Concern over some pretty saddening posts, also a quick story. - General

I hope you're all doing well, but if not, I understand and it's alright. This post may seem corny but I wanted to get this off my chest since there have been a few posts here that are pretty saddening. For the past few months, I've noticed a lot of worried and stressed posting, especially in Sensationalist headlines and Polidicks. A lot of it is dread and despair without solutions, now I can understand venting to a certain extent, I'm guilty as well, but some of the posts can be pretty alarming... Here's two of them; 1. Shit like this, cements my decision to kill myself when I turn 25. 25 is a quarter of life, I've experienced my Childhood, my Teenage years, and my Adult years. What's the point of going further? Especially with this shit. 2. This is kinda a reason I don't want to have kids, Don't love the idea of my progeny having to deal with a world heating up and going crazy. Bad news about the world, politics and society is posted all the time, but some posts about it can sometimes amplify the reaction. If a person sees that everyone is posting about how there's little hope and that things are going to get much, much worse, than that person may feel justified for feeling hopeless and apathetic. I know the world can be real shit sometimes, but I used to view it so much worse, to the point where I'd wonder why I should go on, and my Dad knew this. My Dad and I were driving home, he was hearing me out during a sad and hopeless moment. I told him that I thought the world wasn't that good'a place and that me trying to cheer up felt like lying to myself, like fooling myself into thinking the world is a better place than it actually is. He then told me about how he felt, how he used to be the exact same way as me. He grew up during the cold war, many people were freaking out over the Cuban missile crisis, so of course he had shelter drills and was taught to duck n' cover under his school desk. After that, he got to see all sorts of terrible things in the news, the Korean war, race riots, violence in the streets, Nixon's administration, and of course the Vietnam war, most people wanted peace, but they got the invasion of Laos and Cambodia instead. As soon as my Dad graduated, he received his draft notice in the mail, now at this point he was at an all time low and was ready to drink himself to death, for now he had a stupid war to look forward to, one that he lost some friends in already, so he made a vow to himself to never start a family or have children, he thought that it would be cruel to bring life into this world. So that would be it, he'd die, never meet my Mom, and there'd be no me. That was the most profound thing he ever told me, I might never had existed and he might have just ended himself, but he continued. Before he was sent off for recruitment he received his stand down papers and was later informed that the war was over. He ended working to improving his outlook on life, he met my Mom and had me. Since then he would play in his own band, run a music store for a while, restore a few classic cars, and he was very happy with the way things turned out. I'm not saying you should rush out and start a family, and I'm not saying that all the world's problems will be solved instantly or gracefully. I'm just saying that his story plainly details how that you can think everything's done for when it actually isn't. Summed up, Today; people despair over violent protests, the president's stupidity, political corruption, environmental catastrophe and the end of the world. Back then; people despair over violent protests, the president's stupidity, political corruption, environmental catastrophe and the end of the world. This reminded me that even though I could have very sad moments in life, I remembered that there was still more about life that I think are wholesome and good, things that I can hold on for. Now, we can look at an old photo of me when I was like 5 years old and I'd be there helping my dad restore his Corvair van and we'd both be smiling. I don't wish to sound patronizing, I know many people are going through big family problems, loss of a job, loss of a loved one, or just loss of hope and patience all together, but it might just be worth holding out for just a bit longer until you start changing your mind about things. Try and take a break from all the panic of the media, and try and take your mind off things with something you find good in life.

No, not the end -- the start of something new. The world never ends; only changes. Will it be a dramatic change? Yes. Will nothing be as it was before? No -- but it will also be little like how it is now. There will likely be famine. There will be worldwide crisis, yes. But, you know: people thought the world would end in World War I when 'all the nations of the world' took up arms against each other. We survived that; we survived World War II. People living in Japan where the Atomic Weapons fell -- most died instantly, some died sometime later; but some, undeterred, fought through it all and are still alive. They are little like who they were before - but they still can find happiness (and do) now. The World will not end; it will simply transform. We have weathered through worse -- we have survived extinction multiple times as a species when the full force of nature was brought down upon us. At a time some 72,000 years before now, consider that due to mass extinction thanks to a supervolcano spreading an endless winter across the world our total population dropped to perhaps as low as 10,000. If humanity could survive six years of the sun being nearly or totally blocked from view, having to live off lands with as much as 6-10 inches of ash laid across the surface of the whole planet, where the global temperature dropped 20 points for those six years -- I'm confident humanity will survive this. But only if we choose to survive.

I agree with you. For a while I was feeling really negative, but in all honesty I'm glad I live in this time period. We have so many things to be thankful for like medical advancements, the internet, and strides in creating equality. Things are still bumpy but I know if we all try our best things will be great.

Also the amount of agrees that suicide/discontinuation of existence related posts in LMAO pics get is fucking disturbing.

Suicide/nihilism jokes are a common theme in "millennial humor" apparently.

This. I fucking hate this. It was funny back in like 2010 but seeing it so much now seriously makes me worried about people, especially those who I know have been depressed or suicidal in the past (they make these jokes). I don't think any of that kind of joking falls under gallows humor.

Why was it funny at all to begin with?

There is a difference between chuckling at a black humor ass joke here and there and seeing fifty fucking agrees and nervously wondering how many of them are serious or ironic.

Joking about it allows us to cope, it's a way stop thinking about it too hard to be able to move on to something else.

But why does the joke have to be about killing one's self?

just because it's a coping mechanism doesn't make it a good one

I've made several suicide attempts and am in fact now disabled as a result, but I actually find suicide jokes fairly humorous for this reason. I understand that many find those sorts of things to be in poor taste, and I get that, but I suppose my own experiences are the main reason for finding dark humour enjoyable. I agree with the OP, btw. I would argue that the person who said he was gonna end his life at 25 is highly unlikely to do so - suicidal ideation turning into an attempt doesn't tend to be planned, at least in my experience.

Some people don't realize how close we actually came to nuclear war, there were many people who though that was inevitable, some things were bad like the U.S./Soviet backed wars, but the point was that we weren't annihilated and we're still here, and we still have reasons to live and find some joy in it. You can also help the situation by not calling it "inevitable", that's not very encouraging to some people, because otherwise why bother doing anything to negate it even a little? However, the main point of this thread though is to draw attention to how common despair and defeatism is, and how it's having a terrible impact on peoples outlook and mental health. We used to be able to just turn the television off and put the news paper down, but now everyone is carrying devices that easily connects them to everything, including the nonstop barrage of awful stories that are being pumped out. People end up convinced that they must focus on solely the awful in life, and that's not right.

Because it's relatable and makes it feel like we're not alone in dealing with it all the while providing some levity which usually makes us feel better.

Because joking about it lets us open up about the thought and discus it with others which is therapeutic. Leaving it bottled up will just make the feeling worse.

This, as someone who is miserable on a deep level, dark humor is a way to cope tbh. Maybe other people find suicide jokes depressing, but I'm sure many people who are depressed like me find them the opposite, they're liberating and uplifting.

No it's not. Nothing is inevitable (except maybe the heat death of the universe?). Some only become inevitable when you give up and start saying it is, because you create the prerequisites for that to happen. Where's there's hope there's a chance, and where's the a chance you take it and run. And run with each successive chance until you come out the other side.

I think you misunderstood me, and maybe I worded it poorly, I'm not saying the future is sunshine and daisies, I used past events as an example. I haven't had too much of a bright outlook on the future in a long time, I just think that it is what it is, but no, I don't think I should "end it now" I hope to pull through as well, and I hope more people are able to as well, which is the main point of this thread. In my OP "I'm not saying that all the world's problems will be solved instantly or gracefully." I know things will get bad, but there's still worth holding out "pulling through this mess.".

In the face of universe so fast and full of information, where certainty is impossible and the nature of our very existence is rather senseless, it is even more senseless to end one's own existence.

Entropy is the most certain truth in the universe. Nothing will last forever -- thus there will always be opportunities for change even when things seem irreparably and inevitably horrible. You've done a good thing by posting this here, OP. More people need to understand stories like yours and take them to heart.

Some people don't realize how close we actually came to nuclear war, Funny you mention that, there was a case where a soviet spy satellite was having an aneurysm about some clouds because when the sun was almost completely set in that area, the tips of the clouds or something were lit by direct sunlight and they looked an awful lot like missile launch clouds. Supposedly the only reason they didn't start launching nukes in response was because some guy went "hold up what if it's a false alarm" and did his damnedest to convince them it wasn't a launch. Oh and this happened twice by the way. edit: oh hey, a link

I’m 25 now and I’ve tried to off myself twice now, both times in the last 2 years. I can understand where you come from, but not everyone has the benefit of good parents or physical help nearby. My folks regularly laughed at my pessimism. My shrink just told me to deal with it. Every time I came here to the net, it’s always flooded with news of jackasses in power making everything worse, minorities getting killed or beat down, the world flooding and burning up, or comic book super villains who have escaped their confines getting away with literal evil schemes in broad daylight. Good news comes in small droplets which get washed away by the flood of sewage every day. The people who are supposed to be helping you only benefit themselves, and they know full well that the small folk can’t do anything about it. It takes the mental fortitude of a psychic wizard to look at the current world and try to think positively about it when all facts and forecasts point to the next couple decades being a tyrannical racist rule. Not everyone has that kind of strength, and having depression like most of the country does makes it even harder. The scary part about suicide isn’t the act itself, but rather, how much easier it gets to try again if you’ve already tried once. I agree with you about the place as a whole being concerning, but to me, that’s just telling of the world we live in. Maybe if things ever look up at all, these kinds of posts will reduce in number.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHwKyJOlZxU

You don't understand how it feels to be suicidal, then.

I take it that you believe that expecting the worse is a safe bet based on what you see, I've been there before, but telling people that things are "worse than it ever has been." is not very productive. Also, I'd say the threat of "boomy bois" is considerably lower than it has been in the past.

@Wappen that's a really good post. It's also worth nothing that the media runs on causing fear and panic. That doesn't just go for right wing shock jocks, all forms of media do it. That is not to say the world does not face problems - it certainly does - but don't let shit get to you. My mother's branch of the family were stuck in the DDR for most of the Cold War and were involved with the church underground movement. You can imagine that made them a target for the Stasi and paramilitaries, especially in the early years of the DDR, and several family members just up and went 'missing' (read: killed by the Stasi or shipped to Siberia) for their involvement with anti-government groups. To people like my grandmother, this seemed like the end of the world but they kept on pushing on. And now my grandmother is incredibly glad she did that and didn't give in to the hopelessness of the civilization. The world looks grim, yes, but nothing is a guarantee. To my grandmother and her relatives they were certain that life under the hell of the communists was all they would ever know and that war would erupt, but that didn't happen. Slowly life in the DDR got better, and now East Germany is free again. Sure, there is still problems, but a huge improvement compared to living under a dictatorship. I guess what I'm saying is that you have no idea what the world is going to be like in the next few years no matter how bad it seems to you, so keep that in mind. Facepunch is one of my main online communities and it's disheartening to see so many people shrug and accept things like that.

At my current age of 24, I have attempted suicide roughly six times through out my lifetime. First time was at the age of 11, I attempted to suffocate myself with a belt tightened to a bed post. Second time I was 13, and I tried the same thing as I had at the age of 11. At the age of 15, I attempted to up my method and tried to OD on a combination of alcohol and anti-anxiety meds. Age of 18, I tried to poison myself with an herbal extract. Age of 20, tried to OD on several anti-anxiety medications and some opiates.... Finally, my probably last attempt and the thing that made me accept that god has a cruel sense of humor, at the age of 21, I attempted to blow my brains out with my Gewehr 98, and that failed because the firing pin assembly's spring decided to break when I pulled the trigger. Yeah. Needless to say, I have tried just about everything outside of maybe helium-tank suicide, but I have gotten to the point where I have accepted that I have some purpose for existence, and that my constant failures were more-or-less reminders that I'm not done with whatever work I have slated for my existence.

Damn man, Thank you for sharing. This forum would not be the same if it weren't for you. And I couldn't be more serious because your posts are the best. Except this post perhaps, but you seem very open and able to tell about your attempts, so thank you for sharing. Your inputs on variety of subjects always make me happy, you honest-to-God, gun-toting bastard. You be you and don't change - except for the things you want change for. It is human tendency and in our nature to seek for purpose, but without the ability to truly find any - not with absolute certainty anyway. The only question that remains, once becoming aware of it, is how should we respond to it.

Phew, I thought this thread got axed! The sudden forum change & outage left me nervous, hope everyone's coping with it.