My post was going to be about something more inspiring than this one, but I just had to mention this .....disgrace. I am shocked.
I am sadly used to it here in the UK. Crowds watching a person attampting to commit suicide off a building and luaghing and yelling for them to jump and taking videos and pictures of this horrendous event in someone's life on their 'mobiles', even after they jump, and the injury and death. I have heard about this several times and was deeply upset about it, but I have just read an article that shows the very same inhumanity has happened in San Francisco....? This utterly destroys my romantic vision of that place. San Francisco had been one of the first cities in the States I would love to have visited. It is really beautiful (though am sure it has its ghetto alas as most places do now), the hills by the sea, the misty harbour---where Alan Watts used to live in his houseboat. Home of the Flower Children, later the 'Hippies', Freaks, Heads in Haight Ashbury~~~ The gentle beckoning song~~~If your goin to San fran cisco/be sure to wear some flowers in your hair... Peace and Love....And I'd still imagine a real good vibe still there that is different from most modern cities.
Then I read this: San Francisco Crowd Encouraged Suicide Victim To Jump- Then Laughed
What kind of person would tell a suicidal man to jump? Or laugh after the man throws himself from a 3rd story window ledge to his death below. But that’s exactly what some people did when a guy in turquoise boxer shorts stood on the ledge of his loft apartment window (over the Forever 21 Store in San Francisco, CA) for approximately 15 minutes before he jumped. A large crowd gathered below, and as the man seemed to contemplate whether to jump or not, they videotaped and tweeted about the ordeal, finding entertainment rather than tragedy in the whole heartbreaking situation. And though some people shouted for him not to jump, others callously encouraged him to do so, according to San Francisco resident Terence Prasad and other eye-witnesses who commented on the San Francisco Examiner coverage of the suicide.
c
Feb 16, 2010
i was there and im traumatized. the guys next to me were laughing telling him to jump and videotaping the whole thing. i’m still young and in high school and this is gunna stick with me for the rest of my life. there was a total lack of respect for the poor man and people were laughing when he jumped.
Jon Barnhardt
Feb 16, 2010
I was passing by and witnessed the suicide. I looked away, but the sound of the impact will stay with me forever. The fact that I saw people in the crowd laughing less than 10 seconds after the man’s death may be more disturbing than actually watching him die. May he rest in peace.
Robert Kolbe
Feb 16, 2010
I walked by just as the police were covering him up.
I asked a couple what had happened and the man responded yes — laughingly. I asked him if he thought it was funny.
He then gave me a kind of funny look and didn’t say anything.
How very sad this man died this way. People, please be nice to each other.
Wilfred Galila
Feb 17, 2010
I watched this man standing on the ledge a few moments before he jumped. He was thinking and hesistating. I exclaimed that I hope that man is not going to jump and a lady replied that if he really wants to do it, he should already have done it.
It is very disturbing then to learn that there were people who did encourage him to jump. Society has become so desensitized and human life reduced to an amusement and a spectacle.
jchuckp
Feb 17, 2010
I saw the whole thing.....wish I didn’t. I was so disgusted at the severe lack of respect shown by so many in the crowd. All of the people who were encouraging him to jump.....may your souls burn for all eternity.
mary
Feb 17, 2010
If only the loooosers who were yelling jump would add to the spectacle by jumping themselves . . .
It would be fantastic to be rid of them !
Ef
Feb 17, 2010
I was there and felt sickened for this man’s life. What was going through his mind? He looked like his wasn’t sure if he really wanted to jump. I feel like he could have been talked out of it, if the suicide help person was able to get into his apartment. I feel that the crowd’s actions encouraged him to jump. This is a very sad, dark society we live in. It makes me scared to walk the streets with these heartless people. Rest in Peace, And may the Lord have Mercy on your soul!
Kenny
Feb 17, 2010
According to the police, the young man was apparently distraught over a breakup with his girlfriend. The fact that suicide was the young man’s choice was bad enough. I had a hard time with overhearing and observing people joking and finding amusement with this tragic event. Have the youth of today lost their senses of compassion and judgment? Unfortunately, I believe they have...
The common consensus was that had there been enough people encouraging him not to end his life, rather then telling him to jump, perhaps the ending of this story would have had a happy one. What kind of sick society takes pleasure in the demise of a fellow human being? And from the comments, it appears that many of the bystanders were young. If so, it’s a sad indictment of our youth today. But regardless of age, it is incumbent upon us all to care for our brothers and sisters in need."
It is a sadism effecting the youth, though not all the youth (I hope), and not only the youth, but a terrible thing is going on in the psyche of a sizeable portion. It has to do with the screen doesn't it? The images ----we have become images to that sorry soul-dead mindset. We are 'entertainment-objects'. Like a 'sex object' an entertainment-object even if in utter distress and literally on the edge is not seen as real, as a living being with feelings, and fragile body, but as some thing to show on 'Youtube' or any other computer video screen.
"I walked by just as the police were covering him up.
I asked a couple what had happened and the man responded yes — laughingly. I asked him if he thought it was funny.
He then gave me a kind of funny look and didn’t say anything."
A funny kind of look.
