1) It is entirely possible to commit suicide while merely attempting to decapitate oneself with a chainsaw. It happened in the Orthodox community a while back. My father got to help clean up, because he worked for the funeral society. That one wasn't as nasty as the jumpers. Apparently, those really are the nastiest. People just shouldn't be jellified. It gets real ugly.
2) This concept is stupid. Life is full of dangerous stuff. I'm with Jamis; suicide is a choice. One the taxpayers don't need to spend insane amounts of money trying (and inevitably failing) to prevent.
3) Seriously, is anyone going to not commit suicide because they can't do it on a particular bridge? At least with the bridge, one is less likely to take bystanders along. Beats the hell out of suicide by car or by cop, from a social responsibility point of view.
4) Most people who are seriously suicidal are not going to be put off by rotting corpses. Trust me on this. There's a neat bit in
Girl, Interrupted (yeah, I know, not really APS typical reading material
) about the mental process of moving toward suicidality. It tends to involve a LOT of thinking about death, picturing death, making plans for death, obsessing about death and frequently about being dead. They ain't pretty thoughts.
5) While it is entirely possible for suicide to be an act of pure selfishness, it usually isn't. I've never actually attempted suicide, but I have spend a LOT of time coping with suicidal thoughts and desires. It is not a good place to be. A slightly more charitable attitude towards the people who aren't able to resist putting those thoughts and desires into action is warranted. Really. What is the point, exactly, of the utterly vicious and mean attitudes of some people towards suicides?
6) Viciously condemning suicides increases suicide. If having thoughts about suicide is shameful, then admitting to them for the purpose of getting help is also shameful. It can be a super-humanly difficult task to cope with severe suicidality alone.
I don't think that taxpayer funds should be used for the sort of idiocy in the article. I don't think taxpayer funds should be used for suicide prevention beyond those allocated to mental health, aka keeping the completely nuts off the streets and less of a drain on society. I do think suicide prevention is an INCREDIBLY valuable place to put charity dollars and volunteer work. Actually, come to think of it, in these very tight economic times for my family, I think the only significant charity we've given in the past several months went to a suicide prevention organization.
