No, to both questions. And I think that's precisely one of the issues being raised. Why not?

How was something like this allowed to happen by an audience either through encouraging it or not doing any effort to change the result (it could work, it can also fail but at least an attempt would have been welcome)? Apathy at work.


ETA: While I think the internet reaction he had didn't help him, the boy clearly had issues long before his suicide and I don't think chatrooms/forums should be blamed for his personal problems. If the dad is looking for answers, he might first want to ask himself how he missed noticing the signs that his son was this disturbed.

This story reminds me of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas when Madd Dogg was going to jump from the building and below you hear people yelling "Do it!", "Jump Madd Dogg", "Hurry up!". It was funny in the game, but not real life. >.<;

Such a sad story. I saw a newscast about this and some of the comments were "OMG", "Holy ****" and whatnot. Just internet-speak and nobody willing to help... At least from what I saw. :o

Is there any reason we can't be apathetic?

At some point this person decided to make his problem a public spectacle, at that very moment my empathy for his troubles what ever they may be are disregarded.

In some ways it is similar to a Palestinian freedom fighter; I can sympathise to their plight but as soon as they make the decision to board the bus and press the button my attitude not only goes from empathy to apathy but it keeps on going until it reaches antipathy.

There are many places where we can seek help and recieve empathy, sitting down in front of a webcam with a handful of pills is not one of them. This is not to say that empathy should be excluded form the situation, many people were concerned and did contact the authorities, rightly so, I just dont think its of any merit that we should condemn those who showed apathy. I also think we are in no place to judge or condemn those who encouraged him to commit suicide due to antipathy. What right did he have to impose his death on others? Was he and are we really that feeble to believe their goading sentiments to be true or even relevant to his death.

Wow, I cant believe this, it's simply wrong and and disgusting. I don't know how anyone could ever watch this, especially on the internet.

You can be apathetic if you like. But you also have to consider your responsibility for any impact that this choice may have.

Detachment for things we have no control over is not bad. It's even good. Why stress yourself with something you cannot change? But I think with seeing someone kill himself in front of you, there's something better to do than watch it.

The Palestinian freedom fighter is not a similar thing, unless your apathy towards this person would have had a direct effect on his chances of blowing up a bus and killing others with him. What if you knew of the freedom fighter's plan? You see him getting on the bus with a bomb strapped to him? Do you still think it's the best moment to be apathetic/antipathic? Would you not do anything and just watch it unfold?

If you answer yes to these questions, then I will tell you now, if that indeed happened and people died, I would be one of the first to condemn you for your behavior. This doesn't make the suicide bomber a saint. He has his own issues and he is responsible for his death and the other deaths. But just because you're not responsible for their deaths doesn't make you a better person to me. You had your chance, no matter how slight, to change the outcome (alerting the authorities, etc.) but you didn't even consider it despite the lives at stake.

I think it's like car-crash-t.v it's on and you don't want to watch, but you still look with one eye open, but a/ If it was being monitored by site staff, they should have closed the page down. b/ That Mod [Roxie] is entitled to personal opinions, and if she doesn't care, then so be it, but she has a responsibility to discourage such a thing, and she should have deleted the thread. I know it's not her fault that 'Mr.Biggs' felt suicidal, but her words were pretty damning, and she should be kicked off the team. I've already read one or two people threatening to leave the site if she's still on the staff by next week.
After it was confirmed that 'Mr.Biggs' had died, they locked the thread. I'm guessing that some wise advisor, with the law in mind, suggested or told them that they have to remove the thread, or that doing so would be a wise idea.
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I just added the extra bit of news, because sometimes it helps to see/hear what the people in question have to say. Here is a BBC Video familly statement <
I know some will be up in arms to hear one say that it should rais questions as to how the internet is run, but that's true, and something is being done about it as we speak, but it's at such a snails pace.

I'm pretty sure I know what you're getting at, but there is one flaw in your argument --> Were you in the same situation as some of those people, hanging out in a public video-chat-room, and some depressed kid came online after announcing his public suicide on his blog, would you really just simply sit there and watch, in eager anticipation? Or start telling him that he should do it?

No, I kinda doubt it. I may not know you very well, but I'd put my money on you probably (at worst) saying "screw this noise, I'm finding something better to do," and just leaving.


As suicide remains an unbelievably selfish act, since it usually is done with the intent of causing serious emotional harm to someone, I'm not as much disgusted at the fact that no-one did anything to help, so much that some people actually both encouraged and enjoyed it as online entertainment.


O, the wonders of the Internet --> Colosseum of the 21st century.

That's so sad... his poor family. And I can't believe people are still cracking jokes on that site. People really have no shame.

This guy wanted to be stopped, these people didn't. And he didn't want to back down because he'd never be able to live it down afterwards.

Also, I wouldn't be haunted after watching this. I've seen much more gruesome things than this.

I read about this too, and it's really upsetting. It's beyond my imagination why someone would not just sit back and do nothing, but actually encourage another person to take their life.
I understand that you might not take him seriously since it's the internet and all, but it was clear that he was having some issues. Why not try and help instead?
And this has happened before. People should have learned by now.