Teen Commits Suicide On Webcam As Others Watch

[JWBear]

Sad. (http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/21/webcam.suicide/?iref=mpstoryview)

[CoasterMatt]

:(

[LSPoorEeyorick]

That he did so is very sad. That...

Some of those watching urged him to take more drugs while others debated whether he had taken enough to kill himself. Hours passed before someone finally notified authorities that he appeared lifeless, officials said.

...is just horrible. WTF IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

[RStar]

I give up trying to figure that out. I mean for crying out loud, egging someone on so you can get off watching someone die? I hope when it's their time to go they enjoy it just as much......

[Ghoulish Delight]

The best case scenario is that everyone watching/egging on is so jaded that they simply didn't believe it was real, which is pretty sh*tty best case scenario. And sadly, unlikely to be true.

[Kevy Baby]

The best case scenario is that everyone watching/egging on is so jaded that they simply didn't believe it was real, which is pretty sh*tty best case scenario. And sadly, unlikely to be true.But when they track them down, that is what they will all claim.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Not that this makes anything better, but apparently the same kid had threatened suicide before and, obviously, not followed through.

[€uroMeinke]

Well, it's not clear if the people commenting actually knew the guy - If I chanced upon this site, I probably would have been one of the one's encouraging him to do something more definitive and dramatic, like hanging - as being on the internet, I would have fully expected it to be a hoax. I probably would have clicked through after a few moments being bored by the lack of motion from the alleged body in bed -
I would have at least expected some violent wretchings.

[Not Afraid]

While this event is horrible in retrospect, I would have probably thought it was a hoax at the time. Sadly, I've had enough exposure to sympathy trolls and other tricksters via the internet to have a tendency to roll my eyes at this sort of thing.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

But would you have encouraged him instead of navigating away?

[€uroMeinke]

But would you have encouraged him instead of navigating away?

I confess I would have encouraged

[Not Afraid]

But would you have encouraged him instead of navigating away?

I would have silently called him a doofus and moved on. I'm not a big fan of huge attention-getting ploys.

[Alex]

I believe that people have the right to choose suicide. So if I believe him to be an adult I would leave him to his business and to myself be disgusted that he would do it in such a public way sure to be even greater hurt to his family.

I may have made some effort to notify the hosting site since there is a chance there'll be an attempt to hold them at least partially liable. If I believed there was a chance he was a minor I'd probably make some effort to make sure authorities are notified but must admit that the near certainty of it being an attention getting hoax would probably stop me from going all out.

I too have had too much experience with sympathy trolls to default blindly into "it's real" mode. One massive board was brought to its knees with grief back in 2000 by a prominent member faking his own death (not on camera, obviously).

[Capt Jack]

I believe that people have the right to choose suicide. So if I believe him to be an adult I would leave him to his business and to myself be disgusted that he would do it in such a public way sure to be even greater hurt to his family.

agreed

[lizziebith]

I'm with ^ them.

[Sohrshah]

It's really quite sickening. I want to be able to judge the onlookers who did not act, and though I would never be the sort of person who would egg them on, attention-seeker or not, I likely would also have assumed it to be fake, some twisted sort of fun.

I can't imagine finding myself in the sort of situation where I was watching the web cam of a stranger- just laying there. This calls into question those who did the egging on.... and then the watching. At what point was it clear they were peering at a cadaver? How many were watching? I'm sure they could speak to one another, and yet, only one called. One.

At least it was one, and not none.

Ugh.