desensitized or just plain heartless?
While scanning through the newspaper here in Canada, I saw this article about a man in London that commited suicide on a webcam chat room. At first I wondered why a persons suicide in another country was being reported here in Canada because, as gruesome as this may sound, suicide is a tragic thing but it happens all the time in other countries, as well as your own, but why report it in different countries. This time it was being reported not only because it was exceptionally odd (in that it was broadcast in a webchat room and people not only witnessed it but actually egged the poor individual on to his final moments of life), but because here in my province of Alberta, we are actually known for the highest suicide rate in Canada. Though, I remember hearing somewhere that the NWT/Nunavet actually had the highest suicide rate per capita, perhaps Alberta might hold highest suicide rate in numbers. Though, lets face it, if you have a province of 40,000 and 4,000 (1 in 40 people will kill themselves) of them commit suicide, that is worse than a province with 4,000,000 people and 40,000 (one in 400 people will commit suicide), true?
The numbers given by the one article I read stated:
BY THE NUMBERS
Suicide statistics in Alberta
- Total number of suicides (1999-2003): 2,233.
- Average number of suicides per year (1999-2003): 440.
- Male-to-female ratio of nearly 3-to-1.
- Alberta average rate of suicide per 100,000 (1999-2003): 22.4.
- National average rate of suicide per 100,000 (1999-2003): 17.9.
- Most at risk age group: 35-55 years.
- Methods of suicide in 2003: 35% hanging, 22% overdose, 18% firearms, 12% carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Men most likely to hang themselves, women most likely to overdose.
Regardless of your personal belief in suicide, the one thing that got me the most about this article was the state in which the chat room treated such a thing. It was reported that some people actually egged him on about how to kill himself. A few people tried to stop him, but some of them actually goaded him into doing it. Wouldnt that action be the same as murder, or at least accomplice to commit a murder? if you see someone with a gun to their head and you do nothing but in fact urge them to do it, shouldnt that be a crimial offence? If you put a person, or see a person, in a state of mental unbalance and they come up with a horrible way to hurt themselves and you actually plant more ideas and push them (not physically, but mentally) shouldnt you be accountable for that action? I am not saying that you put the gun to their head, pulled the trigger and ended their life, but you did help. Just as in the Canadian Criminal Code, if you are part of a crime and a different crime than that which was intended is commited, all those participating in the crime should be held accountable. In this case, the people who egged him on should be countable as 'an accomplice to commit murder'.
Are we so desensitized to crime that we think the internet is a game? is it just a movie that we can watch on the screen without having any consequences or responsibilities? People post up fake internet sites to have some fun though not realizing that people on the other end might get hurt. Granted, I have to admit that I am guilty of that one in that I have put up some internet sites with my true stats and words but with the intention of only getting an ego boost to see how many people would respond to my ad. Though not the best idea considering I got no bites, even when I tried to dress up the words a bit to make me sound more appealing. But why is it that when some people get into a chat room or something, they all of a sudden become a 'telephone tough guy'. No consequences for your actions, no response to your bravado, it all just becomes a game.
No sense I guess in me asking these questions because deep down I cant even answer these questions in my own mind and soul. It is almost like at a certain moment when something is happening, I give my mind to the mob mentality and all becomes a blur. I, for a brief moment, am not a single voice screaming out my own opinion and belief, but become a cog in the great machine of destruction called the mob. 'It wasnt me that did it, your honour...it was the mob that did that action.' The single snowflake will never claim responsibility for the avalanche.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23390052-details/Chatroom+users+'egged+on+father+who+killed+himself+live+on+webcam'/article.do
The numbers given by the one article I read stated:
BY THE NUMBERS
Suicide statistics in Alberta
- Total number of suicides (1999-2003): 2,233.
- Average number of suicides per year (1999-2003): 440.
- Male-to-female ratio of nearly 3-to-1.
- Alberta average rate of suicide per 100,000 (1999-2003): 22.4.
- National average rate of suicide per 100,000 (1999-2003): 17.9.
- Most at risk age group: 35-55 years.
- Methods of suicide in 2003: 35% hanging, 22% overdose, 18% firearms, 12% carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Men most likely to hang themselves, women most likely to overdose.
Regardless of your personal belief in suicide, the one thing that got me the most about this article was the state in which the chat room treated such a thing. It was reported that some people actually egged him on about how to kill himself. A few people tried to stop him, but some of them actually goaded him into doing it. Wouldnt that action be the same as murder, or at least accomplice to commit a murder? if you see someone with a gun to their head and you do nothing but in fact urge them to do it, shouldnt that be a crimial offence? If you put a person, or see a person, in a state of mental unbalance and they come up with a horrible way to hurt themselves and you actually plant more ideas and push them (not physically, but mentally) shouldnt you be accountable for that action? I am not saying that you put the gun to their head, pulled the trigger and ended their life, but you did help. Just as in the Canadian Criminal Code, if you are part of a crime and a different crime than that which was intended is commited, all those participating in the crime should be held accountable. In this case, the people who egged him on should be countable as 'an accomplice to commit murder'.
Are we so desensitized to crime that we think the internet is a game? is it just a movie that we can watch on the screen without having any consequences or responsibilities? People post up fake internet sites to have some fun though not realizing that people on the other end might get hurt. Granted, I have to admit that I am guilty of that one in that I have put up some internet sites with my true stats and words but with the intention of only getting an ego boost to see how many people would respond to my ad. Though not the best idea considering I got no bites, even when I tried to dress up the words a bit to make me sound more appealing. But why is it that when some people get into a chat room or something, they all of a sudden become a 'telephone tough guy'. No consequences for your actions, no response to your bravado, it all just becomes a game.
No sense I guess in me asking these questions because deep down I cant even answer these questions in my own mind and soul. It is almost like at a certain moment when something is happening, I give my mind to the mob mentality and all becomes a blur. I, for a brief moment, am not a single voice screaming out my own opinion and belief, but become a cog in the great machine of destruction called the mob. 'It wasnt me that did it, your honour...it was the mob that did that action.' The single snowflake will never claim responsibility for the avalanche.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23390052-details/Chatroom+users+'egged+on+father+who+killed+himself+live+on+webcam'/article.do
posted by Capt_Canuck at 8:22 AM
1 Comments:
well told story paltalk needs to answer to alot its doing on this chat and stop turning its head and saying all is well this is a sad thing to happen to anyone all that was in that chat room need thier day in court and banned from any and all chat rooms
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