Anthony Bourdain kills himself

[therealdope]

I've dealt with crippling depression off and on my whole life, but, when and if you choose to have a family, it's time you have to deal with it. It cannot be all about you anymore. Suicide is extremely selfish, and something I cannot just sit back and not say so.

I have not read anything about the evolutionary basis of suicide but i bet it's unsettling. As for people being butt hurt over the mention of selfishness --- grow a pair. Just because something doesn't sit well with you doesn't mean it's not true. If you disagree, then present an argument other than "I've been dealing with depression all of my life ...".

I would definitely consider assisted suicide rather than put my family through a prolonged period of pain and suffering if my condition warranted it (advanced Huntington's, ALS, AZ, or other neuro-degenerative disease).

 

[AOM]

I have not read anything about the evolutionary basis of suicide but i bet it's unsettling. As for people being butt hurt over the mention of selfishness --- grow a pair. Just because something doesn't sit well with you doesn't mean it's not true. If you disagree, then present an argument other than "I've been dealing with depression all of my life ...".

I would definitely consider assisted suicide rather than put my family through a prolonged period of pain and suffering if my condition warranted it (advanced Huntington's, ALS, AZ, or other neuro-degenerative disease).

*sends you to clinic in Switzerland

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

I have not read anything about the evolutionary basis of suicide but i bet it's unsettling. As for people being butt hurt over the mention of selfishness --- grow a pair. Just because something doesn't sit well with you doesn't mean it's not true. If you disagree, then present an argument other than "I've been dealing with depression all of my life ...".

I would definitely consider assisted suicide rather than put my family through a prolonged period of pain and suffering if my condition warranted it (advanced Huntington's, ALS, AZ, or other neuro-degenerative disease).

I'm a bit lost here(hangovers suck). Are you saying that I shouldn't have mentioned being depressed, and how that shaped my opinion on this?

I get suicide in certain cases, like horrible diseases that you just waste away from in pain. I wouldn't ask anyone to suffer like that. It is dependent on the situation.

 

[therealdope]

*sends you to clinic in Switzerland

Why go to Switzerland? So the boring Swiss can bore me to death? I'm Canadian, I can just go back to CANuckistan for that.

You can get assisted suicide in Canada. Even before the law changed they had unofficial assisted suicide. Palliative care docs would just leave you a massive amount of pain meds the day you request it. One of our family friends apparently did that. It was time, he took care of final signatures, saw each of his kids and wife, and then told the doc that it was enough. Doc left about 5x of his already large pain management dosage and the guy did the rest.

What they call "Palliative sedation" (which we chose for my mother) is not that far off of assisted suicide assuming you have a DNR in place.

 

[therealdope]

I'm a bit lost here(hangovers suck). Are you saying that I shouldn't have mentioned being depressed, and how that shaped my opinion on this?

I get suicide in certain cases, like horrible diseases that you just waste away from in pain. I wouldn't ask anyone to suffer like that. It is dependent on the situation.

I was agreeing with you and then added my own perspective.

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

I was agreeing with you and then added my own perspective.

I thought so, but didnt want to put words in your mouth, or have you be misconstrued.

 

[MikeMcMann]

Someone clue me in why all the youtube comments on videos about bourdain say he was racist and hated white people? I know a solid 90% of youtube comments are trolls, but this has me curious.

From what I saw all of that talk started when he chummed up to Obama and had that episode where he and Obama shared a meal in Thailand. He made it clear after he was a big Obama fan.

After that the far right started to demonize him as intolerant and a hater of white people even though he is anything but and fights fellow liberals about being intolerant about rednecks and middle american right voters who he says are awesome people who have always welcomed him on his travels, despite his political differences with them.

 

[MikeMcMann]

i liked no reservations more than i did parts unknown as well.

I really enjoyed both of them with no real preference. His show in between those two, The Layover, is the only one that i did not need to see every episode of.

 

[USA!USA!]

It's hard to judge because mental illness leads you to do irrational things.

Having said that, man... sucks for his kid. I'm sure she'll be alright, but that's rough at that age.

 

[ralphc1]

I had a friend who killed himself. I knew him well and would never have imagined he would do that. He was married to an awesome wife and had two good kids and he was RIIIIIIICH. He was incredibly generous and kind and had fun hobbies. He loved to travel and everyone I know thought highly of him.
That really made me realize that you never truly know what someone is dealing with.

Do you think it was just pride that kept him from speaking about it?

I find the whole subject of suicide and people's reaction to it very interesting. So many people have a lot of sympathy for those left behind but very little for the people who kill themselves.

As far as mental illness goes, are the people who kill themselves mentally ill or is it the rest of us who continue on in the pointless exercise we call life that are mentally ill? Are humans any better than the weeds that take over a yard? Are we better than the viruses that kill us? Maybe suicidal people have come to the realization that life doesn't have a purpose and the rest of us have convinced ourselves that there is a purpose and a value to life when we are just a random collection of elements.

 

[USA!USA!]

I find the whole subject of suicide and people's reaction to it very interesting. So many people have a lot of sympathy for those left behind but very little for the people who kill themselves.

As far as mental illness goes, are the people who kill themselves mentally ill or is it the rest of us who continue on in the pointless exercise we call life that are mentally ill? Are humans any better than the weeds that take over a yard? Are we better than the viruses that kill us? Maybe suicidal people have come to the realization that life doesn't have a purpose and the rest of us have convinced ourselves that there is a purpose and a value to life when we are just a random collection of elements.

Inherently, as humans, we want/need to survive. Therefore, when someone wants the opposite, that is considered abnormal and an illness.

Even if you realize life has no purpose, at the physiological level your body still wants to live. If we didn't have that in us, our species would have never survived. That is normal behavior.

 

[therealdope]

Inherently, as humans, we want/need to survive. Therefore, when someone wants the opposite, that is considered abnormal and an illness.

Even if you realize life has no purpose, at the physiological level your body still wants to live. If we didn't have that in us, our species would have never survived. That is normal behavior.

If you don't have the inherent human trait of survival then by definition you have and see no purpose. Hence suicide is a logical next step.

 

[USA!USA!]

If you don't have the inherent human trait of survival then by definition you have and see no purpose. Hence suicide is a logical next step.

That is still abnormal though, so that is why it is considered an illness or malady.

 

[Omegaboy13]

I find the whole subject of suicide and people's reaction to it very interesting. So many people have a lot of sympathy for those left behind but very little for the people who kill themselves.

As far as mental illness goes, are the people who kill themselves mentally ill or is it the rest of us who continue on in the pointless exercise we call life that are mentally ill? Are humans any better than the weeds that take over a yard? Are we better than the viruses that kill us? Maybe suicidal people have come to the realization that life doesn't have a purpose and the rest of us have convinced ourselves that there is a purpose and a value to life when we are just a random collection of elements.

Most suicides I’ve responded to are not as cerebral as you describe. I usually don’t sit around and wonder why people willingly end their life as it’s usually pretty apparent. Bourdain is an outlier however, so trying to analyze it is difficult.

Random collection of elements!? I’d hardly say it’s random.

 

[JSN]

Most suicides I’ve responded to are not as cerebral as you describe. I usually don’t sit around and wonder why people willingly end their life as it’s usually pretty apparent. Bourdain is an outlier however, so trying to analyze it is difficult.

how is he an outlier?

 

[Omegaboy13]

how is he an outlier?

Seemingly great life, doing what others only dream.

 

[ralphc1]

Inherently, as humans, we want/need to survive. Therefore, when someone wants the opposite, that is considered abnormal and an illness.

Even if you realize life has no purpose, at the physiological level your body still wants to live. If we didn't have that in us, our species would have never survived. That is normal behavior.

All forms of life, including plants, bacteria, viruses and humans, are programmed with basic urges to eat, and survive to reproduce. What we recognize as advanced species have been able to temper these urges to cooperate in behaviors beneficial to the group rather than the individual. There are still the individuals who still live by their basic programming but most humans have been able to overcome the basic urges or there would be much more fighting over food and the opportunity to reproduce.

Many humans can fight the urge to eat and are able to stay thin. Some are able to fight the urge to reproduce and become celibate. People who can overcome basic programming may well be more advanced than those of us who can't.

 

[USA!USA!]

All forms of life, including plants, bacteria, viruses and humans, are programmed with basic urges to eat, and survive to reproduce. What we recognize as advanced species have been able to temper these urges to cooperate in behaviors beneficial to the group rather than the individual. There are still the individuals who still live by their basic programming but most humans have been able to overcome the basic urges or there would be much more fighting over food and the opportunity to reproduce.

Many humans can fight the urge to eat and are able to stay thin. Some are able to fight the urge to reproduce and become celibate. People who can overcome basic programming may well be more advanced than those of us who can't.

Sorry, I just don't agree. Wanting to be dead is not an advancement of the species. It serves no benefit or advantage that would serve as an advancement. If all of us "advanced" to that point, the species would die out.

 

[Easy The Great]

The strain was more than he could bare.

 

[Mike]

I've dealt with crippling depression off and on my whole life, but, when and if you choose to have a family, it's time you have to deal with it. It cannot be all about you anymore. Suicide is extremely selfish, and something I cannot just sit back and not say so.

It's weird to me that people don't seem to grasp there are levels to all of this. Suicide is something that, by definition, you have to be out of your mind to do. We're wired to survive at all costs, the survival instinct is incredibly powerful. To circumvent that, you have to be pretty much out of your mind with pain. To the point you become detached from reality.


People typically don't just snap. They talk themselves out of it, over and over and over. Struggling and pulling themselves away from that cliff over and over again. Then all it takes is one lapse, one break, one moment that is just too much to get through. And people say oh that guy is weak or selfish and just gave up. Ridiculous. I've made two attempts in my life, both nearly two decades ago. And I've done all sorts of passive damage to myself, and lived through year after year where I thought about it every single day. But I got through it somehow. And maybe tomorrow, or next month, or five years from now it finally overwhelms me. And people will say oh what a coward, not realizing it's something you've been fighting for decades.


It would be nice if life was like a care bears movie, and love conquered all, even mental illness. But it isn't. Someone fucked up enough to commit suicide is a very, very sick person that was finally just overwhelmed. It's not like they WEREN'T fighting. They were fighting and winning every day, for thousands of days, but you only have to lose once to lose permanently.