantastic job of making me hate you. Not only do you have a victim complex because you smoke but now you're going to put on your "lol internet serious business 4chan" hat and say that it's dumb for someone to be mad at this situation?

Are you actually mentally retarded, or are you just high?

How ya doing, buddy?

I don't smoke. What ever gave you that idea?

Also, did I say they were dumb for feeling that way? I don't remember saying that those people were idiots. I just told you the first thought I had.

It really speaks to a gap of people who do and do not surf things like Internet forums. I imagine the anchor was of the clique that does not, and I am of the one that does; therefore, I wonder if what I felt was a common thread of thought among forum-goers. Sass seems to generally have the same feelings...at least on some level, and that's really enough for me, since we've been here nearly as long as one another.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Tee hee you're being coy and mysterious, you're so clever~

For god's sake, just get out.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I can understand it. Apparently the dude was all attention-whore. Not the first time he did it. How many of you guys would take someone at their word that they were really gonna do it this time? Very few. Everyone'd be all cool and like "that's so fake, man wht an attention whore, I'm gonna watch so I can laugh." And then after the kid takes the pills and lies down, you'd probably be all "man that's probably like tylenol does he really think we're buying this, yeah right what a douche. Come on pussy, why don't you man up and do it for real."

ANd then after he hasn't moved in awhile,. maybe you start thinking "huh maybe this is real, but that'd be so stupid why would he do that no, this is the internet, I am macho, this is bullshit, man this guy is so gay."

You act like that's so unlikely. Welcome to the internet.

FELIPE NO

As usual, I think he's a fucking retard and I feel bad for his family who is, no doubt, wondering what, if anything, they did wrong to make him this way. Chances are he was just an emo bitch who manned up one pill too late and his family is now left to pick up the pieces.

He deserves his eternal place as crux of idiocy on Encyclopedia Dramatica through and through.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Um, unless I'm a complete moron, which I'm usually not, I don't remember the kid INTENDING to kill himself.

He just broadcasted that he was going to eat a shitload of pills and steal daddy's flask. Most of those kids that watched it happen were also dumb enough to think a person can live through that shit.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

--edit--
Just saw Zeph's post, So I guess I should ask: did he really intend on killing himself?

If he didn't, well then he's just an idiot, but it makes it more sad then stupid. If he DID intend to bite the dust, then I'll go with what I said before.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It just goes to show you how much of a generation gap their is between the people who grew up during the expansion of the internet and those that have grown up with the establishment of the internet being so much larger. It also shows how people who spent most if not all of their young life without the internet/computers. The mentality of people at different levels has changed a lot, especially with the hundreds of different ways people can now communicate to.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Part of the problem is that these kids don't know where each other live. How are they supposed to get help to the idiots who are filming themselves kick the bucket? I suppose this is why I can partly understand it but I don't think you should ever take a chance with these kinds of things because even if it's just some whiny bitch who wants attention, they might not know the severity of their own actions and end up dead by mistake.

I once read an account of an internet suicide - the kid took an insane amount of opiates (one of the about 8 doses he took was 450mg) to try and prove to the people on the forum that he was "hardcore" - and the only person who contacted him before it was too late was the only person on the forum who had his phone number. Everyone else was either saying "someone should call the cops" or telling him he was a pussy and to do it all at once. It's something like the bystander theory or syndrome, and I see it a lot even in real life where I live.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I blame it on this generation's children not going out that much anymore and confining themselves in their rooms with their online social circle and friends who they only know and recognize by their online handles and these people provide them with attention, attention they never got and they have sought from their real lives and they block themselves away from society and they believe some sort of connection exists between chat messages and forum posts and a relationship they have been wishing for has been established with these random individuals.

Get out more, get some sunlight. It does not hurt, contrary to popular internet beliefs.

The internet is rotting our children away from the grasp of reality and they are building their own lives within an intangible web of information that is comprised mostly of porn and weird porn and more porn than any priest can imagine.

This is a propaganda by the communists and the terrorist and they are out to destroy this great nation. They have come for our children.

The internets is the tool of Satan.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Vemp

I blame it on this generation's children not going out that much anymore and confining themselves in their rooms with their online social circle and friends who they only know and recognize by their online handles and these people provide them with attention, attention they never got and they have sought from their real lives and they block themselves away from society and they believe some sort of connection exists between chat messages and forum posts and a relationship they have been wishing for has been established with these random individuals.

Get out more, get some sunlight. It does not hurt, contrary to popular internet beliefs.

The internet is rotting our children away from the grasp of reality and they are building their own lives within an intangible web of information that is comprised mostly of porn and weird porn and more porn than any priest can imagine.

This is a propaganda by the communists and the terrorist and they are out to destroy this great nation. They have come for our children.

The internets is the tool of Satan.

I love how you totally just pegged yourself on that one.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

You guys probably didn't see the thread, right? I don't usually go to bodybuilding.com except to laugh at some of the idiots there, but the link was posted on another bodybuilding site shortly after it all happened. I had only gotten a few pages in when the thread was removed.

Apparently he had threatened to do it before and never went through with it, and that was enough to make most members think he was joking. Nevertheless the mods were alerted fairly quickly, although I suppose they might've taken their time in figuring out how to contact the local authorities. IMO the suicide note sounded legit, so a lot of the comments made in the thread were completely out of line...and the fact that he died is sad. But it's hardly outrageous. It's the internet.

FELIPE NO

I hadn't heard about this particular incident, but I can't say I'm at all surprised at the way people reacted. One chap I sort-of-knew online a long while ago set up a Stickam feed and got hordes of /b/tards to watch him fuck about and attempt suicide. Given that he survived, I assume he was taken to hospital by his family.

A year later, he drove out into the middle of nowhere and gassed himself.

I suppose I can understand the motivation (getting some attention before the end), but I don't accept it. Nobody is a lost cause - people in situations like this need all the help they can get.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Radez29

I can understand it. Apparently the dude was all attention-whore. Not the first time he did it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Anyone who invites others to watch them kill themselves doesn't really want to kill themselves, they want other people to tell them to stop so they feel wanted. This kid basically failed at not killing himself and should be nominated for a Darwin Award.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

What disturbs me when you hear about these things, who the fuck thinks it'd be a great fun to sit and watch someone committing suicide, even if they believe it's not serious. I really can't wrap my head round that.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Oh you know how the internet is. If there's drama, there's interest. And the internet attracts all kinds of people who have all kinds of things they're interested at. I guess the internet is the underbelly of the world's society. It's the new Hell.

SATAN BUILT THE INTERNET FOR THIS REASON. CORRUPTING THE MINDS OF OUR CHILDREN. RECRUITING THEM FOR HIS CAUSE! *clenchfist*

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Like KrelEN said, guy I knew on another forum broadcasted a suicide attempt on a webcam site. Took a bottle of pills, collapsed, cops showed up and everything while the camera was still on. Some people here might know of this, I don't know. Anyways, he survived and everyone found it pretty funny including himself. Few months later ended up tossing a barbecue in the back of his car and suffocated to death. kinda sucked. So yeah, just because they broadcast it doesn't mean they're not serious about doing it. It's silly, but it shouldn't be all that surprising. People have used suicide as a way to get attention for many, many years and how better to get attention than having the internet see it?

In the case of the guy I mentioned, he became a meme. Others would likely gladly go to such lengths to get even one ounce of fame.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Vampiro

LAnyways, he survived and everyone found it pretty funny including himself.

Fucking hilarious. Comedy gold in fact. So funny he still went ahead and killed himself. It was that funny.

But hey, he became and Internet meme you say, well that's all that matters. No one will ever forget Internet memes.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Quote:

Fucking hilarious. Comedy gold in fact. So funny he still went ahead and killed himself. It was that funny.

uuuh, might want to read that again. He thought it was a joke. That and he was friends in real life with a group of people at the forum. Think they would know if it was serious or not. He ended up killing himself because his entire life feel apart almost a year later.

Don't know why you're getting so upset over someone you don't even know. Wow.

and I quote:
"I have risen from the dead. Now starts the reign of Zombie Sniper." serious shit

FELIPE NO

Don't try and palm your idiotic post off as me not having reading comprehension. I understood fully what you were saying, and I still think that it's fucking dumb. Of course he would try and laugh it off afterwards, but that doesn't make it funny or OK.

And I don't give a flying fuck about whoever this person is, I just don't see anything funny in attempting suicide on a webcam and failing.

Now try and be a bit more pathetic why don't you and diss this post too, go on, I dares ya. Because as well all know, dissing someone's post is just as good as making a valid point in an argument.

Most amazing jew boots

Haha, wow, dude. Calm down. I'm not saying suicide is funny, far from it. But it's different when you know the person and when the he and the people he knows say it's not that big of a deal and not serious. You then have a pretty good indication that it's not that serious. Afterwards it turned into a joke because of how a meme was spawned from it. It only became serious a year later once he had everything in life lined up and it all feel apart. No one would laugh at, that's serious, that's depressing. But that's something far different and far sadder than an "attempt" that happens over a webcam.

Seriously, it's like you're offended by something you weren't even involved in or have no idea about. Ridiculous, man. It's almost offensive how upset you're getting over this.

Jam it back in, in the dark.