Suicide Pacts on the Internet

Note:

Whatever problems you might have, suicide isnt going to solve it. Go find help, go find someone to talk to, but DONT do something like that.

If you think you are solving your problems by pulling your own plug, think of the problems you are creating for many more people you leave behind.

Kari Huus writes on msnbc.com that the Japanese, who have one of the highest suicide rates in the world, are forming suicide pacts on the internet. On Sunday, the bodies of four young Japanese men were found in a car, and evidence that they'd all agreed to kill themselves together was found on their computers. These suicide pacts have resulted in 18 deaths so far this year.
The victims are usually young and meet in an internet chat room, where they encourage each other to kill themselves. In May, police discovered the bodies of a man, age 30, and two women, ages 22 and 18, who all died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a coal-burning stove after sealing themselves in a room with plastic sheeting and duct tape. None of them had known the others before they met online and started planning their suicides. Suicide sites recommend this method as fast and painless. Not all suicide attempts work�two girls, ages 14 and 17, jumped off a five-story building together and were badly injured, but didn�t die.

"We are picking up a lot (of suicide sites) that are just in Japanese," says Parry Aftab of WiredSafety. "We report them to local law enforcement, or the ISP to have them take down the sites. But they just pop up someplace else"

www.unknowncountry.com...

Now that's just plain stupid. How long before they start doing that $hit over here.

They already have #e like that over here. I read a few months back about a guy who killed himself on his webcam, as some people encouraged him to do it, while others tried to stop him. Buts its hard to save someone when they are halfway across the country.

but what more basic right as living beings do we have then to decide to stop living?

Selfish?
Sure it is, but the demanding of ANY right is selfish, unless you're demanding them (and fighting for them) for EVERYONE.

Hurtful?
Sure it is, when you think in terms of family, friends, groups, and further divisions of humanity. All death is wrong and should cause you pain. To have it not bother you is what allows wars to happen. If men valued life instead of power, money, success, security, comfort, etc., etc., there would be no more soldiers. No more wars.

Every enemy soldier is a soldier fighting for what he believes is right.
Every enemy soldier has a family, friends, etc.
Does the suicide of a person you've never met bother you more than the death of an enemy soldier you've never met? Why?
The suicide wanted to die.


to add:

I am against suicide for my self and others because i believe it inhibits spiritual growth - basically, you dont grow from taking the easy way out and are likely assured of receiving a harder life and a harder life until you face the problems you are confronted with.
However, the main issue to be addressed is not repressing others rights to live(and therefore end) their lives, but to create a world which no one feels the need to exit from early.
Obviously this is a far way off.
To say that suicide is stupid, selfish, hurtful to others, etc., is to ignore the reasons for it, and serves only to increase the guilt and shame of the person contemplating suicide.

[Edited on 14-6-2003 by quango]

Originally posted by AF1
They already have #e like that over here. I read a few months back about a guy who killed himself on his webcam, as some people encouraged him to do it, while others tried to stop him. Buts its hard to save someone when they are halfway across the country.

this was a different case, but a girl on a message board did attempt suicide, and posted as she did it. I've never felt so helpless in my life. I've dealt with suicidal people offline, but knowing she was thousands of miles away and no one had any real means to contact someone who could help her was awful, to say the least. we eventually tracked down someone with her phone number, but he was reluctant to call her or the police because he wasn't sure we weren't just trolling. (which we weren't. something shouldn't be trolled about.) the police did eventually get called, she got help, survived, and as far as we know, no longer frequents the board where she posted her suicide thread. eh. I'm not sure what the point of this was. the whole situation sucked for all involved. I guess the lesson is sometimes it's lucky people give out phone numbers to online friends now and again. or something.

I think people need to talk more with each other.
I think much of the world's problems could be pinned on lack of communication. ie. The people representing us are doing what they think it is we want them to do. But many of us don't ever tell them what we want. Sure, we'll complain when they're doing what we don't want, but we never tell them what it is we want them to do.

Also, many of them are not good at listening or simply take our silence as a go-ahead to move on to their own agendas (or the others who got them into power.)

I think, sadly, that our presidency has become a destination on the highway to prestige - a stepping stone to supreme fame - instead of being the ultimate position from which to do good and benefit all humanity.

Obviously, something must be done. And it all begins with discussion. People helping to inform other people. After all, we can't know anything without other people.
If the world has reached a point where a change or an advancement, must be made, then we will figure out how to make the most peaceful change we can for everyone.

That really does not surprise me, although it makes me sad. The Japanese are very proud and if their lives are not going the way they wish them to, they often resort to that. As the original poster stated, suicide is not an option! If you feel your life is not how you envisioned it, think of if you were born in Kenya (No offense intended to Kenyan members). Pacts over the internet. That sounds cult-like. I would investigate the websites if I was a Japanese official.

I tend to agree, suicide is a personal descision, and one others should not infringe on. Some people do not want help, some people simply can either not live the quality of life they desire, or have come to the decision that life is simply a joke period. Ive know quite a few people close to me that committed suicide. never knew they would, never knew they even had the desire to. But eventually, I respected thier choices. If they were in enough pain to do it, I certainly wouldnt want to force them to stay.

That said, there are loads of pro suicide and do it yourself suicide manuals on the net for the US. Hell, theres pages full of personal testimonies on how to, what doesnt work, ect.

Speaking of which, do they know how many suicides there are every year in the US?

Police: Husband had said he'd kill her if child was daughter

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- An Egyptian woman married to a man with six daughters from previous marriages drowned herself Saturday just hours after giving birth to a girl because she feared her husband's reaction to fathering another daughter.

The 27-year-old woman left her home in Saff, a rural town about 25 miles [40 kilometers] south of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, and drowned herself in an irrigation canal three hours after giving birth to her second daughter, police officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Before his wife gave birth, her husband had threatened to kill or divorce her if the couple had any more daughters, police said.

Society in rural Egypt is largely conservative, and many parents often prefer having sons to daughters for cultural and economical reasons.

www.cnn.com...

Originally posted by dragonrider
Police: Husband had said he'd kill her if child was daughter

Just curious... if this happened in America, would the husband face any criminal charges?

These suicide sites can be compared to cults.


The internet is merely a tool that these people use to achieve an end. If there were no internet these people would probably find other ways to do themselves in, anyway.

So why stop them?

If they're too weak to handle life, let them go.
As long as they don't harm those of us who want to live I couldn't care less about them.