"Thanks Internet, you've killed another person."

[The Dopefish]

Just a few days after some guy offed himself after being on SomethingAwful, a 19-year-old commits suicide after posting in a newsgroup. (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/04/suicide.internet/index.html)

How this got more press than the SA guy, given SA's glorious(?) history, escapes me. Still, newsgroups have been around longer than the Interweb and are the lazy man's message board for anything and everything. I certainly doubt this is the first person to kill themselves thanks to advice on the Internet, let alone on a newsgroup, but you can find that sort of information almost anywhere nowadays, even Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_cyanide). The question for a long time has been, of course, should there be some sort of regulation to the Internet. To which we'll probably all say "no." The Internet is one of the last bastions of truly free speech, and it'll probably be regulated some day...let's just enjoy it while it lasts.

[briach]

I don't see why they have laws against people killing themselves.

I think that's just stupid. Maybe they did it for insurance purposes or money purposes. IMO, I think it's against the Constitution to not allow people to kill themselves.

[Xaero]

Newsgroups are the work of Satan. Free, unfiltered, unedited, and uncencored information on anything and everything. It will force your children to build bombs and blow up schools, or depress them into suicide! We must protect our kids and let the government get just a little larger!

Must have been a slow news day.

[briach]

I think it's a good thing that she found a newsgroup to help her find a pleasant way to die. If she didn't have those resources, she probably would have resorted to a more painful or non-pleasant way to die.

[Olga]

Or she would have lived. :rolleyes:

[briach]

Blaming her death on resources that show one how to die pleasantly is silly.

If she wouldn't have killed herself because she didn't know how to kill herself pleasantly, than that is crap. No one should be forced to live life if they aren't able to appreciate life, or must loathe one's self every minute they continue to breath. The reason why people live life shouldn't be because they are intimidated of suicide, it should be because they appreciate being alive and sharing their presence with the world.

Locking her in a mental institution or making her a drug addict is just as bad as allowing her to willingly kill herself.

[Capt.Toilet]

I guess this puts a new meaning into the internet acronym FYAD

[The Dopefish]

I guess this puts a new meaning into the internet acronym FYAD

Depends on if you consider masturbating to be f*cking yourself, or merely the fact that she consumed cyanide. Either way, I suppose you're right. :)

[KillStreak]

We need to put a stop to this "internet" before it takes another life! Quickly somebody call Jack Thompson!











j/k

[T2A`]

Sounds exactly like that episode of Law and Order.

[Jackal]

I don't see why they have laws against people killing themselves.

I think that's just stupid. Maybe they did it for insurance purposes or money purposes. IMO, I think it's against the Constitution to not allow people to kill themselves.

Becuase if you kill yourself, you can't pay taxes. Government likes people who pay taxes so they can give themselves raises that they don't deserve.

[shadow_dragon]

Blaming her death on resources that show one how to die pleasantly is silly.

If she wouldn't have killed herself because she didn't know how to kill herself pleasantly, than that is crap. No one should be forced to live life if they aren't able to appreciate life, or must loathe one's self every minute they continue to breath. The reason why people live life shouldn't be because they are intimidated of suicide, it should be because they appreciate being alive and sharing their presence with the world.

Locking her in a mental institution or making her a drug addict is just as bad as allowing her to willingly kill herself.

Ah yes, the two alternatives to killing yourself, drug addiction or being institutionalised!
You don't think, possibly, she could've been taught to appreciate life more or shown how to take pride in herself?

If someone asked me how to commit suicide my first action would be to ask why they wanted to, listen to their problems and help them consider other options. Not simply give them a grocery list of "pleasant" drugs to die with.

And your right the reason people lvie shouldn't be because they're intimidated by suicide, it should be because they've been shown suicide isn't their only option and of all the options it's the silliest.
She's a teenage girl, what can she know of life if no one tells her what's worth living for?

[BillyBadAss]

Blaming her death on resources that show one how to die pleasantly is silly.

If she wouldn't have killed herself because she didn't know how to kill herself pleasantly, than that is crap. No one should be forced to live life if they aren't able to appreciate life, or must loathe one's self every minute they continue to breath. The reason why people live life shouldn't be because they are intimidated of suicide, it should be because they appreciate being alive and sharing their presence with the world.

Locking her in a mental institution or making her a drug addict is just as bad as allowing her to willingly kill herself.

Yeah forget about getting her real help.:rolleyes: Life does get better, and thinking that it won't is just stupid and selfish. I am positive that the girl would still have been alive if somebody was there to give her positive advice rather then helping her kill herself. There is no way you can cut it to prove to anyone that giving a person that little extra push to help them kill themselves is the right thing to do.:shake:

[GotBeer?]

"Suzy had me proof-read her notes and we went over all the details of her exit, just to be safe," reads one ASH message from "River."

But "River" disputes his role in Suzanne's death.

"No one in ASH encourages anyone else to commit suicide. ASH is pro-choice," he wrote in an e-mail to CNN.So, he went over the plans with her to make sure she got everything right. That right there is murder, no doubts about it. The authorities need to leave the forum (and the rest of the internet in general) alone, but this River guy crossed a line. I can tell a guy to go F himself, but until I actually fold him in half to make it happen, it's just talk. River went beyond "just talk".
Hell, if they were exchanging notes, he probably had an email address he should have supplied to the authorities to track her down the minute he realized she was going through with it.

And yeah, she was 19 and had what sounded like a loving, supporting family. A lot of the time, mental illness doesn't show up until the late teens or early twenties. Then the person has a "psychotic break". It can be caused by stress (like college or losing a family member), drugs, or any number of unknown reasons, and is usually correctable with therapy and/or medication. Or she could just have been depressed about a breakup or something like that (story doesn't say). Automatically assuming she'd end up institutionalized for life or a medicated zombie is a bit ridiculous.

Editted because I can't spell 'ridiculous'

[tool]

I'm surprised people still use nesgroups to talk, I thought it was just for files these days. :p

[anaemic]

"Dear Mom, Dad, and Jennifer, I will make this short as I know. It will be hard to deal with. If you haven't heard by now, I've passed away," the e-mail read. (Watch the parents talk about their shock -- 4:15)
i think we all know whats more tragic here :/

[das_ben]

So, he went over the plans with her to make sure she got everything right. That right there is murder.
It's assisted suicide and since there are no laws against killing yourself, there are no laws against that either.

[Cap'n Beeb]

Tell that to Kevorkian.

[anaemic]

i wonder if this could fall under euthanasia juristiction o_O ?

edit: beebeaten :(

[das_ben]

I think only medical personnel is affected by that.

[GotBeer?]

I'm having trouble finding anything online except physician-assisted (illegal except in Oregon) and just generally that assisted suicide is illegal. In my quick search, I couldn't find anything specifically that says the non-medical person helping out is guilty of anything, but if the courts are saying that it's illegal, they've got to be guilty of something.

Sounds exactly like that episode of Law and Order.Didn't see it. Summary?

[ThirtySixBelow]

Ah yes, the two alternatives to killing yourself, drug addiction or being institutionalised!
You don't think, possibly, she could've been taught to appreciate life more or shown how to take pride in herself?

If someone asked me how to commit suicide my first action would be to ask why they wanted to, listen to their problems and help them consider other options. Not simply give them a grocery list of "pleasant" drugs to die with.

And your right the reason people lvie shouldn't be because they're intimidated by suicide, it should be because they've been shown suicide isn't their only option and of all the options it's the silliest.
She's a teenage girl, what can she know of life if no one tells her what's worth living for?

I totally agree. Giving someone the means for a "pleasent" death isn't exactly the answer.

[das_ben]

I'm having trouble finding anything online except physician-assisted and just generally that assisted suicide is illegal.
Ah yes, quite possible, I was considering Germany's [and quite a lot of other European nations'] stance on this. Here's (http://www.assistedsuicide.org/suicide_laws.html) a quick summary on assisted suicide laws around the world.

[Sam_The_Man]

I don't see why they have laws against people killing themselves.

Because it's pretty much the ultimate expression of human individualism. Suicide is, so far as I know, something humans do that no other species does, which has even art and homosexuality beat. And therefore the state, the human expression of its latent animal collectivism, will always find it completely unbearable.

Hell, if they were exchanging notes, he probably had an email address he should have supplied to the authorities to track her down the minute he realized she was going through with it.

"Supplied to the authorities". F*ck that. I'm not saying it was a particularly wise decision for her to kill herself, in fact the probability is extremely high that it was a very stupid and pointless thing to do. But it's none of "the authorities'" damn business whether someone wants to live or die. Her family's, maybe. The government, definitely not.

[BobCobb]

They shouldn't prosecute him. It was her choice to die, and he did not force her to kill herself. It is sad, but it was the choice she made. Regardless of depression, mental problems, or any of the above, she made a decision and she has to "live" with it. No pun intended. End of story.

To hell with any news station that reported this. This isn't news, its just irreverent load of tripe. Poor stupid little girl.

[mokeh]

Just a few days after some guy offed himself after being on SomethingAwful, a 19-year-old commits suicide after posting in a newsgroup. (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/04/suicide.internet/index.html)

How this got more press than the SA guy, given SA's glorious(?) history, escapes me.

Dopefish, do you have something against somethingawful that you arent telling us about?! :y5:

[Vers Vlees]

Newsgroups are the work of Satan. Free, unfiltered, unedited, and uncencored information on anything and everything. It will force your children to build bombs and blow up schools, or depress them into suicide! We must protect our kids and let the government get just a little larger!

Must have been a slow news day.

yes we must act we must save all the internet data so we can bring a halt to these godless pinko terrorists non governement controlled internet.
Atleast it seems that keeping data banks of everything is the only solution around here.

[BobCobb]

yes we must act we must save all the internet data so we can bring a halt to these godless pinko terrorists non governement controlled internet.
Atleast it seems that keeping data banks of everything is the only solution around here.

OH NOES NOT THE DATA BANKS!!!!!! WHY!!!!???

WE SHALL NEVER BE FREE AGAIN!

[CyberSirius]

Stupider than this: http://ualuealuealeuale.ytmnd.com/ (at least,Batman's stupid in this one)

[TossMonkey]

You'd have to have serious problems to want to commit suicide. Or go through some traumatic emotional or physical distress.

[Angel_Mapper]

At first I thought her picture was an advertisement for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. :B

[DRT-Maverick]

The internet didn't make her depressed though, did it? She used it to learn how to kill herself, but it didn't cause her to kill herself. Freakin' dumb father. Maybe he should point his fingers at himself, the blame lies in places like that, but they can never admit that.

[Sam_The_Man]

The internet didn't make her depressed though, did it?

I dunno, the Internet has made me pretty damn depressed. :360:

[thewalkingman]

At first I thought her picture was an advertisement for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. :B


Her pics can be found in alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.female.ugly

[Condemnedhumanity]

I don't see how they can blame the internet for her killing herself. Thats like blameing Marilyn Manson and Doom for Columbine. Scapegoat.

[BITE_ME]

You'd have to have serious problems to want to commit suicide. Or go through some traumatic emotional or physical distress.

True.
But, If some one wants to "go". We should let them.

[hyrulian]

Her pics can be found in alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.female.ugly
Hmm, that's your kind of erotica, eh? :lol:

[Mister_Prophet]

At first I thought her picture was an advertisement for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. :B

Oh man, I thought I was the only one who was thinking that.

Anyway, if you're gonna bust a person for providing the tools another person uses to kill themselves with, you may as well bust every gun shop owner who sells a gun to someone who uses it to commit homicide. Why does nobody ever want to point the finger at the people who do it anymore? Sure, it's sad she killed herself. But it was her choice. And she made it.

[fades_away]

OMG it's Runaway Jury all over again.