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.
When society is reduced to a "mob mentality" I am sad to say it reveals the worst in us. Such a heartless mob approach you described is nothing new to humanity or "civilization"...I am reminded of the angry bating mob of ancient public hangings in Britain and the angry "fans" of soccer matches of today... there is little difference. It happens when we are not seen or act as individuals with individual responsibility that things plummet into the chaos of mindless anonimity and the mob...
ReplyDeleteIn a recent Global Newscast, I watched in disgust as a security camera caught not only the act of a good samaritan being knifed but the case of over twenty people refusing to help. A psychologist proclaimed that people are more likely NOT to help when others are there than if they are alone(the tacit thought is that someone else will, even when it's obvious that no one is...). That just blew my mind...
Each of us can make a difference. It only takes ONE person to sway a group.
I'm saddened, but not totally surprised by your post. I think people in general have been desensitized as our culture has 'progressed'... And I'm using that term somewhat loosely, believe me!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to console myself with the idea that maybe the people that were laughing were immature and trying to hide a reaction to what was going on. To think that anyone could be that cold and heartless is totally pathetic.
Hopefully, some sort of karmic realignment will set those laughing people back onto a path of decency, you just never know how someone will turn out.
Thanks for your outrage, that's encouraging in itself!
Teresa;-)
It is total lack of empathy isn't it? IF you see someone in distress and find that fun then you are completely cut off from that other---and in a sadistic way, because these people wanted the person to harm themselves, and record it etc.
ReplyDeleteTheres so many levels you can look at this--so many time frames. When I was a kid THE most shocking film in the cinema was Hitchcock's Psycho.
Now the film is very well directed of course, but the scenes of violence compared with whats on offer now pales in compariosn. And yet you would hear stories of people fainting when watching Psycho in those days.
Someone told me that he went to the cinema, and people near him all through the film were using mobile phones, texting.
At the end of the film--which was a 'slasher' film the lad shouted out something like 'This film was crap. We want more blood and gore!!"
But all this has effect on our psyche, and I suspect Hollywood knows this and promotes this. I call it 'pornorization---from sexuality to voilence it has become porno, and this causes moral depravity in the young.
The way they have done it is to use the old square shock at sex (remember) and make out that unless you are easy with pornoization you are a sad case. its either that or square
I have done an article in my archive titled The State We're In--about the effect of video games. That is part of this profit making assualt on the soul of the young.
We are lied to this is 'freedom'. But when people are laughing at you as you are in the utter distress of *suicide*, and wanting your broken bloody body in their video archive to flash to Youtube or whereever is when the signs of all thats being done is evident!
Thank you, muzuzuzus, for your outrage and shock. We have started a suicide baiting prevention page at https://www.facebook.com/SuicideBaitingCrowdPrevention?ref=ts
ReplyDeleteMy story, "Suicide Baiting --- they cheered while my son jumped," can be read at iPinion Syndicate at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/suicide-baiting-they-cheered-while-my-son-jumped/
ReplyDeleteMy newest poem, "If Dylan had been a pit bull," is published at iPinion Syndicate at
ReplyDeletehttp://ipinionsyndicate.com/if-dylan-had-been-a-pit-bull
Suicide baiting is legal in the eyes of California Judge Maria-Elena James who dismissed our case on the federal level without bothering to hear oral arguments. "Judge's stand on suicide baiting: Let them jump" is posted at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/a-legal-justification-for-suicide-baiting/
ReplyDelete"A comic strip testimony of suicide baiting" is posted at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/a-comic-strip-testimony-of-suicide-baiting/
ReplyDelete"Do the police deserve a Teflon coating" is published at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/do-police-deserve-a-teflon-coating/
ReplyDelete"Suicide Baiting is a hate crime" is posted at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/suicide-baiting-is-a-hate-crime/
ReplyDelete"When police do not protect: a 2010 suicide baiting in San Francisco" is posted at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/paradigm-shift-in-police-protection-a-2010-suicide-baiting-in-san-francisco/
ReplyDelete"SFPD message to 2010 suicide baiting crowd: Your target deserves to be hurt" is posted at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/sfpd-message-to-2010-suicide-baiting-crowd-your-target-deserves-to-be-hurt/
ReplyDelete"Will San Francisco become the first city to uphold suicide baiting?" is posted at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/will-san-francisco-become-the-first-city-to-uphold-suicide-baiting/
ReplyDeleteWe have a trial date--July 28, 2014, with the Honorable Cynthia Ming-mei presiding. My newest column about the suicide baiting death of my son Dylan Yount is "7734: Are police in San Francisco public servants?" At http:// ipinionsyndicate.com/7734-are-police-in-san-francisco-public-servants/
ReplyDelete"The SFPD: Still fighting the art of de-escalation" at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/the-sfpd-still-fighting-the-art- of-de-escalation/
ReplyDelete"The SFPD: Still fighting the art of de-escalation" at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/the-sfpd-still-fighting-the-art- of-de-escalation/
ReplyDelete"SFPD takes four years to prepare defense for 2010 suicide baiting" is posted at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/sfpd-takes-four-years-to-prepare-defense-for-2010-suicide-baiting/
ReplyDelete"SFPD reinforces mental illness stigma in Hallidie Plaza suicide baiting" at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/sfpd-reinforces-mental-illness-stigma-in-hallidie-plaza-suicide-baiting/
ReplyDelete"Suicide baiting now legal in Minnesota" at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/suicide-baiting-now-legal in-minnesota/
ReplyDeleteEncouraging someone to kill himself for your entertainment is not free speech. It is exploitation of the mentally ill. "Minnesota Supreme Court turns its back on mentally ill" at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/minnesota-supreme-court-to-suicide-predators-party-on/
ReplyDeleteWe have lost our bid to be heard in a jury trial in Superior Court and are taking our case to the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Two new columns explain where we are in the litigation process. Both "Law and the semantics of suicide baiting in San Francisco" and "Superior Court and SFPD label felons 'hecklers'" can be found at iPinion Syndicate.
ReplyDeleteEvery day I understand more and more why many Americans hate our judges and police. Courts ENABLE bad police. "Do San Francisco police really have no duty to enforce laws or make arrests?" at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/do-san-francisco-police-really-have-no-duty-to-enforce-laws-or-make-arrests/
ReplyDeleteMy 26th column, "Play is relative: Cat baseball in Missouri and Rome in San Francisco" at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/play-is-relative-cat-baseball-in-missouri-and-rome-in-san-francisco/
ReplyDeleteMy 28th column, "Send in the Clowns: Calling the San Francisco police" is posted at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/send-in-the-clowns-calling-the-san-francisco-police/
ReplyDeleteIt is the eve for the due date of the Respondent's Brief of the city of San Francisco, which will be written by Elizabeth Pederson. How anyone could defend the horror that happened on February 16, 2010, in Hallidie Plaza, San Francisco, is beyond the understanding of most of us. Since my last comment, there have been 4 other columns, all published at iPinion Syndicate. I do not know the ending of this story -- if we will get a trial, if we will be dismissed again, if we will continue our fight. I do not even know if I there will be a book about suicide baiting. I do know what happened was wrong. Who would defend suicide baiting? The CITY of San Francisco employs the city attorneys who fight this. IF there is never a trial, the police never have to explain what they did. It can -- and most likely will -- happen again. Very sad thought for humanity.
ReplyDeleteOral Arguments for "Kathie Yount et al v. City and County of San Francisco et al" will be heard August 20, 2015, in the First District Court of Appeal, 350 McAllister Street, San Francisco, at 11:00 a.m. regarding the 2-16-10 suicide baiting death of Dylan Yount at the Forever 21 building in Hallidie Plaza, Powell and Market Streets, San Francisco. No room designation has been announced at this time.
ReplyDelete"Suicide baiting case gets 10 minutes in court" http://ipinionsyndicate.com/suicide-baiting-case-gets-10-minutes-in-court/
ReplyDelete