Public Opinon on Suicide

[BlaqueKatt]

One can survive suicidal depression for a long, long time - but I would not term it 'living'. Survival, yes. Existance, yes. You need something - or someone - to live for.

This is one of the reasons I *always* have a companion animal, even a guppy, I know that animal depends on me fully, and were I to check out the animal might too depending on circumstances.

[fireheart17]

The suicides of famous people are always an uncomfortable time. this article is correct in mentioning the risks of unintentionally glorifying it and promoting suicide contagion, aka copycat suicides.

There have been talks over here around the publication of a suicide toll, sort of similar to the road toll that gets published over here. Somehow apparently publishing "this many people have died this week due to suicide" is going to lead to glorification of suicide and copycats. (All it would be is literally "Suicides: <number>, "This time last year <number>") By that logic, the road toll should be INCREASING.

When Kurt Cobain was murdered by Courtney committed suicide, the media was smart enough to promote the use of hotlines, counselors, and others to help those in need. While there was no dramatic increase in actual suicides, there was a dramatic increase in calls to suicide hotlines following his death. That's what they need to do here and suppress the Werther Effect.

This has happened over here in good ol' Aussieland. Every article that has mentioned suicide in the weeks following his death has had the number for Lifeline strongly emphasised.

Speaking of which, there was a story floating around AGES ago that had a moment for me. Basically, some guy asked Siri on his iPhone how he could kill himself (this was apparently meant to be offhand, he very much went the wrong way about it!) and Siri responded with the locations of nearby bridges. Apple got wind of it and have since modified it to encouraging that person to call Lifeline and/or suggesting call an ambulance instead.

[TheHuckster]

Speaking of which, there was a story floating around AGES ago that had a moment for me. Basically, some guy asked Siri on his iPhone how he could kill himself (this was apparently meant to be offhand, he very much went the wrong way about it!) and Siri responded with the locations of nearby bridges. Apple got wind of it and have since modified it to encouraging that person to call Lifeline and/or suggesting call an ambulance instead.

Here's an article about that.

It doesn't say Siri recommended bridges for inquiries about specifically "killing oneself" but it did recommend nearby bridges if someone specifically said, "I want to jump off a bridge."

I am willing to bet the reason for that was more oversight than a deliberate programming decision. Siri probably heard bridge as a keyword for a common landmark on a map, and then provided some locations just as it would if someone asked for Chinese food.