19 Year Old kills himself on webcam

[Squeezer]

Found this in the news yesterday and I thought it would make a good discussion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7743835.stm

Abraham Biggs, 19, from Pembroke Pines, near Miami, killed himself hours after announcing his plan on his blog.

http://64.233.169.132/search?sourcei...561%26page%3D2

(the thread is cached now so that a bajillion people can't read it, but to change pages just change the "3D2" at the end to fit whatever page you want to read. For example "3D6" will take you to page six.)

Biggs took an overdose of anti-depressive drugs, but remained comatose online for hours before he died.

The sense of disbelief at the teenager's death was heightened by the realisation that his end was drawn out and, most likely, preventable.

He began the process by posting messages telling people he was going to kill himself, and then started streaming live pictures from his home.

Abraham Biggs's father and sister pay tributes

Reports say that some of viewers who logged in to watch began to encourage the teenager to kill himself, while others tried to dissuade him.

After several hours, when he had not moved some viewers finally notified the site's moderator, who then called the police.

The footage has since been taken down and his father is now calling for more regulation of chatrooms.

Here's a link to the video of the police busting in. Website NSFW and contains some graphic, violent images. Click at your own risk.

http://www.theync.com/media.php?name...webcam-suicide

I'm curious about what you guys think about the situation. This seems like bait for a politician like Murtha to jump on and call for more regulation of the internet.

The best opinion I've read about this (for some reason this suicide really fascinates me, so I've read a lot about it) on Fark was someone saying "you don't go to Bodybuilding forums to deal with suicide in the same way you wouldn't go to your drug dealer for advice on rehab facilities."

This guy was aware at some point (he was only 19 and likely internet saavy) that forums aren't the nicest places on the web. He had to have known how the anonymity would treat him and should have known that there are better places to seek attention.

At the same time what responsibility do the people that watched him die have? They were watching more than just their screens but is this a case of voyeurism? They were invited to watch and I have a hard time condemning them for watching it, even if they really believed they were going to see someone die. We all have some sort of morbid fascination and they didn't know this guy from the billions of other people in the world. This also wasn't the first time the guy had said he was going to do this. Apparently he had made a habit of announcing his suicide attempts which is why many didn't take it seriously.

I'm sure I'll have more to say once I get some of your thoughts. Please share, I'm still trying to form an opinion.

[PH]

protip: regulating the internet will not make you a good parent. if your kid is dumb enough to kill himself for an e-audience then he wasn't raised right. another shitty parent pointing the finger at someone else for their own shortcomings. shit's getting old.

[Squeezer]

protip: regulating the internet will not make you a good parent. if your kid is dumb enough to kill himself for an e-audience then he wasn't raised right. another shitty parent pointing the finger at someone else for their own shortcomings. shit's getting old.

I agree that the father is misplacing the blame. There's only one person to blame for suicide and that's the person. Ultimately you have to make the decision not to exist anymore. We all have shitty lives to some degree and if you can't get over that then maybe natural selection will get at you.

But if you have something that is empowering and devaluing individuals should there be some sort of punishment for that? It's too easy to antagonize people through the screen without seeing the direct effect (hell I'm guilty as anyone on these forums). The viewers also waited 8 hours before contacting anyone that could come help despite seeing that he wasn't breathing. Do they have a responsibility as participants via the internet to help him? It just seems like they all thought they were watching a production rather than real life events. Like they were watching something that was supposed to happen. Like a movie.

And another part of me says that the guy needed tougher skin. He was only 19. Sure it sucked being a teenager but we all know that most of us managed to get through that. He also suffered from bi-polar disorder. That certainly doesn't help.

[Jedi DC]

wow that is a crazy thread

[paradise!]

Is this for real? Did this kid honestly do that in front of a live audience. I mean WTF people were commenting with

He's not breathing

and

if you put full screen on you can tell its not a still pic but why isnt his top moving as he breathes?

I've been watching almost 2 hrs and he has not moved..

That link that you gave for the live footage must have like viruses or something. I got like 6 IE porn popups from it.

[Money]

Reports say that some of viewers who logged in to watch began to encourage the teenager to kill himself, while others tried to dissuade him.


...didnt know he played trenchwars!

[Money]

That link that you gave for the live footage must have like viruses or something. I got like 6 IE porn popups from it.

faggots who use IE deserve it

[Jedi DC]

faggots who use IE deserve it

llol

[paradise!]

faggots who use IE deserve it

Why don't you just stfu and actually read squeezer's post. The kid committed suicide just yesterday. Why are you bitching about me having internet explorer, who cares.

back to this thread:

Incredibly sad the way this kid went, reminds me too much of a buddy of mine. Very sad, why would someone do this to themselves? Apathetic, mindless. If this kid actually sat down and thought about what he was going to do, I bet he wouldn't have done it. His personality and disorders mixed with the oppurtunity brewed this catastrophic event.

I know there is no way his parents could have prevented this. A buddy of mine has a ton of problems his parents have no CLUE about. Once he goes away to college they have no idea what he's doing. I'm more than willing to bet this kid was a first gen. american. He was most likely raised with strong morals, but were diluted during his public education years. No one should blame his parents, simply because they didn't know. Immigrant parents have no idea how to read a conditioned american child. I wish this kid had gotten help, very very sad day.

Rest in Peace.

[genocidal]

Why don't you just stfu and actually read squeezer's post. The kid committed suicide just yesterday. Why are you bitching about me having internet explorer, who cares.

back to this thread:

Incredibly sad the way this kid went, reminds me too much of a buddy of mine. Very sad, why would someone do this to themselves? Apathetic, mindless. If this kid actually sat down and thought about what he was going to do, I bet he wouldn't have done it. His personality and disorders mixed with the oppurtunity brewed this catastrophic event.

I know there is no way his parents could have prevented this. A buddy of mine has a ton of problems his parents have no CLUE about. Once he goes away to college they have no idea what he's doing. I'm more than willing to bet this kid was a first gen. american. He was most likely raised with strong morals, but were diluted during his public education years. No one should blame his parents, simply because they didn't know. Immigrant parents have no idea how to read a conditioned american child. I wish this kid had gotten help, very very sad day.

Rest in Peace.

ROFL?

[Squeezer]

I know there is no way his parents could have prevented this. A buddy of mine has a ton of problems his parents have no CLUE about. Once he goes away to college they have no idea what he's doing. I'm more than willing to bet this kid was a first gen. american. He was most likely raised with strong morals, but were diluted during his public education years. No one should blame his parents, simply because they didn't know. Immigrant parents have no idea how to read a conditioned american child. I wish this kid had gotten help, very very sad day.

That's a very big assumption to make. I don't know if you're correct or not, I'm just saying be careful with that.

God only knows why he decided to do it. Suicides happen. This kid decided to take his life for whatever reasons. We'll never know that. I'm more interested in the way that anonymity prevented people from taking actions they knew they should have (posting: should we call the cops? etc.).

Reminds me of the apartment complex as an example of the bystander effect, except in this situation the viewers were electronically protected and had a different kind of power to intercede. They chose not to.

[Jedi DC]

don't know what there is to discuss about this, ask more specific questions

the first 10 pages of thread on bodybuilder forum is pretty entertaining though

[Squeezer]

don't know what there is to discuss about this, ask more specific questions

the first 10 pages of thread on bodybuilder forum is pretty entertaining though

Alright

Do you believe there is some morality inherent in viewing something like this?

Are you culpable (by law, by your own conscience,) if you see a car coming and an old man in the way but do nothing except stare?

I certainly wouldn't blame the people that watched him die, or even prosecute them, but should there be any sort of ramifications for failing to get help?

What would cause someone to kill themselves in such an extravagant way? What is the role of the media, and entertainment industry in building a country where it's acceptable to openly mock people for their quirks and shortcomings (think reality TV)?

Do things like reality TV, youtube, myspace and other social networking devices encourage, or create systems for people to bully others in acceptance with our culture?

Does this call for more regulation on what people can share through social networking? Does the internet facilitate bullying? Should everyone endure a little bit of bullying par for the course when growing up?

Are kids more vicious now because of this technology?

Start with any of those.

[Vykromond]

I know there is no way his parents could have prevented this. A buddy of mine has a ton of problems his parents have no CLUE about. Once he goes away to college they have no idea what he's doing. I'm more than willing to bet this kid was a first gen. american. He was most likely raised with strong morals, but were diluted during his public education years. No one should blame his parents, simply because they didn't know. Immigrant parents have no idea how to read a conditioned american child. I wish this kid had gotten help, very very sad day.

what

[Vykromond]

what

quoted for emphasis