Robin Williams Dead

[Duchess]

I agree with some of that. Please don't shoot me.

[Maggot]

The strong will survive, then die.

[HairOfTheDog]

I agree with some of that. Please don't shoot me.

I won't shoot you.

I disagree with part of what Gene Simmons said because I think his sentiment stems from ignorance and arrogance.

As far as I'm concerned, when someone is expressing that they're having a hard time with substances and depression, it's asinine to tell them to kill themselves. They're often mentally ill and want to feel better, but need help and realistic hope. Since they're talking about it, they haven't thrown in the towel. Why risk kicking them over the ledge because they're not as strong as you?

In terms of teens who get abused, or publicly humiliated, or relentlessly bullied..., I think they can be severely depressed and suicidal, without being mentally ill, because they lack the reasoning abilities and life experience to look beyond the pain that they're feeling in the right here and now. If they're talking about it, that's encouraging and I always hope there's someone with a brain and a heart listening; someone who can help them foresee and realize a better future before they make an impulsive permanent decision. Someone who is not Gene Simmons. Blueberryhill likely knows a lot more about the common problems and treatments for suicidal teens than do I. But, I do know that telling them to kill themselves is not a good bluff or risk to take.

When it comes to mature adults who decide that they want to end their lives after considering all of the options and consequences, I think that's a valid choice and they have a right to carry through instead of being confined and watched over every minute. I wouldn't want anybody that I cared about to live miserably and reluctantly outta being guilted by others or because they've been physically prevented from doing what they wish. Robin Williams is an example. He was mature, intelligent, had gone through treatment, may or may not have been mentally ill, foresaw a future that he wasn't interested in living, and chose when and how to end his life. I'd be sadder if he was forced to live miserably against his will than I am that he killed himself.

I believe that I have the right to choose when I'm done living and to terminate my life then. That sounds weird to some people, but I've always felt strongly that way. I also support assisted suicide in many medical contexts.

[Cutz]

Sometimes I walk into a drugstore, carry two bottles of tylenol up to the counter, and ask how much it would take to kill me.

If they won't sell it to me, I run out crying.

If they sell me the bottles, I say "Sleep well tonight" and then walk backwards out of the store, staring, never blink.

[HairOfTheDog]

Do they card you or do you just keep it simple and go straight for the Children's Tylenol?

[sally]

I don't like that fucking Jew Gene Simmons. I wish his mother would have died in the Nazi camp.

[blueberryhill]

People like Gene Simmons make me sick; it is o.k. to sleep with 2,000 women while in a committed relationship, but dang, don't ever get depressed and express a desire to die. In my day, there was more of a stigma to admitting to having mental issues, like depression/and or anxiety so we always checked the No box. To do otherwise, meant that you probably wouldn't be hired. Slowly, that stigma is going away, but very slowly. Why is it so difficult to understand that these are valid mental health diseases. Hello! brain scans and other evidence shows different chemical make ups. We need a better understanding as a society and treat people with psychiatric problems with the same dedication as we do physical illnesses. Insurance companies need to pay more for these treatments. We need a complete overhaul to treat the millions out there who are suffering with emotional pain. Earlier evaluatons and treatments may save lives. It is time to quit sweeping this under the rug. I was so embarrassed as a young girl when my brother attempted suicide and spent two years in a psychiatric clinic. No one in family talked about it so I still don't know details. Only thing I know for sure, was that he refused to see my mother, but my dad was on his list of approved visitors. You can't talk someone out of being in the throes of a mental disorder.....If someone threatens to kill themselves, take it seriously, please!

[sally]

Just kidding, but he is one annoying son of a bitch.

[Duchess]

I don't like that fucking Jew Gene Simmons. I wish his mother would have died in the Nazi camp.

I sure do hope I'm right when I say God "gets" me because I laughed out loud at that.

[Duchess]

I have nothing but compassion for those who feel such despair that death is preferable to life but there are people out there who use that as a tool, a bargaining chip, if you will. Once someone has resorted to that I don't believe they can be taken seriously. I only feel disdain for them, not concern or compassion.

[aussiefriend]

Blueberry Hill you are quickly becoming one of my favorite people in this forum. You are brilliant and you are not adverse to a little nip and tuck if the need arises. We are on the same wavelength.

You have demonstrated some insight and personal experience into the disease. Mental illness and alcoholism and drug addiction is no respecter of class, religion or socioeconomic status. It's true, one of the articles that I read last year it was the higher income earners that had less suicidal ideation than than those in the lower income bracket, but it still exists.

There is extensive science to support how the brain is functioning and what can be done to intervene. Obviously this has never struck Gene in any way shape or form in his elite rich world. However, if one of his children suffered from it, he would soon learn about it.

It's sad that he chose to come out publicly and create further prejudice and social rejection against this already shunned and marginalized groups. I am a KISS fan, but I don't have time for stupidity.

[blueberryhill]

Well, geez, Aussie, thanks for the compliments. I agree with you, too, on many fronts. Mental illness is so misunderstood and I think if we could remove some of the stigma re it, we would all feel better, function better, help people who need it and prevent mass shootings, domestic abuse, etc. We have no tools in the world today to identify and treat the mentally ill and again, there are degrees just like cancer has different stages, from mild to severe. We have opened up more about talking about bodily functions thanks to Dr. Oz (no, I am not that fond of him as I think he uses scare tactics). We need to be able to talk about mental health, remove the stigma and try to get people into treatment and just maybe save lives, improve quality of life for some sufferers and in doing so maybe saving ourselves from some of the crazies (no disrespect meant) walking among us and sometimes they even act like us. I think you are a very bright lady and certainly conscientious about the people you help every day. Keep up the good work...and again, it is amazing what we can overcome what we experienced in childhood, and not be totally messed up. I was a victim of childhood molestation by the neighbor's grandpa and that was 1938 and thus, I feel very strongly about pedophiles destroying lives and taking away the innocence of childhood and very often killing that innocent child to keep their dirty secret.

[Mohammed]

Robin Williams, human tragedy or just another .... American?

Now obviously you might wonder what the fuck I'm talking about, but due to this seriously unfortunate incident with Robin, whom I loved dearly, all of a sudden I am asking myself this simple question as so many details about those massive numbers of suicides seem to be happening due to depression. However, they somehow seem to be happening purely in .... America.

So the obvious question is ... why?

See, there is also plenty of depression going on in Europe. Matter of fact, in England it is simply considered a normal way of life, if not the only way of life. Just look at our English shadow talker. Is he depressed? Hell yeah. Does he make a fuss about it? Well, sort of, but not to the extreme that he would be committing suicide. Unfortunately.

You get all those rich American artists, and now especially every single comedian is under a watchful eye of the suicide hotline, from Adam Sandler to Jim Carrey, as by now everybody knows that you need to have a deep urge to chuck yourself in front of a truck to be funny over there. The whole Saturday Night Live crew is a bunch of mad people that need to be escorted out the building after every show before they loop themselves off the building while holding hands.

Chris Farley's last words apparently were "Please don't leave me alone" to a hooker as she left his apartment while he was lying on the floor, spending his last minutes no doubt somehow .... depressed. Now of course, like I said, we in Europe, got depressed people too, but we seem to have a better functioning method to the madness. Where does all this craze come from about the need to be perfect? Not allowed to drink until you're 21, the perfect body yet the most overweight part of the planet, resulting in a slight tilt of the earth to the left which gives us global warming, everybody condemning you if you have a beer for breakfast or a line as an afternoon tea sort of pick me up. No wonder you wanna die. Look at Mel Gibson. Got fucked up, stopped by cops, tells them he would burn their ancestors in Auschwitz, and my oh my, did the whole society go mad. No other country loves to turn someone into a star just to enjoy their downfall just as much, i.e. Britney Spears. Of course you would be suicidal too.

Now in Europe on the other hand!

The Rolling Stones single handedly tripled Columbia's GDP during their time, and from the looks of it it is clear that those massive amounts of blow and booze seem to have some sort of embalming effect. Our guys do not get depressed and lop themselves off, they are simply just self destructive and shit happens. Amy Whinehouse? Was she depressed? Most probably she herself had no fucking clue. Just another normal day, eh voila, shit happens. Bon Scott? Just having a good time and falling asleep in an unfortunate position.

Even George Michael said he went thru depressions, I believe such is a must by now for any serious artist anyway, but how does he decide to commit suicide? By trying to ram the dick of a 50+ year old truck driver thru his head in a public toilet! Of course he was not serious, for if he would've been, he would have bought a one way ticket to Kinshasa and tried the same stunt in the Congo. And if he wouldn't have died from that he would have most certainly got a dreadful disease somwhere up his poop shoot just like our Maggot now.

Rowan Atkinson? The whole clan of Monthy Python? Apart from that one bloke who drank himself to death, but once again, such is just the result of a normal life style really, but otherwise I don't believe we have a single depressed Comedian over in Europe.

But it seems to be rampant in the States. How come?!

I saw some making a reference to Hutchinson from INXS, but there was a huge difference. Hutchinson just tried to have a heavenly sexual encounter with two hookers, and did he succeed or what, whereby Robin really had just that one goal in mind, to leave this world.

Funny really, there you are, walking thru some of the most miserable parts and villages of Somalia, Kenya, or here in Yemen, and mostly you will find people smiling, and yet, you take a walk thru Beverly Hills and no doubt they got delievery vans for prescription drugs by now.

I swear his last words as he kicked away the chair under him must have been "Nanu nanu!"

Bless him, and I will sure miss one of the greatest and most loved people on this planet.

[Duchess]

That's a great post, Mo. I don't have the kind of compassion for all those weak minded people that Aussie & BH do because I think probably more than half of them are talkin' out their ass. People that really want to die just do it. They don't announce it, they don't want to discuss it, they just do the deed. I'll save my compassion for those people.

[HairOfTheDog]

I liked Mo's post too. Colorful Mofo can paint a mental picture and almost always makes me smile.

Just for the sake of accuracy though...

-The US isn't even in the top 20 countries in terms of suicide per capita in the world.

-Western Europe was the regional champ of suicides per capita for decades after the World Health Organization began measuring suicide rates in the 1950s.

-Hungary held the country-specific title for years, until the damned Eastern Europeans in Lithuania stole the trophy. In between them, Sri Lanka in Asia was numero uno.

-South Korea has the fastest growing suicide rate per capita.

- Of all the countries that keep records, China is the only one where more females than males commit suicide.

-The region with the lowest documented suicide rate is the Middle East, but most of the countries therein don't measure or don't report the rates formally so it's unclear if the documented suicide rate and the actual suicide rate are in the same ballpark.

- I don't know if everyone who's an addict and self-destructive is mentally ill and/or choosing to kill themselves slowly rather than get to the point. But, I do know that the United Kingdom, Australia and the US are about the same in terms of suicide listed as a cause of death (as opposed to drinking or drugging or rough-sexing oneself to death "accidentally), between 3.5 and 4.5 per capita per year. HOTD Edit --correction: the female ratio is about the same for the UK, Australia, and the US, but the total suicide per capita is higher than in the US, followed by Australia and then the UK -- 11.0 US per 100k, vs. 8.2 Aust, vs. 6.0 UK.

Source: World Health Organization -- Mortality Rate Report; suicide.
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/3/760 --- Page 7 of imbedded PDF, Chart 3


IMO: Some people use the threat of suicide as emotional blackmail or to garner sympathy/attention and aren't really suicidal -- I agree with that. Some suicidal people decide to check out because they can't live up to an unrealistic standard set by society, I believe Mo's right about that. Some suicidal people believe in the moment that they'd be better off dead but have been saved by medical or therapy intervention and are grateful for it -- plenty have attested to that. Some people have a brain abnormality that causes severe depression and can be helped medically before or after they enter suicide ideation -- I think that medical studies adequately validate that contention. Some people are likely mentally ill for whatever reason and want to die but don't want to want to die and talk or otherwise announce it -- some of them are helped and saved. And, IMO, there are people who make a rational decision to die rather than continuing living until their organs shut down -- I think they have that right.

(HOTD edit: correction; update source detail)

[HairOfTheDog]

Gene Simmons' family jewels are a bit in a vice right now.

The shit really hit the fan yesterday; KISS music is officially banned by some national radio stations in Australia and Canada.

He posted this public apology and explanation.


Reportedly the majority of his followers are posting that they think he's full of it and just covering his ass; they're telling him that they are no longer fans.

I too think he meant what he said in the interview and is now in damage control mode. But, personally, I wouldn't change a radio station that was playing KISS because of of the loudmouth's personal opinions and public statements. I guess a lot of people would -- or at least some radio stations seem to think that listeners and advertisers would turn away.

Ref: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...elves.html

[Maggot]

That's it......No more KISS only ABBA. And maybe some James Gang.

[Baldawgbites]

If there is one thing I want to do before I die... it's "Hang" with Robin Williams.

[Maggot]

You Gigliardo are disturbed.

[aussiefriend]

Love Gene Simmons you are back in my good books. I am off to tell him.