Teenager commits suicide live online while 1,500 people watch

Teenager commits suicide live online while 1,500 people watch

www.dailymail.co.uk< br />

A teenager committed suicide live on the internet while 1,500 people watched, it was claimed today.

Abraham K Biggs, 19, took a drugs overdose while broadcasting on video streaming website Justin.tv.

According to reports, some viewers even encouraged him to kill himself thinking it was just a threat.

(visit the link for the full news article)

What drives a teenager to kill himself in front of a live audience? And furthermore, what drives viewers to encourage such a thing? Whether they believed it to be an idle threat or not, this kind of behaviour is ridiculous. His suicide note makes very interesting reading.

Of course this isn't the first time something like this has happened. This 'voyeuristic' world we are living in seems to promote this kind of behaviour. Who knows what else we'll be seeing in front of live webcam over the coming years...

www.dailymail.co.uk< br /> (visit the link for the full news article)

How very strange...

I recall hearing a story almost exactly like this a year or two ago...

A kid overdosed on webcam, while some people thought it was a joke.
A viewer actually called the police and somehow identified who the person was...which is how the body was originally found.

Sad stuff..

This reminds me of the Brandon Vedas incident. This kid overdosed on a ton of prescription drugs while chatting on IRC and others viewed it on webcam. He intentionally overdosed but probably did not expect to die as a result. The family later blamed the other people in chat for "encouraging it". In fact the online chatters were all drug users and realized what he was doing, and they did try to notify the authorities.

In the end the family vilifies the people in the chat room, however Brandon lived at HOME and died of an overdose over a course of several hours while his mother was in the next room. She must have know he was taking drugs and had a small pharmacy in his room, however when this happened it was easier to blame it ALL on Brandon's casual net aquaintances that lived hundreds of miles away and could not stop or prevent his actions.

en.wikipedia.org...
brandonvedas.com... (chat log)
(Note Pnutbot is a bot, not a live person)

The kid in this story was using a lot of steroids (and god knows what else). That probably contributed to his mental health issues far more than some obnoxious individuals on the net. Lets face it, if insults or rude net behavior could cause suicide the net would be a much smaller world!


[edit on 21-11-2008 by Sonya610]

IMO This is the kinda crap that is going to take down the internet or regulate it to the max!
Egging this young man, obviously crying out for help,to kill himself is a freaking crime and should be prosecuted as so!

reply to post by thebox



This is seriously disturbing. I don't know why anyone would watch this live, knowing that it was a real person, not a movie. Whether they thought it was a joke or whether he was killing himself for real, why sign up to watch in the first place? (But then, I never got into those Faces of Death movies either, nor would I have been allowed to watch them.)

Maybe there is something about these people that they think that while watching something via computer the humanity and realness is lost, like watching TV? I don't know. To me it isn't. I was watching a report from the Congo recently and I started crying, thinking, "These are human beings!" Seeing the images unfold is way more real to me than a newspaper story.

I wonder what these voyeurs would have done if they had been there in the room with him. Would they still have encouraged it? Sadly, I fear some of them would have. It really is a mad world.

I hope that all made sense.

How many snuff films do you think the president of usa watches, while he does his 4 years. They probably enjoy it.

Just sickos, we share this planet with. Anyone trying to force people to commit suicide should be in jail for murder. The people who watched this, should be behind bars, for the rest of there lifes for murder.

People are a little detached from reality over the internet.

Ever heard the phrase "the internet is serious business"? It's often used sarcastically as a way to imply that nothing is real, and that everything is irrelevant.
It like an excuse to act how you like towards others without feeling any moral obligation.

Unfortunately, I do believe that this will only grow, because people seem to accept that humanity is not a requirement in cyberspace.

You have millions of teenagers watching films that depict human torture and suffering, and resolutely refuse to ask themselves why they would want to watch that.
I'm not talking about censorship here, and I'm not suggesting such things should be banned at all. But I am asking why there is a market for it.
I was a big Marilyn Manson fan for years, and I lived through the whole "media encourages violence" craziness. I do really believe that sick people exist with or without such media.

But I do wonder why there is such a big audience for films like "Saw" and "Hostile".
Every part of me refused to acknowledge such films. I know what they are about, and no amount of "retribution" (I'm sure defenders of this media will use this as some sort of justification or merit) depicted in the finale of any of them justifies the rest of it.

People can watch what they want and do what they want as long as it harms none in my opinion. But I have to look at those who support such as slightly disturbed. I cannot for the life of me understand why any well-balanced person would want to watch people being tortured, why they would want to support the making of such imagery, or why they would (even jokingly) encourage a person to kill themselves.

The only answer I can find right now to explain it, is that people are increasingly detached from reality and feel no obligation to maintain a personal moral code.

Not surprised at all. I remember reading stories about people about to jump off buildings while the "people" on the street below chanted Jump Jump Jump.

Originally posted by detachedindividual
People are a little detached from reality over the internet.

Well there are a lot of hoaxes and otherwise nutty people online, many would write off the threat of a stranger as a joke.

On the otherhand if something happens then often the family will put the blame on the internet folks even if they DID try to help. They will place blame wherever they can, and the internet is a great place to start.

Read the chat log I posted, I find it fascinating, it records the actual thoughts and actions of those that saw their net friend overdose. Though truly for many, if they did not know the person well, there WOULD be an element of detachment, I know if I did not know the preson I would not get all that worked up over it whether it was real or not.

[edit on 21-11-2008 by Sonya610]

reply to post by Sonya610


And element of detachment, yes. But my question is, would you watch it in the first place?

Everybody watching that and not have taken steps to prevent this should be made accessory to murder.

And the British man who hung himself last year -

www.wayodd.com...

According to media reports, one online chatter, in light mood, urged him: "Go on, jump! I'm waiting. Look at him wriggling, he can't even kill himself properly!"

With comments like that, it's clear that too many 'voyeurs' are completely out of touch with reality.

i was there and watched it
was funny at first because you get 100's off peoplea week on vlog sites saying "oh get me a few 100 viewers and il kill myself (an hero)" suppose we shoulda done somthing
but eh, if he was going to do it anyways there would be no way for us to stop him i suppose

Originally posted by GetOutOfMyRabbitHoleAnd element of detachment, yes. But my question is, would you watch it in the first place?

Well I think the forum matters too. Would I watch part of the cam? Yeah. I would. However if it was a live medium (i.e. live chat) then that makes a big difference, if it is happening real time and the person took an overdose (which means there is time to correct the situation) then calling the authorities would be mandatory. I do believe suicide is a personal choice, but if one chooses to bring others in on the act then they are asking for intervention.

However this user was NOT in live chat. He posted this stuff on a forum, that is different. Posters come and go, leave comments etc... It does not have the same real time urgent feel to it. I mean realistically, what if someone posts something with a link to a webcam. Half wouldn't view the cam, half would think it was fake, etc...

Grant it this venue would probably get more a response because a lot of the posters are a bit older, but some forums are mostly a young crowd, and they are poorly moderated and there is all sorts of junk posted on them.

On a bulletin board type forum how would you track down the individual with no live mods available? Think about it, if it happened here with NO mods, what would you do? Call the police in your local area and give them the web address? Do you think the police could just magically contact the server admins and track the user down in minutes? It would be very difficult and local authorities would probably not even try. In the case of live chat on irc or some such thing it is a bit easier because the users can get more info and there are live administrators available.

But in all fairness some posters DID react and try to have the authorities brought in.


[edit on 21-11-2008 by Sonya610]

Originally posted by Runningtobabylon
i was there and watched it
was funny at first because you get 100's off peoplea week on vlog sites saying "oh get me a few 100 viewers and il kill myself (an hero)" suppose we shoulda done somthing
but eh, if he was going to do it anyways there would be no way for us to stop him i suppose

There would have been a way to stop him. But no, you just don't think. It could have been YOU that could have saved him if you weren't too excited see this thing succeed. Shame on you.

Originally posted by thebox
What drives a teenager to kill himself in front of a live audience? And furthermore, what drives viewers to encourage such a thing? Whether they believed it to be an idle threat or not, this kind of behaviour is ridiculous. His suicide note makes very interesting reading.

In their usually victimized minds, where the world is entirely against them and they have no friends, they are driven by their anger, resentment, and frustration at reality for them as it exists. They may not like themselves, or what they have done in the past, or whatever the reason for the extreme guilt. Sometimes they are extremely depressed people who think there's nothing left to live for.

In either case, growing up, kids with these problems listed above get outcasted in high school and grade school. So naturally they foster a resentment to their peers as well, and this is why some of these unstable types shoot up their school before offing themselves you see.

But the ones like this guy, he obviously didn't want to live anymore, and knew he was going to go thru with it, and wanted to leave his greatest enemies with a nightmare that they'll never truly get out of their mind for as long as they live, and this is powerful! do not overlook this: They encouraged him because they didnt truly think he was going to do it. Since he had the last laugh and actually did do it, each kid who encouraged him to do it is likely dealing with unimaginable thoughts and mental disturbance, and may be having a great deal of trouble with it, seeing a counselor, being put onto medications.

And does this not create someone else who before did not have a mental condition, but does now? That being, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, and/or depression, and/or anxiety and panic attacks from not knowing the guy was serious when agging him on. This is what the original suicider wanted: To leave mental scars in every single person he hated, which was probably most of mankind as it goes with these types.

reply to post by runetang


You seem to generalise people alot there, rune. Maybe people have justification, for there hatred, did you ever consider that. Victims, are the ones in your mind that cause crimes against them, so we should all bow to your understanding, of the world these people live in, lol.

Its amazing, how people are written about, and you know nothing of this person.

Originally posted by Benarius

Originally posted by Runningtobabylon
i was there and watched it
was funny at first because you get 100's off peoplea week on vlog sites saying "oh get me a few 100 viewers and il kill myself (an hero)" suppose we shoulda done somthing
but eh, if he was going to do it anyways there would be no way for us to stop him i suppose

There would have been a way to stop him. But no, you just don't think. It could have been YOU that could have saved him if you weren't too excited see this thing succeed. Shame on you.

Judge me if you will, but I think this is pretty sick.

I just can't understand why a person would want to see human suffering and take enjoyment from it.

As I said in my last post on this, there is no artistic merit in media depicting torture and murder, so the enjoyment has to be voyeuristic and sadistic in nature.
The same with this suicide, those involved should feel responsible, guilty even, and they should be seriously questioning their psychological stability.

I am very interested in psychology, I've studied some aspects, and I fully accept that Human nature allows for some pretty bizarre behavior. But this is more of a socially-related issue, in that some people think it is now acceptable to disregard human life so easily.

Saying "they probably would have done it anyway" is not an excuse for viewing it or being involved. Yes, people have the right to end their life, but the vast majority of these cases involve issues that could be dealt with quite easily. If a person is imbalanced enough to want to end their life, and with an audience, it does not free you of responsibility as a member of that audience.

Do you think it would be acceptable to watch a child walk in front of a speeding car and feel no blame for not stopping it when you could have tried?
A person who has lost control and has (legally speaking) lost proper judgment has been watched and encouraged to terminate their existence.

I agree that those who encouraged this should be tracked down and face questioning. They abused a mentally ill person.
I do not necessarily accept that they should face imprisonment, but they should at least face the embarrassment and humiliation from the public for being so disgusting and thoughtless with human life.

I had heard of a website where people such as tourists are often abducted and murdered live in some desert.

No doubt web sites where these people encourage these acts will be help liable just as there are those who in crowds while watching a fight.

All of these need to be moderated if not automatically through the same systems. The recent woman being charged with having used false information will also lead the way to solving some of these acts.

The internet is turning into a Roman type of coliseum mentality.