Chatroom users 'egged on father to kill himself live on webcam'

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...cam/article.do

What was he doing in an insult chat? Trying to get them to help him?
That was an asshole move.

[DanaC]

Well, clearly he was a part of that community. Maybe he was trying to get them to help him....maybe he needed to feel like he wasn't totally alone as he died but didn't want to be talked out of it. Suicidal is a strange state of mind to be in. Once you get to that point you really don't want to be talked out of it, but...at the same time, at that moment, at that precise moment when you are about to do it....the world truly revolves around you. Maybe he needed to feel that, needed it not to be insignificant, needed an audience. to do it...Maybe he needed those jibes, those taunts and encouragements..maybe they were someone he could say 'fuck you' to, as he dropped.

[piercehawkeye45]

Suicide is usually caused by irrational thinking. Dana covered most of it, probably looking for attention.

[Ibby]

All I can say is, if youre hanging out (ooh, ouch, pardon the pun) in an INSULT CHAT, then expect the jibes and, uh, insults.

[DanaC]

Ibram I suspect he expected exactly that. I didn't get any sense that he'd been driven to do it by their insults. Rather, he seems to have gone in there, told the other members that he was going to spend some time in the chat and then hang himself, then done precisely that.

[Trilby]

People who kill themselves are not looking for attention. People who make suicidal gestures (a superficial scratch on the arm, a non-lethal Rx dose with a call to 911, etc.) are sometimes looking for attention, sometimes doing a dry-run and sometimes just so down they need to let those around them know just how sick they are but don't have the words for it.


Not Waving but drowning:


Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

Stevie Smith

[Kimberlin]

The person who hung himself... he has a name... Kevin. I have known Kevin for about 2 yrs online and off. He was a very very good friend of mine. Some of you ( and not just in here) may have thought he was being "egged on" to "do it" and to many (especially the press) think ppl were doing. Most people that were in that specific chat room thought it was a hoax.... a joke..... that it wasn't real. Also the room was never an insult room to begin with although over the last year... because some of the content in that room was a little out of text... the administrators of the chat program requested that the room have the name "insult" put in.
Do I think his "webcam suicide" was pre-meditated.... yes. And why choose a room where he had many friends to do this act... exact same reason that Dana had mentioned..... He didn't want to be alone. Trust me... the ppl who did the "egging on" and bantering in the room at the time are paying the price. And some I know are very very distraught about it as well... including those who also pleaded with him not too do so.
Kevin was a very kind and caring friend and a wonderful father to his 2 children as well.
It seems that alot of people this last week have been so easy to judge those of us who where there when it happened and unless you know all the facts. All I know is alot of journalists out there that do not have the facts straigt and are looking to pin the whole situation on some of the people who were in that room the nigh it happened. They just want to make a dollar here and there off of false statements.....
So all I have to say is this.... to you all out there (including any journalists).... just remember this..... behind every internet connection that is plugged in to every computer..... there is a real person sitting there..... a person that has feelings. Please take those into consideration.

Thanks

[TheMercenary]

[BigV]

Kimberlin--

Welcome to the cellar.

My deepest sympathies to you.

Words for all of us to live by:

"Be kind, for everyone you know is fighting a great battle."
-- Philo of Alexandria

[Hime]

Wow... I feel bad for the people who thought it was a hoax. They must be pretty haunted now.

Sending prayers and good thoughts for his poor family.

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by Hime

Wow... I feel bad for the people who thought it was a hoax. They must be pretty haunted now.

That was my biggest fear this first semster with my roommate. He was very emotionally unstable (bipolar) and he would sometimes threaten suicide and I was almost 100% sure he was doing it for the attention but the thought that he would actually go through with it was in the back of mind whenever he would get in a bad mood.