This is such a sad sad story. I feel so awful for this young man and his family. What a tragedy. I don't even know where to begin ---

This is just terrible. It is sad. This past week, I took a staff development class on cyber bullying and I was shocked at all the things I learned. I do not understand this need to bully each other online. It is a sad and scary world!

"You can't scare me.... I teach!" Author Unknown

Really sad. Really pathetic. He was obviously in a lot of pain. I worry about our current culture of seeking 15 minutes of fame and having as many "friends" online as possible. We can have all these connections with people online, but really how intimate is is if they'll just watch you die for entertainment.

I heard this story last night.
To be fair, I believe the viewers thought it was a dramatization.
I don't minimize the student's or the family's pain and shock, but isn't this a modern equivalent of a suicide note? And he had a history of mental / emotional illness.

What I *do* find seriously disturbing is cyber bullying, in particular the case of that 13-year-old girl who was harassed to the point of suicide, and the ringleader was the mother of one of her friends.
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The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money. -- Alexis de Tocqueville

horrible- wish there was a way the idiots who watched and did nothing or encouraged him could be prosecuted!

Maye- It seems a lot of them were under the impression it wasn't genuine. With the sort of sick stuff on the internet, I can certainly understand thinking it was a joke.
It's sad, but he chose to take his life, and he chose the way to do it. The people watching are no more to blame than his family is, which is to say that they were pretty much helpless. People who are depressed ultimately need to WANT to be helped. =(

"How disgusting and pathetic has our world gotten?" - You don't want to know. Seriously.

I agree Ladies!!

omg! this is horrible and sooo sad. I've always felt bad for people who are in such a bad situation they feel thats the only way out. people are so cruel, sadistic, and insane. And even if they did think it was a joke why would you want to be entertained by someone pretending to kill themself?

I'm not defending the fact that they were watching it, I am just saying there is no way they could/should be prosecuted for it.

I saw this yesterday... I am saddened about what happened.
Even if he had 'threatened' to do this before, no one should egg him on...
What bothers me the most is all that medication he was on at the age of 19....

I agree Delano! (About all of the medication) I think people rely on medicine too much. It's like as soon as you find something wrong with yourself or your children you MUST get them this medicine and this medicine.

Shop, I read this yesterday and a friend and I were commenting on how horrible this was. I have nearly lost faith in the human race to be honest. To read that some people were egging him on to commit suicide is awful! I can't believe no one called and tried to save him!

We need rehab from the internet, no doubt. I remember back when I was 9 or 10 getting on AOL and talking to people on my buddy list. Yeah, sad. It's starting younger and younger now. Most of the kids I went to school with would fantasize about going home just to get on the internet. It's just so weird!! Within the first two years I was out of high school, about 10 kids committed suicide because they were dealing with depression issues, etc. All of these kids had posted things on their myspace pages about how they were going to do it or they just heavily hinted at it.

Seriously, this is just messed up.

I also agree that we medicate wherever possible when all you need to do is talk to someone or get some fresh air (works in some cases if they're early on). What I have noticed with the kids I went to school with who killed themselves is that no one talked to them. They never had any stories to tell of what they did over the weekend. You never heard of anyone else being their friend. It's sad.

I agree 100% Laura! I posted a BLOG about it in Conservative Sugar.

I replied.

Those who egged him on are no different then those who yell jump to someone on a ledge. There is something in some of us that is truly turned on by this. That he chose to take is life is between him and G-d, why he chose a public forum is the question. Was he hoping someone would save him? Did he get idea from a movie? Those who egged him on, should be treated like someone who yells fire in a theater. Those who stood by and did nothing have to live with this. Either way he has left his familyi n pain but judging by their comments I expect they will sue.
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"Enjoy life, it's ungrateful not to." - Ronald Reagan

No one should ever take someone's threat of suicide as a joke. It's too important to ignore if they are truly intending to do it.

This is so heart breaking. What kind of individual encourages someone to do this kind of thing...is beyond me. It's disgusting. I feel so badly for the parents.

"Either way he has left his familyi n pain but judging by their comments I expect they will sue."
Nothing says "I love you and miss you" by making a zillion dollars off a tragedy.
I feel just as repulsed by the on-lookers and just as saddened about the suicide as the rest of you do. I just don't think it makes any sense to hold bystanders accountable. Even if they TRULY believed he was actually killing himself, and not just acting, and even if they were genuine in egging him on, there's just no way a court could prove their intent. The only thing a court could do is prove that they could have intervened and that instead they chose not to. They had, what, a few hours to intervene on his behalf? How long has his family had? How long have they known he had manic depressive disorder? The fact is, ultimately it all comes back to Abraham. His family couldn't save him in the end, and these people wouldn't have been able to either. The only one at fault here is the monster known as depression.

Gr... "LIKE making a zillion dollars," not "by."

oh, just wanted to add that I can't blame it all on the internet - yes, there's a problem and it's rampant on the net - but look at the crap bombarding our kids on the TV, magazines, etc. The net is just one more example of how bad our society has gotten!

Anytime someone is threatening to take their own life, you should always take it seriously. I can't believe people would encourage him to take his own life. This is so sad!

I think the difference is we have lives and we care about others there are some who only live on the internet and computer games. How do you develop emotions and caring for others when you surround yourself with inanimate objects and animation? That we are upset by it is, in a badly worded way, a good thing.

Suicidal behavior is a hard to catch sometimes. You can look for the tell tale signs and still miss it. And how many times does someone, even yourself, say if I do not get that, fill in the blank, I am going to kill myself.
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"Enjoy life, it's ungrateful not to." - Ronald Reagan

I just read this article this morning and it is heartbreaking to think about. I feel so bad for he and his parents! Prayers to them and may they find strength in knowing others do care!

tragic
his poor family
the people who egged him on scare me
what has happened to people when they've become so desensitized?

You always wonder did they think someone would come and find him and stop him? and no one did.

People just don't care about other people like they used to. The need/want to help our fellow human beings is disappearing. I heard a guy on the radio this AM talking about sitting in a movie theater with his wife and they could hear someone saying help. He turned around and the woman behind him was having a seizure. He got up to help her while his wife called 911 and as he did, other people were leaving saying that the lady having the seizure ruined the movie for them.

absolutely horrible