group suicides

[Richardp]

In Japan, the internet has been blamed for a spate of group suicides which appear to have been arranged in online chat rooms.

lets all just stay cool, nothing is that bad.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4071805.stm

 

[pna]

I'm a bit puzzled by this one. Do you have to be friends with your fellow suiciders? I mean, what would be the point?

 

[securespark]

Oh, God, that's made me so depressed, man! I think I'll go and toppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

 

[AdamW]

Japanese culture has involved ritual suicide in some way or form for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

I don't think it acceptable, in fact I think it is repugnant. However, this is nothing new in Japanese culture.

 

[Slogger]

so who wants to sponsor free internet for the nips

 

[JulieL]

However, this is nothing new in Japanese culture.

Slightly off topic but still suicide related........ it's actually quite common amongst Chinese men who had impotence - a friend of mine who worked as a nurse in an Accident and Emergency department in Hong Kong said that many Chinese men were brought in either seriously ill/dead due to suicidal acts/attempts in view of their problem!

I wonder if there are more suicides generally in the Far East than this side of the World!

 

[Big_Spark]

I think what this thread and the report shows, and perhaps Julie's post indicates, is that Life in general is not valued as much in the East and that Suicide is seen as something that is acceptable by many.

This is a thinking that it will always be difficult for the West to understand, where we place a high prce on life, any life, but Japanese Culture actually values life in a different way, and that way places a seemingly "lower" value on it.

 

[Richardp]

I think what this thread and the report shows, and perhaps Julie's post indicates, is that Life in general is not valued as much in the East and that Suicide is seen as something that is acceptable by many.

This is a thinking that it will always be difficult for the West to understand, where we place a high prce on life, any life, but Japanese Culture actually values life in a different way, and that way places a seemingly "lower" value on it.

This has always been the problem and our Diplomats are mostly ex public schoolboys with little or no understanding of our culture never mind the east's and so expect them to "play the white man" and get upset when they do something unpredictable, did anyone see the programme about the Japs and ww2 last night, Cruel to the extreme even to their own, I worked with a guy who was in Japan in the war and still hated them, well if you were caught you'd know that you was about to experence Hell and they thought the same so killed themselves rather than be captured.

Nice one Slogger! more predictable than the weather

 

[pna]

This, and other recent events, have made more more convinced than ever that a multi-cultural society is a pipe dream. We may speak the same language, but there are fundamental differences that will not resolve themselves. I think the UK Government doesn't have a clear policy on this, or if they do, its so 'stealth' in its implementation, I have missed it.

 

[AdamW]

many Chinese men were brought in either seriously ill/dead due to suicidal acts/attempts in view of their problem!

I wonder if there are more suicides generally in the Far East than this side of the World!

Perhaps they would have less of a problem if they tried taking Viagra instead of chewing on a dessicated monkey's c*ck or whatever endangered species the current Chinese "medicine" recommends.

our Diplomats are mostly ex public schoolboys with little or no understanding of our culture never mind the east's and so expect them to "play the white man" and get upset when they do something unpredictable

Steady on Richard! Why would attending public school give one any less understanding of our culture than attending any other type of school? That is as incorrect as saying "people who went to comprehensives are have little or no understanding of the important matters in this country".

Personally, I went to a grammar school which means I've got the best of both worlds. Not only am I cultured enough to take part in polite conversation and have friends with twee names, but when surrounded by cockney types I can "drop my h's" and fit in almost as well as Tony Blair does

 

[Zampa]

We had an old Japanese man as a next door neighbour for a few years...really nice bloke...he was in a suicide squadron during the war.

Had fourteen successful missions!

 

[Richardp]

ok Adam, no offence, when I wrote that I thought it abit contentious but I meant stereo type public school boys rather than actual public school boys! I mean a couple of my friends are old Etonians but would understand what I meant as "Public school boys".

 

[Zampa]

However, this is nothing new in Japanese culture.

Slightly off topic but still suicide related........ it's actually quite common amongst Chinese men who had impotence - a friend of mine who worked as a nurse in an Accident and Emergency department in Hong Kong said that many Chinese men were brought in either seriously ill/dead due to suicidal acts/attempts in view of their problem!

I wonder if there are more suicides generally in the Far East than this side of the World!

Seriously i'll or seriously dead?..

 

[Big_Spark]

Good point Zampa, I always thought dead was pretty serious in itself..

But then i this day and age you get things like slightly broken bones, mildly pregnant and marginally fatal...

So who are we to argue with convention!!

 

[AdamW]

ok Adam, no offence, when I wrote that I thought it abit contentious but I meant stereo type public school boys rather than actual public school boys! I mean a couple of my friends are old Etonians but would understand what I meant as "Public school boys".

Ah, I know you too well, hence the winking in my equally outrageous response...

I'm not sure if I've ever really heard T Blair trying to sound "matey with the working masses" or if I maybe just saw it on some impersonation comedy show on TV.

By the way, I would be glad if you can tell your Etonian friends "Baa-la-la! Your first eight stinks!" (my eight rowed to victory against them at a regatta in about 1995... perhaps it is time to move on )