An interesting side discussion is going on about the suicide rate in Korea:
“Suicide takes on a highly imitative nature, like a virus. Briquettes have emerged as a key means of suicide after actor Ahn Jae-hwan killed himself with one last year,” said Kim Hee-joo, chief of Life Line Korea, a private welfare organization.
Apparently somebody takes offense:
Yontan Corp., a nongovernmental organization that helps the needy by distributing briquettes, yesterday issued a statement that says briquettes are an “icon of life for the poor,” not a symbol of death.
So just a reminder, briquettes in no way should be a symbol of death, they are an icon of poverty that needs to be defended!
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
How dare you.
Jesus, Dram, what the hell is wrong with you? Please get this thing off here before more people see it.
Slight change if it’s that offensive, but frankly I still do not see why such needs to be defended. Reminds me of a Sam Kinnison bit about food aid.
I disagree with Yontan Corpse. Briquettes are anything but an “icon of life.” They are way too dark, and the name itself is also a bit heavy and depressing.
They should be frosted with sugar and renamed Sugar-Frosted Angel Flakes. That way, nobody would ever use use them to commit suicide.
Can you imagine reading that “Sugar-Frosted Angel Flakes have emerged as a key means of suicide”? Of course not! Too ridiculous! The mere thought would lift depressed spirits and prevent suicide.
I hope that my suggestion will be taken seriously. (I’m also in favor of renaming electric fans so that we’ll stop hearing about so-called “fan death.”)
Jeffery Hodges
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The Korea media shouldn’t report the gruesome details of suicides.
My uncle works for a transit company in a large city, and people often kill themselves by jumping in front of the subway.
The fact that they die at a subway station is NEVER reported.
The “how-to’s” should NEVER be reported.
The company’s statement read that the briquettes represent ‘an icon of life for the poor’ – not ‘an icon of poverty’. Why twist their words?
It’s not funny, it’s just a bunch of hate masquarading as a joke. At least this time there’s no tax table to go with it.
Ummm…how exactly does one kill themselves with a briquette anyway? Eating them? Smashing them against your head? Setting them alight? Using them to coof American beef, thus dying of Mad Cow?
no edit function?
*cook
What vicious inanimate object will strike against society next? Guns? Bleach? Hairdryer in the bathtub?
Ban them all I say.
Nyavogo (#7), haven’t you heard? Mad Cow jokes are beyond their shelf date!
I found out just yesterday from Netizen Kim. I’ve had to throw all mine out.
Jeffery Hodges
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I would tell you, but apparently the ‘how-to’s should never be reported… After all, who knows what suicidal persons might be trolling the MH for inspiration?
What was that all about?
Why on earth not? Discussion of suicide is verboten?
I remember reading a book on persuasion by Cialdini where he found that accident rates (car, I believe) increased significantly following published suicides. Where there was previously suicide clustering in the Korean community, it may now spread to the expats. At the very least, buy some extra insurance this week — you may be prone to accidents.
So we’re talking about killing yourself with a charcoal briquette? And it’s catching on?
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KILL YOURSELF WITH A HUNK OF CHARCOAL?
nyavogo:”HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KILL YOURSELF WITH A HUNK OF CHARCOAL?”
YOU INJEST IT YOU IDIOT!
Stick it so far down your throat that you choke? Throw it at an American police officer?
You need more than one. Simply pop them in a small charcoal stove, sit in your car, and burn them. The carbon monoxide produced by the slow burning will do the rest.
Apparently, it’s not a very nice way to go (according to the notes left behind by one victim), but I guess if a person is going to do it, they will do it.
Maybe they choose this way as it gives plenty of time to change one’s mind about what they are doing, doesn’t leave a gruesome corpse, and doesn’t endanger other people like the now popular hydrogen-sulphide-from-Japanese-bathroom-chemicals method.
Better just to take five and pick up the phone. Probably marginally useless advice, but I’m not a psychologist.
Always loved how people who commit suicide are referred to as ‘victims’, rather than ‘selfish fucking attention-whoring idiots’.
Not sure. I prefer a more neutral term for such a complex subject.
No doubt there are some people whom your label might suit, but surely most people ending their lives have simply lost perspective and see no other way out of their predicament.
Either way, they end up dead. I don’t imagine that insulting them would be of much use to either the people they left behind or others considering the act.
Adding to Pyotr’s mild rebuttal of Zonath’s cluelessly heartless remark, people attempt suicide not only to escape painful problems but also because of mental illness. Ironically, some anti-depressants are known to heighten the risk of suicide.
Yontan is an NGO, not a generic name?
http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%97%B0%ED%83%84
yontan hero
Perhaps my label was a bit harsh… But considering that suicide is more often than not a premeditated act that horribly impacts many more lives than just the ‘victims’ (and, in fact, may dramatically increase the chance of a friend or family member in following suit), I just don’t think the ‘victim’ label here is an appropriate one. I also sort of wonder how the coddling of suicide ‘victims’ might glamorize the act and influence potential other suicides in negative ways…
I’m also of the opinion that ‘the Zoloft made him do it’ should be accorded only the minutest amount more respect than the Twinkie Defense. Sure, there may be actual, bona-fide mental illnesses at work in some cases, but I really sort of doubt that the majority of suicides come from the wowzers yowzers ‘wasn’t coherent enough to know the consequences of his actions’ camp.
So sure, sorry for the callous label I slapped on all suicides, but really, get real; ‘Victims’ they are not.
i remember listening to b.holliday’s version of the song Gloomy Sunday way before i knew about its history. i found it quite relaxing and nice myself, and not as depressing as her other songs.
holliday->holiday
@Zonath:
Do you know or did you know personally any cases of attempted or successful suicide? I know of several. One was diagnosed and is being treated for bipolar. The others were severely depressed. One was drinking heavily. Two others were taking anti-depressants. The heavy drinker chickened out at the last minute on her plan to drive the family car into the river because she didn’t want to destroy her husband’s favorite car. She reflected to me later than she never thought about destroying her husband’s favorite wife. One relative who overdosed was found with a rosary in his hand. His act was obviously premeditated and he knew the consequences, but his need to end his pain was greater than his consideration for others. Depressed people who attempt suicide feel pain and hopelessness equivalent to a terminal illness.
Wah wah fuckin’ wah. Mental illness (as a whole) is at least partially hereditary; suicide helps keep us from being overrun by wackos.
I might actually be disturbed by those remarks if they didn’t appear under the username colontos.
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