It's Xmas again: Suicide during the season and MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

It's that time of the year where family relationships are at the center of our emotional response to the festivities who are more about Noel than Christ's birth.

I was once told by a psychiatrist that this is the season when the rate of people seeking for help increases. 

Our Suicide Helpline in Brazil claims that it is true that they receive more calls during Christmas. Not necessarily on December, 25 or 24 but during the season or January. 

Preparations for Christmas has started to be done earlier and earlier and the phenomenon "Christmas Creep"* is an evidence of this fact.

Strangely enough in English there are numerous articles claiming that it is not true. Christmas death rate increase is nothing but a myth.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and also some compassion to those who don't have a supportive family.

Take care. Make cookies for Santa. You'll be the one who will eat them anyway,

*Christmas creep is a merchandising phenomenon in which merchants and retailers introduce Christmas-themed merchandise or decorations before the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, which in the United States is on the day after Thanksgiving.[1] The term was first used in the mid-1980s.

Search for help in case you are suicidal. Helpline in US.

Émile Durkheim' Four types of suicide

I was discussing somewhere about suicide and someone said that "Only mentally ills commit suicide." which is a strange argument for me.
To my surprised when we search for suicide the psychiatric bible is the definition that is everywhere. I also searched in French and Portuguese and the articles are all the same.
The American Psychiatric Association - APA - is responsible for the definition of suicide.

Those Indian farmers, nearly 200.000, Vandana Shiva reported that committed suicide due to the "policies of trade liberalization and corporate globalization" will have to find a label.
I did read some articles and found a lot of problems and confusion when  the biological explanation for suicide is the only posibility.

But I remembered about Emile Durkheim and his study about suicide that I did read a long time ago.
Published in 1897, more than a century ago, The Suicide is still being printed in numerous languages.

The Four types of Suicide
1. Egoistic Suicide. This is the type of suicide that occurs where the degree of social integration is low, and there is a sense of meaningless among individuals. In traditional societies, with mechanical solidarity, this is not likely to be the cause of suicide. There the strong collective consciousness gives people a broad sense of meaning to their lives. Within modern society, the weaker collective consciousness means that people may not see the same meaning in their lives, and unrestrained pursuit of individual interests may lead to strong dissatisfaction. One of the results of this can be suicide. Individuals who are strongly integrated into a family structure, a religious group, or some other type of integrative group are less likely to encounter these problems, and that explains the lower suicide rates among them.

The factors leading to egoistic suicide can be social currents such as depression and disillusionment. For Durkheim, these are social forces or social facts, even though it is the depressed or melancholy individual who takes his or her life voluntarily. "Actors are never free of the force of the collectivity: 'However individualized a man may be, there is always something collective remaining – the very depression and melancholy resulting from this same exaggerated individualism.'" Also, on p. 214 of Suicide, Durkheim says "Thence are formed currents of depression and disillusionment emanating from no particular individual but expressing society's state of disillusionment." Durkheim notes that "the bond attaching man to life relaxes because that attaching him to society is itself slack. ... The individual yields to the slightest shock of circumstance because the state of society has made him a ready prey to suicide." (Suicide, pp. 214-215).

2. Altruistic Suicide. This is the type of suicide that occurs when integration is too great, the collective consciousness too strong, and the "individual is forced into committing suicide." (Ritzer, p. 91). Integration may not be the direct cause of suicide here, but the social currents that go along with this very high degree of integration can lead to this. The followers of Jim Jones of the People’s Temple or the members of the Solar Temple are an example of this, as are ritual suicides in Japan. Ritzer notes that some may "feel it is their duty" to commit suicide. (p. 91). Examples in primitive society cited by Durkheim are suicides of those who are old and sick, suicides of women following the death of their husband, and suicides of followers after the death of a chief. According to Durkheim this type of suicide may actually "springs from hope, for it depends on the belief in beautiful perspectives beyond this life."

3. Anomic Suicide. Anomie or anomy come from the Greek meaning lawlessness. Nomos means usage, custom, or law and nemein means to distribute. Anomy thus is social instability resulting from breakdown of standards and values

This is a type of suicide related to too low a degree of regulation, or external constraint on people. As with the anomic division of labour, this can occur when the normal form of the division of labour is disrupted, and "the collectivity is temporarily incapable of exercising its authority over individuals." (Ritzer, p. 92). This can occur either during periods associated with economic depression (stock market crash of the 1930s) or over-rapid economic expansion. New situations with few norms, the regulative effect of structures is weakened, and the individual may feel rootless. In this situation, an individual may be subject to anomic social currents.

4. Fatalistic Suicide. When regulation is too strong, Durkheim considers the possibility that "persons with futures pitilessly blocked and passions violently choked by oppressive discipline" may see no way out. The individual sees no possible manner in which their lives can be improved, and when in a state of melancholy, may be subject to social currents of fatalistic suicide. (read this good review here)

I don't think that this is the explanation that must be used for everything. The big problem is having only one branch of human  sciences  explaining everything related to human beings and this is what is being done for two decades. The consequences are evil.

Jonathan James: 24 years-old hacker committed suicide in 2008 after being prosecuted

We are still mourning Aaron Swartz and many people are trying to understand what led a brilliant man to take his life.
What I could not imagine is that five years ago Jonathan  James,  the hacker who invaded NASA, also committed suicide after being prosecuted by the same attorney Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann, who works in the office of Carmen Ortiz.

In his suicide note Jonathan says:


"I have no faith in the 'justice' system. Perhaps my actions today, and this letter, will send a stronger message to the public. Either way, I have lost control over this situation, and this is my only way to regain control. [...] sitting in jail for 20, 10, or even 5 years for a crime I didn't commit is not me winning. I die free."

This is an interview he did for Frontline:

What is it about the computer that makes it become such an obsession for young guys?

Well, it's power at your fingertips. You can control all these computers from the government, from the military, from large corporations. And if you know what you're doing, you can travel through the internet at your will, with no restrictions. That's power; it's a power trip.

Why is that so important?

Well, everybody likes to feel in control.

In my time, they did it by playing hockey or football. How does the computer compare?

It's intellectual. It stimulates my mind. It's a challenge.

How hard was it for you to get into some blue-chip locations?

The government didn't take too many measures for security on most of their computers. They lack some serious computer security, and the hard part is learning it. I know Unix and C like the back of my hand, because I studied all these books, and I was on the computer for so long. But the hard part isn't getting in. It's learning to know what it is that you're doing.

And how do you learn that?

Oh, by reading, by talking to people. And by spending so much time on the computer, learning how it works, learning the source code and the programs and the commands.

I gather that there's quite a network of hackers out there. Do you guys share information and secrets over the internet?

Of course.

If someone told me that a 16-year-old could crack into NASA or into the U.S. Department of Defense, I'd say, "Sure. In the movies, maybe." How long did it take you to do that?

I was learning about computers and Unix and programming for two years. I was learning how to program in C for about a year. If I were targeting a computer, it would take between a few hours to a few weeks of looking around to find the way.

So is it just the rush of getting in there, of doing something smarter than they do? Or did you find anything there that was of interest to you?

Generally, the thrill is over once you've realized that you're on the computer and that you can do whatever you want--but it's not downloading their information, because usually it's pointless, bureaucratic stuff you don't need to know. . . .

When you start out, you sort of poke at various cyberfences and walls. You're just looking for the soft spots. You don't target a place because it's got something that you want--it's just that it's a challenge?

I would target a place because it looks like a challenge. Like, if I say, "The navy has a computer network in Jacksonville, maybe that would be fun to poke around." And then I'd target them. I'd look at their computers and I'd see what I can do there.

That doesn't sound like mischief. Sometimes I think you guys are like the graffiti spraypainters.

Not at all. Well, first of all, I was just looking around, playing around. What was fun for me was a challenge to see what I could pull off. But then there's other people that go into corporate web sites, government web sites, and change it. That's closer to what you're talking about-- that's mischievous. But I didn't do stuff like that.

You could have, though.

Oh, yes. I could have gotten a lot of recognition. . . .

A lot of attention was given to the fact that you downloaded software relating to the international space station. Could you have done anything with that?

No. It was for the environmental control program. Who wants that-- you can play with the air conditioner, or what? . . . The code itself was crappy . . . certainly not worth $1.7 million like they claimed. The only reason I was downloading the source code in the first place was because I was studying C programming. And what better way to learn than reading software written by the government?

Was it a big shock to you that the government was using such inferior code for such important work?

Yes, but you get used to it. I'm not surprised anymore when I see the failures of the government.

When did you first suspect that they knew you were snooping around?

Well, I never knew that they would actually come to my house. That was a total shock to me. Sometimes I would get kicked off a computer. and I'd figure, "Oh, great, the admin figured something was up and re-installed the software, added a little security, and forgot about it, because they don't care that I'm here. They just fix it and move on," which is reasonable. Nothing happened to me in the weeks following, so, great. They realized that all it takes is five minutes at the keyboard and they can make a computer secure. And they didn't care. I would email the system administrators sometimes and tell them that their computers were vulnerable. I would tell them how to break in, and how to fix the problems. I'd give them advice, and they would never follow it. Three weeks later I would go in and I still had access to their computers.

Even after you told them that there's a hole in the fence?

Oh, more than that. I told them how to fix the hole in the fence, and they didn't respond, so I figured that they didn't care.

But meanwhile, they've got all the resources of the government out looking for this guy.

And they should have been spending those resources on computer security.

How did they catch you?

They haven't told me exactly how they caught me. They sealed the affidavit for the search warrant. They said it was sealed for national security or some BS reason, but from what I understood, they probably called one of my friends, who gave information about me. Then they came to my house. My mom woke me from bed and said that the FBI was at the door. It's kind of unnerving. . . . I walk out and I see everybody with vests that say Federal Agents and NASA and DOD on the back with guns and all that good stuff.

. . . Were you scared?

No, I was just wondering what was up, and then I saw that their shirt said NASA.

And they walked out with all your computers?

They took me into a room in the back and questioned me for a few hours. And I admitted everything that I did, and I said, "Yes, I'm sorry. I won't do it again." I told them how I did it, what I did. They told me not to do it again, and if I do it again, I'll leave in handcuffs, but for now, they don't consider me a criminal, and that I just shouldn't do it again. And then they told me that they're taking my computers for investigative reasons. They said they don't need to read me my Miranda rights because they're not making an arrest. They're just investigating,

So what did they take out of there?

They took five of my computers. I had a nice little network going. They took my Palm Pilot, my CDs, my "Star Trek" book.

Your "Star Trek" book?

My "Star Trek" book, yes. Don't ask me why.

And when did it get serious?

. . . I didn't hear from them for another three months. Then, three months later, they had a little meeting. I talked to the prosecuting attorney. They said they might press charges. He said that I might get probation . . . but that they were unsure of what they're going to do. Then, in July, over the summer, I was in Israel. And I got a phone call from my father, who said that they wanted to put me in jail for six months.

Let's think about it from the other side's point of view. They don't know that it's some nice guy from a nice neighborhood. . . . It could be a real bad guy in Baghdad, or wherever. What are they supposed to do when they find somebody snooping around inside their systems?

Well, first of all, they should be responsible enough to provide adequate security from the start. But once they find out that it's some harmless kid . . . I think the appropriate response would be perhaps to take my computers away like they did, and leave it at that. They could tell me that I can't use the internet for a while, to teach me a lesson, teach me that they actually do care about what I'm doing, and that I shouldn't do it again. But they shouldn't put the youth of America in jail.

How does the prospect of sitting in jail for six months affect you?

First of all--six months. While it's not as long as some other sentences, it's still a long time. And that's six months of me being surrounded by people that did these actual crimes, did bad things to other people, to humanity. And I'm surrounding myself with these people that are lower than myself. Not to sound arrogant, but they lack morals, and it would be degrading to my character . . . and I'm worried.

Are you trying to tell me that you don't think the crime you committed is on the same order? . . .

Not at all. This is just harmless exploration. It's not a violent act or a destructive act. It's nothing.

They say that, at one point, you took possession of $1.7 million worth of software, and that you made them shut down and spend weeks with 13 or 14 important government computers down. That sounds serious.

Well, I think the price of the software is irrelevant, because the government overpays for everything. But it was source code that wouldn't even compile. The computer people know what I'm talking about. It was source code that wouldn't even compile without the proper equipment, or maybe it was just bad coding, I don't know. But the only reason I downloaded it was for the sake of learning what it is that they're doing, how they program, their techniques.

And you learned basically that it was no good?

Yes. They did stupid, stupid things that an experienced programmer would know not to do. But as for claiming that the addition of computer security is damages? That demonstrates a serious lack of responsibility on the government's behalf. The failure to put adequate security up from the start, from as soon as they turn the computers on, is a lack of responsibility. And then they cover up their mistakes. They call it damages when a computer enthusiast such as myself demonstrates their ineptitude.

What did that teach you about the state of computer security, and about the ability of public authorities and government people to police the security of the computer systems out there?

I certainly learned that there's a serious lack of computer security. If there's a will, there's a way, and if a computer enthusiast such as myself was determined to get into anywhere, be it the Pentagon or Microsoft, it's been demonstrated that it's possible and they will do it. And there's next to nothing they can do about it, because there's people with skill out there, and they'll get what they want.

How would you assess the skill levels of the law enforcement people who eventually came knocking at your door?

Okay, they got lucky, because I didn't take any measures whatsoever to hide myself. I didn't cover my tracks at all, and had I done that, they would not have been able to catch me. If I wanted to, I could have hidden myself, but I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, so, why bother?

You could have escaped detection?

I could have.

You could have done a lot of damage?

If one was so inclined, you could have deleted files, or put a virus up or sell information to foreigners. You could perform a denial of service attack and cause the computers to stop performing. Someone could do any number of things that I did not do.

Could you have done those things?

I could have.

They couldn't have stopped you? And they couldn't have caught you?

No. They could not have caught me.

What are you going to do now? People of my generation would ask if you've learned your lesson.

I've learned my lesson. I shouldn't do stuff like that.

But it seems to me that the big lesson is just how vulnerable everybody is to this technology.

It's a lesson to us all.

What are you going to do about it? Are you going to try and fix it?

Yes, maybe I'll start a computer security company.

Read more about Jonathan story here.
He was under surveillance:


"In an eerie epilogue to James’ death, 10 days afterwards a family friend spotted two men messing with the hacker’s car; one of them was underneath the vehicle, his legs sticking out. The friend confronted them.

It was the Secret Service, Robert James says. “They took back the tracking device.”"

Read about Jonathan James a hacker that took his life after being prosecuted by the same Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann;
Coincidence...

R.I.P. Aaron Swartz and thank you for your accomplishments

Aaron Swartz died yesterday. I'm having difficulty in finding a way to talk about it because he committed suicide and people start discussing about suicide usually condemning because "where there is life there's hope, and if he was depressed he should have done this or that"... Suicide is part of human condition. Period.

The other reason is the trial he was facing and some people are saying that he took his life because "he was afraid of the sentence blah, blah. blah".
I don't understand some people. Seriously.
I'm visiting the sites of those who were close to Aaron and talk about him.


"Aaron had an unbeatable combination of political insight, technical skill, and intelligence about people and issues. I think he could have revolutionized American (and worldwide) politics. His legacy may still yet do so."
Cory Doctorow in the great post about his friend


"Aaron had literally done nothing in his life “to make money.” He was fortunate Reddit turned out as it did, but from his work building the RSS standard, to his work architecting Creative Commons, to his work liberating public records, to his work building a free public library, to his work supporting Change Congress/FixCongressFirst/Rootstrikers, and then Demand Progress, Aaron was always and only working for (at least his conception of) the public good. He was brilliant, and funny. A kid genius. A soul, a conscience, the source of a question I have asked myself a million times: What would Aaron think? That person is gone today, driven to the edge by what a decent society would only call bullying. I get wrong. But I also get proportionality. And if  you don’t get both, you don’t deserve to have the power of the United States government behind you"

Lawrence Lessig at this post.

Cory also wrote about one of Aaron's project a "next-generation electioneering tool that could be used by committed, passionate candidates who didn't want to end up beholden to monied interests and power-brokers."

In September 17, 2012 Aaron wrote at his blog "Cherish Mistakes" and this is the quotation I've chosen for now:

"Mistakes are our friend. They can be an exasperating friend sometimes, the kind whose antics embarrass and annoy, but their heart is in the right place: they want to help. It’s a bad idea to ignore our friends."
Aaron Swartz

Update: January, 14

Aaron's family released a public statement last Saturday where they claim that MIT is partially responsible for his suicide. This is the entire statement:

"Our beloved brother, son, friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday in his Brooklyn apartment. We are in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing.
Aaron’s insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable—these gifts made the world, and our lives, far brighter. We’re grateful for our time with him, to those who loved him and stood with him, and to all of those who continue his work for a better world.

Aaron’s commitment to social justice was profound, and defined his life. He
was instrumental to the defeat of an Internet censorship bill; he fought for a more democratic, open, and accountable political system; and he helped to create, build, and preserve a dizzying range of scholarly projects that extended the scope and accessibility of human knowledge. He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and technologist not to enrich himself but to make the Internet and the world a fairer, better place. His deeply humane writing touched minds and hearts across generations and continents. He earned the friendship of thousands and the respect and support of millions more.

Aaron’s death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death. The US Attorney’s office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims. Meanwhile, unlike JSTOR, MIT refused to stand up for Aaron and its own community’s most cherished principles.
Today, we grieve for the extraordinary and irreplaceable man that we have lost."

Read about Jonathan James a hacker who also took his life after being prosecuted by the same Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann.
There is something very strange in this stories.

Ashley Smith: commits suicide under police surveillance

I just visited Mark's blog and his last post is about the story of Ashley Smith a 19 years old girl who has spent five years incarcerated.


crime: throwing an apple at a postman
sentence: 30 day spread to 4 years

Update: January, 10
"Please don't taser me. I'm scared!"

This post was at my draft collection and only yesterday I decided to publish.
The images are shocking but... they are at a mainstream media channel.
It means that we can expose it and also discuss about the case.

Unfortunately this is not an exceptional case. It happens all over the world mostly in prisons and mental institutions.
She was a teenager and was going through her rebellious period. She needed to be understood but was sentenced and tortured by  people whose work is torturing people forgetting they're dealing with human beings.

They destroyed Ashley's body, soul and mind. That's what they are taught to do.
Useless to cry over this "story":  that's the work of the media: using cases not to raise awareness about these crimes but to make people believe it is an exception.

No. It is not exception.
R.I.P. Ashley Smith

Paltalk: Where discussions can lead to suicide

I was curious to know what kind of discussions are being held in Paltalk. This last monht I tried different rooms and heard and read nothing but nonsense. Worse: prejudice, racism, xenophobia spiced with lectures of some few who speak most of the time imposing their views on others. This is how they moderate the rooms. The aim of the moderation is to make people feel bad. The reason? I have no idea but verbal abuse, bashing, ad hominem and ad personae attacks, and all rhetorical weapons  is the way discussions are held.

If I received one dollar for every "fuck" I heard... It is not that serious since fucking became part of rhetoric but what about "you, fucking hypocrite..." I beg your pardon? Calling someone an hypocrite means nothing in discussions rooms like these even tough some people try to fight it.
Copycatting politicians?
These are adults, not teenagers.
The bottom line is that there are no discussions. A discussion requires a topic and most of the time people jump from one topic to another. Maybe that's why it is PalTalk. Talk, no matter what. But with such pals only if you've been a regular for years as some are. Newcomers are not welcome.
I sensed a lot of resentment in some rooms. A gloomy way of seeing life and the world as if life has defeated or mistreated some in a way that little room for any good is left.
Occasionally someone interesting appears but they leave or don't talk too much.

People are so used to mistreat others that it became part of the culture. Sarcasm and other ways to put the other down and all the famous strategies used at the internet are used with the help of anonymity that brings the worse of people.  It means nothing for those who are used to pal talk.
But it meant to Mr. Kevin Whitrick:

A father-of-two hanged himself live over the internet in Britain's first 'cyber suicide'.
Kevin Whitrick, 42, took his life after being goaded by dozens of chatroom users from across the world who initially believed he was play acting.

But as they watched in horror, Mr Whitrick climbed onto a chair, smashed through a ceiling and then hanged himself with a piece of rope.

Mr Whitrick told users of web-chat site PalTalk what he was going to do two hours before he killed himself on Wednesday night.
He was logged on with around 50 other users to a special "insult" chatroom where people "have a go at each other".

They confirmed Mr Whitrick told friends in the internet chat room of his plans to kill himself but, thinking he was joking, they egged him on telling him to make sure the his webcam was on.
Whole article here.
The same happened to Simone Back but at Facebook on January, 2011 and to Claire Lin last March.

This is the room for The Rights for Whites* that has this site where it is said:

"I am outraged. You should be outraged. This is genocide by design. Whites are rapidly approaching minority status in the nations their ancestors built through blood, sweat, and tears. Wanting to preserve one’s culture, heritage, and bloodlines is not racist. It is a survival mechanism inherent to all human beings, irrespective of race. No group of people should have their homelands flooded with alien races against their will. Similarly, no culture should be subjected to the destructive forces of feminism, homosexuality, promiscuity, and forced diversity.

My problem lies not with everyday blacks, mestizos, Asians, and other non-whites. In addition, those who wish to live in a multicultural society should have every right to do so. Similarly, those who are of the opinion that a racially homogeneous society would be overall preferable to a multicultural one should be able to live in the former. Unfortunately, whites do not have this option — not in North America, not in Australia, and not even in Europe. As I have revealed in this five-part series, the Jewish Supremacists have colluded with their powerful, race-betraying co-conspirators to facilitate the demise of the white race..." (this site disappeared. I copied it fifteen days ago)

*The room Rights for the Whites was changed for White Freedom

Sometimes it's hard to distinguish quickly who is a troll and who is a true member of the room in PalTalk because in some rooms the discourse is the same. In 95% of all discussions it is all about hate, it is all about two choices. The moderation is done by professionals or compliant people.
The best rooms are those who have few people. But I don't recommend PalTalk to anybody. I heard a man saying that when he started at PalTalk his mother said that it was affecting his life and he should stop.
He kept even thou he felt confused and didn't understand. Sometimes a person raises the voice and shouts cursing and it is quite intimidating and dangerous for those who are sensitive. As he is a very nice person and compliant he is there now as an "admin", those who bounce or make a person unable to speak or write.
But there is also people to do the job of the "good cop" and write nice things. That's why some people stay.

Today I was told that because I'm Brazilian I was not aware of how to debate in such spaces. I started debating over internet in 1994 when we discussed through e-mails when nobody would waste time writing and wait for replies to troll. Anyway... This is the first time my nationality, thus my accent, was used to explain  why I was questioning the moderation of a room.
It was a topic and native speakers were saying all the flaws of the room. All of a sudden, as the moderator kept defending his acts saying that nothing of what was being said was true, I was attacked, I was the problem. It was quite instructive.

Freedom of speech is being used as an excuse to accept hostile and numerous aggressive behavior.
You find someone who share your ideas but according to the situation you'll be stabbed in the back if it's according to the circumstances.

If you have nothing to do and is tired of TV you can go to PalTalk and make any statement because "idea and opinion", the rights that are guaranteed by article 19 of UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, are used in a very broad sense even if you go against the article 20:

*2. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law. (emphasis added)

I heard a man from Poland claiming he was considering killing immigrants in Poland and the others in the room agreed. There were people from UK, Finland and US. I believe that we need a serious reflection about what is happening in our relationship with others. For the moment trying to respect others would be advisable.
"Don't take it personal!" is a good excuse some people use to abuse others. "You're too emotional."
No Exit: L'enfers ce sont les autres. ?
And as far as Paltalk is concerned... don't join it. In my entire virtual life it is the place where I witnessed the most offensive, hateful and repugnant behavior.
 There is nothing to do there unless you want to in a bad mood and want to verbally abuse no matter who. But this is a privilege you'll only gain after being bashed.

Update:
In 2004 this Petition Online was created and was signed by 2.120.882 people all over the world:
Author:
n/a
Send To:
Paltalk
Sponsored By:
Muslim Family of Paltalk

Mr Jason Katz,

We the following feel shocked and appalled that such a commodity as Paltalk is being used by certain people and parties to harvest hate against ethenic minorities, in particular against the Islamic faith. To us this is racist and unacceptable and a sickness that should not be tolerated for long. Racial terminology and profanity have been used in G-rated rooms by certain parties who shall remain nameless unless their nomenclature is required. A suffering to which children have been subjected and their young minds wrongly manipulated to feel hate towards certain elements. We feel it is your responsibility to put an end to this.

Hence we ask of you to correct such wrongs before the hate consumes more people and causes more pain for some. Racism is something that the better part of the world condemns and doesnt allow. We, the undersigned hope that we can soon count Paltalk, a community of four million that stretches across the globe among that better part.
2.120.882 Signatures

Now Muslims can talk but the HATING is not gone. Paltalk is a hating discussion generator. Try other ways of connecting to people. They also spy but this is not any news at the internet. Some rooms are there just to pretend they are discussing an when you pay attention non-issues are repeated over and over again. Paltalk is a nest of disagreement reapers and one suicide was committed with a little help of all this rage. 

Arthur Koestler and Cynthia's suicide notes

Arthur and Cynthia few months before their suicide

This is the second suicide note I'm publishing and I intent to post another one. Virginia Woolf's was the first. I think that the silence about suicide, a taboo topic with the explanation that only by talking about it can trigger more suicides, must be broken.
When it comes to suicide three sentences are often heard:

"S/he was weak."
 "S/he was selfish."
 "S/he didn't think about the pain of their family."

There are other cliches sentences and moral judgments that I think we have to discuss because the number of people that are facing and struggling suicide ideation, including many teenagers, is huge and the pain they are facing is very hard to endure. Silencing about it makes it harder.
 First let's read some of the explanations in some suicide notes.

Arthur Koestler's suicide note:

"To whom it may concern. The purpose of this note is to make it unmistakably clear that I intend to commit suicide by taking an overdose of drugs without the knowledge or aid of any other person. The drugs have been legally obtained and hoarded over a considerable period. 

Trying to commit suicide is a gamble the outcome of which will be known to the gambler only if the attempt fails, but not if it succeeds. Should this attempt fail and I survive it in a physically or mentally impaired state, in which I can no longer control what is done to me, or communicate my wishes, I hereby request that I be allowed to die in my own home and not be resuscitated or kept alive by artificial means.

 I further request that my wife, or a physician, or any friend present, should invoke habeas corpus against any attempt to remove me forcibly from my house to hospital.

My reasons for deciding to put an end to my life are simple and compelling: Parkinson's Disease and the slow-killing variety of leukaemia (CCI). I kept the latter a secret even from intimate friends to save them distress. After a more or less steady physical decline over the last years, the process has now reached an acute state with added complications which make it advisable to seek self-deliverance now, before I become incapable of making the necessary arrangements.

I wish my friends to know that I am leaving their company in a peaceful frame of mind, with some timid hopes for a de-personalised after-life beyond due confines of space, time and matter and beyond the limits of our comprehension. This 'oceanic feeling' has often sustained me at difficult moments, and does so now, while I am writing this.

What makes it nevertheless hard to take this final step is the reflection of the pain it is bound to inflict on my surviving friends, above all my wife Cynthia. It is to her that I owe the relative peace and happiness that I enjoyed in the last period of my life – and never before."

The above note was dated June 1982. Below it appeared the following:

"Since the above was written in June 1982, my wife decided that after thirty-four years of working together she could not face life after my death."

Further down the page appeared Cynthia's own farewell note:

"I fear both death and the act of dying that lies ahead of us. I should have liked to finish my account of working for Arthur – a story which began when our paths happened to cross in 1949. However, I cannot live without Arthur, despite certain inner resources.

Double suicide has never appealed to me, but now Arthur's incurable diseases have reached a stage where there is nothing else to do."

"Freedom" by Zenos Frudakis: A sculpture commissioned by the slave creator lab GlaxoSmithKline

The sculpture "Freedom" by Zenos Frudakis, done in 2001 for the laboratory GlaxoSmithKline, is exhibited at the Philadelphia headquarter of the laboratory.
He also did two works with GlaxoSmithKline former CEOs Joseph J. Ruvane and Sanford Altwood and painted Sir Paul Girolami, former CEO, Glaxo PLC.

I believe that the Zenos is not aware of the numerous harms caused by medicines sold by this laboratory.
The antidepressant Paxil/Seroxat alone causes addiction; suicidal and violent behavior that makes people kill themselves or others; it is tetarogenic, and all the other harms caused by SSRIs antidepressants - Prozac-like.

Antidepressants SSRIs don't help depressed people and the most common is that the person who has clinical depression takes all the brands on the market and are not helped, The numerous side effects are added to the pain. The hypothesis that depression is caused by a "chemical imbalance" of serotonin has already been proved wrong and these antidepressants  reuptakes serotonin in the brain, 5 per cent, and rest, 95% goes to other parts of the body creating a huge amount of harms.

Impotence and lack of sexual desire, inability to achieve orgasm and other sexual dysfunctions are caused by SSRIs and it can last even when the person quits the drug.

There is a Yahoo group  SSRI-sex Yahoo group created in 2005, where some people exchange their pain and try to find solutions but they didn't find any relief. 

 "Freedom" is not a concept that goes well with laboratories as many people have been saying over the internet in testimonies and in blogs. 

For GlaxoSmithKline Bob Fiddaman haa been exposing  at his blog Seroxat Sufferers:  Stand up and Be Counted. Seroxat is paroxetine that is sold in America as "Paxil" and in other countries as "Aropax".

The UK Parliament has already done a good review in 2005 , "The Influence of the Pharmaceutical Company"(click at the link to read the .pdf.) but nothing has changed.

Excerpt:

5. Problems with Seroxat and other SSRIs
Prozac and Seroxat are the best-known examples of SSRI and related antidepressants, but others are widely used. The introduction of SSRIs led to a threefold increase in antidepressant prescriptions between 1990 and 2000. Prescriptions for antidepressants now match those of the benzodiazepine tranquillisers at their peak, 25 years ago.

Almost from the outset, there was concern about two main problems with SSRIs. First, there was suspicion (initially centred on Prozac) that these drugs could induce suicidal and violent behaviour – infrequently, but independently of the suicidal thoughts that are linked to depression itself. There was also concern (centred on Seroxat) about a risk of dependence; some users found it impossible to stop taking SSRIs because of severe withdrawal symptoms.

The MCA/CSM formally reviewed these problems on several occasions. The suicidality problem was first investigated in 1990/1; withdrawal reactions were investigated in 1993, 1996 and 1998. In 2002, the MCA organised a further intensive review of both problems. This review was abandoned in April 2003, following criticism about conflicts of interest involving key figures on the review team. (emphasis added)

For a long time most artists are committed with the great causes like human rights, freedom of speech and all the problems that citizens of the world are facing. It is disappointing when it goes the other way.  
Mark Twain, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Joe DiMaggio, contemporary governors, mayors and academical people were sculpted by Zenos creating a heteroclite and strange hall of fame.

"I'm not duplicating life. I'm making a statement about human values." said Duane Hanson a great sculpture that used hyper-realism to talk about human condition. I did two posts about him: "Duane Hanson complex's world" and here.


Update: April, 17, 2013
The sculptor Zenos Frudakis left a long comment explaining that the sculpture was not commissioned by GlaxoSmithKline although all the data I search claims that it was done for the laboratory. This is what he said:

"I am Zenos Frudakis, the sculptor of Freedom and the portraits you have discussed. I appreciate your concern about prescription drugs. The tragedies of Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson are witness to this justifyable concern. There are some things you won’t know about the sculpture if you are not standing in front of it.

The client for this sculpture was the building developer, not the pharmaceutical company. GSK is not the owner of the sculpture, nor does it have anything to do with the sculpture. The developer asked me to create this sculpture for the front of his building. The major renter of the building for some years has been GSK, who is now moving, and not taking the sculpture with it. It doesn’t belong to them. I do not have control over the renter of the building. The next client will likely be a business, because it is an office building, but it could be a non-profit organization like Red Cross or Greenpeace.

I agree that artists need to be ethically responsible, and of course I did not create the sculpture to promote drug addiction. The sculpture is about freedom. Long after many renters come and go in that building, the sculpture will remain and Freedom will endure.

Regarding the variety and scope of my portrait sculpture, I am a professional working sculptor. As such, I am commissioned to create portraits of people. I have, from time to time, declined to sculpt people I felt would compromise my ethical integrity.

This is how I make my living. On my own, I sculpt people I admire. If you view my portfolio, you will see I have created portraits of Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Margaret Sanger, Darwin, Einstein, Thoreau, Emily Dickenson, Churchill, Anne Frank, Roosevelt, Nietzsche, John Muir, Rachel Carson, Alan Turing, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and many more. Portraits that I do on my own are my personal choice, and they are not going to coincide with everyone’s personal favorites.

I am driven to create art that promotes a better world, but like everyone, I am limited by time and financial resources. I sincerely do my best."

This is what Zenos wrote but I still do not understand  the reason he used as models two GlaxoSmithKline former CEOs:

Joseph J. Ruvane, former CEO of GlaxoSmithKline. Bronze, over-life-size sculpture. Research Triangle Park, NC

Sir Paul Girolami, former CEO, Glaxo PLC. Oil on canvas, life size. London, England.

Joseph J. Ruvane, the GSK former CEO by Zeno Frudakis

Virginia Woolf's suicide note

Dearest,
I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don't think two people could have been happier 'til this terrible disease came. I can't fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can't even write this properly. I can't read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that – everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can't go on spoiling your life any longer. I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been.

Jeremy: Eddie Vedder's live

*This song is about Jeremy Welle who took his life at the age of 15 years-old at Richardson High School at his classroom in front of thirty teenagers like him. He did put a gun in his mouth and shoot in January, 1991. I just found this video and the way Eddie Vedder sings impressed me even thou I've always been impressed by the official clip and other performances. I'm not alone and other people left comments expressing their amazement with this interpretation.

and why Jeremy is the greatest and deepest song ever performed. This is more than Live, there should be another definition for this theatrical dramatic feeling

MARSELIMADHE

It is a very known video. Jeremy's story* is shocking and many people feel his pain and can relate to him and some teenagers sing Jeremy as if it could be their story.
"Try to forget it"... impossible for many. "I don't need no mom and dad." that is said by Eddie at the end is the first line of "Sonic Reducer" by the band "Dead Boys".

When the era many teenagers have such a story as catharsis started? This is an issue that has to be discussed not by psychiatrist that will diagnose and prescribe drugs that induce suicide, like Prozac-like antidepressants, and have side effects that can last forever even when the medicine is not taken anymore.

It seems that family is a key element here and we are no longer talking about the old "conflict of generations" when a dialog was not entirely possible. It is something deeper.
This is a problem that requires an interdisciplinary approach. We are talking about children's and teenagers existential condition and this is the period that will stay in the memory of every human being forever.

The silence about suicide must be broken because there are many people that are haunted by this idea on a daily basis.

A post from my other blog - February 7 - International Day in Memory of SSRI Victims

I don't like to mix my other blog with this one but this subject is too important and I have to share it. The images will probably be changed but please take a moment to read it because it is about your health or the health of people next to you since antidepressants SSRIs are being prescribed not only for those who are diagnosed with major depression but also for headache or even to quit smoking:

This is Traci Johnson a 19 years-old healthy volunteer for Cymbalta clinical trial for urinary incontinence in 2003. She hanged herself at Eli-Lylli's clinic in Indianapolis in February, 7, 2004. According to Wikipedia:

"A suicide of 19-year-old Traci Johnson, a healthy volunteer in a duloxetine clinical pharmacology study, was highly publicized. For about a month she had been given high doses of duloxetine, and then she was switched to placebo. Four days after the switch, she hanged herself with her scarf from a shower rod in the bathroom of Lilly Laboratory for Clinical Research.^[65][66] The New York Times article mentioned a withdrawal syndrome as a possible reason for this suicide."

I always thought about changing the avatar but whenever I looked at this bright smile it gave me courage to keep going for it is not easy to deal with this subject and most of the friends I met because of this blog that are dealing with psych-drugs harms feel the same. I wish I did not know about it all but I cannot stop trying to raise awareness because these drugs are destroying lives.

 Last year I did a post in February in Tracy Johnson's memory and I have already scheduled this year post but today morning I thought that it was not enough. So I though about dedicating this day to all those people who have their lives changed because of SSRI harm. I wrote an e-mail to some of my friends and this is the outcome of my idea with their inputs: February 7 - International Day in Memory of SSRI Fatalities   SSRI fatalities are those who have died violently due to homicide of suicide induced by SSRIs and now there are newborns that suffer heart malformations or any other teratogenic disturbance.

I would also like to remember people that have their quality of life changed because of the use of SSRI as a teenager. Those who are not aware of these facts may be asking themselves why is it happening or even if it is true that a drug that has killed during clinical trial can be at the market. You just got your answer: "market".

We are talking about money and corruption is causing too much harm. I will change my picture next 7th February and leave Tracy Johnson in peace. I want to thank her for all these months she was here by my side. R.I.P. Tracy Johnson I want to thank my blog friends that helped me and encouraged me to keep going: Bob Fiddaman at Seroxat Sufferers Mark p.s. 2 at Psychiatric Survivor Matthew at It's quite an experience Susan at If you're going through hell keep going Needles to say that without them I would not be able to do it. 


This is the Awareness Ribbon for the International Day in Memory of SSRI Fatalities created by Aloisio Congrejo, an italian Second Life artist that was kind enough to do it when I asked him. You can see some of his works at Flickr. Thank you very much Aloisio! Update: I just did an event at Bloggers Unite and I am waiting if they will accept it.