On one hand I find it bizarre and disturbing, on another hand I . . . for some people I'm glad that there are groups online to help prevent botched, unintentionally messy, or disabling suicides.
Of course every case has specific circumstances and no article can present the whole story, but from what that article said, it sounds like Suzy Gonzales was the real thing, it was a sure thing, it wasn't a "cry for help". The fact that she was able to hide it so thoroughly from her parents, who describe their relationship with her as being "particularly close", suggests to me that it wasn't a cry for help. If they were "particularly close", they would have known something was up.
I do agree with condemning online groups for "never giving any hope", if that actually is the case, I don't know if it is. Personally, hope should always be pushed, and hopelessness should never be advocated. I have a hard time believing people who go to these online groups are irresponsible and have a cavalier disregard for human life and the despair of others.
What I find disturbing and twisted is any suggestion that there is a community of suicide or the suicidal. It is an individual, personal decision, and it, by nature, should be a difficult one, difficult to reach, and difficult to execute. But that's just me because I'm still comparing the before and after pics.
For Suzy Gonazales, who knows what the truth was? Who knows what could have been done to prevent it, or if it was preventable at all? Not all suicides are preventable or treatable.
Suzy's father described going to the online group as "throwing gasoline on the fire". We know what the gasoline was, but there's little indication what the fire was.
Our society and mental health system are woefully inadequate in dealing with death in general and suicide specifically. That idiot psychiatrist Michael Naylor is an example, spouting antiquated blanket statements that suicide attempts being a "cry for help" and that suicides don't realize that this is the end. How fucking condescending.
If I knew someone who was suicidal, I wouldn't recommend that they go through the mental health system unless it was clear to me (and I have no idea what that would be) that it was a cry for help and that traditional thought could help them.
Otherwise online groups provide a forum for expression without the threat of the indignities of the mental health care system. I laugh at my case now: the first thing the mental health system did was call my parents, the source of the problem. It was so incredibly stupid and quixotic, you have no idea.
The movies often depict the mental health system going wrong. It's true that there are plenty of success stories. But these are people's lives and minds, any fault in the system is perceived by victims as nothing less than a violation.
In general, I'll give online users credit. Those seeking help will find online groups that will help put things in perspective. If those people seeking help find themselves in a group aimed at people who are sure and are looking for a method, I think they will find that they don't belong there. People who are sure and are looking for a method, I respect their decision.
Me? I wouldn't seek any help. I would just make sure it is as hard as possible and uncertain to execute. If I succeed, I was meant to. If I don't, I wasn't.
Default shot. Corner of Hampshire and 19th, outside my front door.
