Suicide: Selfless or Selfish

[Z3ni]

What do you guys think??

I'll post my opinion afterwards.

[malachite]

I know everyone expects to answer selfish, but rules/laws are not absolute there are probably situations where is would be selfless.

On the whole I would have to say selfish. If one of my friends offed him/her self I'd be devistated.

[littledinosaurs]

It's neither, and I'm kind of offended by the question.

[Black Cat]

Disclaimer: I don't aim to offend anyone with my opinions, and I am not out to start any fights. I am just expressing an opinion here, it is how I feel.

I think suicide is a cop out. Leaving your issues behind for your loved ones to deal with is a pretty selfish thing in my opinion. I know that people go through a lot of crap in life, and things get hard for everyone. Ending your life because you think you can't deal with things is not the answer. I hate that suicide has been glorified by young people these days, they make it look so dramatic and glamorized that everyone is starting to think it isn't a serious issue anymore.

[Sugar]

selfish, no matter what issue is but sometimes only the truly selfish man is selfless.

[pirateninja]

I don't feel that it is selfless, however I don't veiw someone who genuinely wishes to commit suicide as selfish. It is running away from problems and it is trying to end the hurt in one's life, but I think someone would have to be driven to their limit to commit suicide and to that person, they are most likely alone, with no one to talk their problems through with or with no one they feel they can. Truly wishing to end one's life is not a decision that is made lightly and while they may not take into account the impact of their death on others (eg they may honestly believe that people will be better off without them), I do not see it as something that you can say "You want to die? That's selfish of you". I say neither.

[Metalbiguy]

Yes im kind of in the middle, because some situations are help less, and kids these days are cruel to the max,

i mean the one guy on webcam was crying saying he wanted ot kill himself and people were rooting him on!

like i think as a society we have kind of lost compassion in a way.

[MusicIsLife]

neither.

[malachite]

We also need to keep in mind our cultural influences. Most of us are taught that killing yourself is wrong, however in some cultures to end your life as a sign of penance or other situations is a sign of dignity.

Yeah, neither. I know people who have killed themselves and those who have attempted. My boyfriend tried to kill himself when he was 16 after his dad killed himself, thank god he didn't succeed. My friend did succeed in hanging himself, it's awful. It didn't make me feel angry, just sad. I cannt fathom being in that kind of mindset to where you want to die.

It's obviously not a healthy mindset, and needs to be treated. I wouldn't tell someone else suffering from a mental (disorder/disease?) that they are selfish.

[ADTR fan]

it's both in a sense. it can be selfish if you do it to escape your pain, which ends up bringing others pain. but at the same time, if you die to avoid causing others more pain it can be seen as selfless. so both, depending on who and how it is being viewed

[kettleoffish]

Originally Posted by Black Cat

Disclaimer: I don't aim to offend anyone with my opinions, and I am not out to start any fights. I am just expressing an opinion here, it is how I feel.

I think suicide is a cop out. Leaving your issues behind for your loved ones to deal with is a pretty selfish thing in my opinion. I know that people go through a lot of crap in life, and things get hard for everyone. Ending your life because you think you can't deal with things is not the answer. I hate that suicide has been glorified by young people these days, they make it look so dramatic and glamorized that everyone is starting to think it isn't a serious issue anymore.

I agree for all but a very few extraordinary circumstances.

[Tim]

Originally Posted by littledinosaurs

It's neither, and I'm kind of offended by the question.

I've had suicidal thoughts, but I actually have to agree with jarrett on this.

[carrie90]

I don't think it can be lumped into either catagory things are much more complicated when it comes to something like suicide

[Chip]

It's a mental disorder where someone is, almost always temporarily, in a place where they feel like they can't go on living. As such, I also agree with Jarrett.

However, I also think that the act of committing suicide ends up being very hurtful to those surrounding the suicidee (if that's a word) and so in that regard I think it's enormously self-centered, putting oneself out of pain or discomfort and, in the process, leaving behind a lot of others who find themselves in a lot of pain as a result of the suicidal act.

You can't just pigeonhole it without taking into account the circumstances that lead to it. But I have to agree that sometimes I have the feeling that there's a sense of victimization, of saying 'look at me and how miserable I was, feel sorry for it!'. Like the desperate attempt of someone who feels shunned to finally draw other people's attention. I wouldn't call that 'selfish', though.

[Eleanor Rigby]

To me, suicide isn't selfless nor selfish, it's an act of despair. Of course, it is extremly hurthful for those who are left whith the pain of the loss and all the questions they'll never answer, but I won't call suicide selfish, because I'm sure that people who commited suicide are so alienated with pain that they don't have the capacity to see any other way out and to think about the consequences their act.

[Brandford]

Suicide is only selfless if the one for the many kind of thing, sacrificing yourself to save another and the only way it would be selfish is if you had children or if you have a ton of bills that would be left to your family upon on your death.

Originally Posted by Mysterons

You can't just pigeonhole it without taking into account the circumstances that lead to it. But I have to agree that sometimes I have the feeling that there's a sense of victimization, of saying 'look at me and how miserable I was, feel sorry for it!'. Like the desperate attempt of someone who feels shunned to finally draw other people's attention. I wouldn't call that 'selfish', though.

You don't feel sorry for people who want to kill themselves? It's a mental disorder. Do you view all people with mental disorders this way? I don't think people WANT to suffer from mental disorders (and if you do, I am sure that's some other mental disorder), but I don't really understand what you're saying.

You don't feel sorry for people who want to kill themselves? It's a mental disorder. Do you view all people with mental disorders this way? I don't think people WANT to suffer from mental disorders (and if you do, I am sure that's some other mental disorder), but I don't really understand what you're saying

I think you're misinterpreting what I said, or perhaps I didn't express myself clearly. I never said people with mental disorders like suffering, or that suicidal people are happy to end their lives. It just sometimes strikes me that suicide, apart from being the result of an unwillingness to go on living, is the final and desperate attempt to tell others how depressed and miserable you felt until then. You've suffered for a certain amount of time, and people were unaware of that, so you commit suicide and finally everyone becomes aware of what you've endured. Suppose I'm right and this is actually true in many cases, does this mean I'm not going to feel sorry for someone who takes his life? Of course not, because one thing doesn't cancel out the other. Though again, this is just an impression since I'm not a psychologist, but I never meant to be offensive in any way.