Suicide In Idaho

[Shaggy98]

Just for the record, I've never been touched by this subject the way some of the previous contributors have been, but the very thought of the subject makes my stomach upset. That being said, it is all around each and everyone of us and we all deal with it in our own personal way. Mine is going to be avoidance, I've read my last post on this topic, anyone wanting to discuss it further will need to PM me, but even then I wouldn't count on a reply.

[Bugeye]

Not to down play this in any way but....ALL of the states mentioned have high Indian populations. The suicide rates among Indians is the highest of any group or race in the country, maybe in the world. That would make it seem like the suicide rates are so high in rural areas when most are actually occurring on the Reservations. Ken, sad stories. That would be a tough one.

[Kay/NC]

Try this link, and notice the NY Times publication date! 2005:http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/13/health/13rural.html?_r=0

Apparently, the current report, which dated from a death of the same era, is riding on the American media's coattails.

Clearly, death by suicide in rural areas is not a new trend.

[sw363535]

Great catch Kay,

I think a lot of the writing that will come from our new "faith based" "fairness seeking" news source will be written from the "search for acceptance" viewpoint.  And this one is a "weakness of the American Society" rehash, but what great timing for our new broadcasters.

We are so bipolar now with the two major socialist communes on either coast and the faith based free market capitalism of the midwest,  well sometimes it seems like the only thing holding us together is cash flow (the communes are always out of money and need the midwest to tax).  

What great timing for Al J to stride in and look sane.  We will embrace them like the new girl in school, and there is enough muslem population and funding present to make them one of the "old boys" quickly.  A third strong source of political pressure!!!!!!

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Kay, your one of our best information sorters and clearest minds,  But in sharing just a tid bit of info behind your reasoning you did a great service for this forum group.  Thanks again ---- we can post where we would not have considered before. Your our captain Kirk. 

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Jim did you realize what an great topic this was, wow.  When I read it my mind went 4 different ways.

Suicide ------ Those who don't really want to address the subject often stop at the gun.

[Kay/NC]

Gee, thanks...tweren't nothin'....

I have always thought of myself more as Spock than Kirk, though.  Like Spock and logic, all of us are slavish to certain things...for me, it is numerical elements like dates, statistics, phone numbers, times, amounts of money quoted, etc. 

I am not sure if this is due to being a compulsive counter to a certain degree (both daughter  and mother of two characters that make the Count on Sesame Street look calm about counting); or if it comes out of some activism in my far-background, or a tad bit of newswriting and editting, also ancient experiences. If you have sat and pored over an entire regulatory file that spans several years, as I have done more than once, it would warp you, too. 

If you tell me something happened, and report it today, I want to know when you observed it happening.  Otherwise, it is a form of time travel, either as intentional sleight-of-hand, or just sloppy annotation.  After that simple Google search, I would say the AJ writer might be close to plagiarizing. 

I agree with you that there is a lot of wolf in sheep's clothing action going on these days.  If a news organization appears sane at least every so often, then we might just grant it credibility, and be swayed more easily when it is not. 

I have always been told that even a blind pig occasionally finds an acorn.... 

Next question about suicide: Is it not similar, when a person refuses treatment for a condition that may very well kill them?  How about smoking?  What about just not being careful with one's health, or farm safety? 

Dying intentionally and immediately at one's own hand isn't the only way to kill yourself.  As a young wife whose husband came VERY close to a fatal farming accident, I can say that will tick your family off, too.  He was told how much I adore him at discharge, but also got his ass chewed out on the way home, too. 

[sw363535]

Kay I restricted my comments on the suicide issue---- mostly because the data is so skewed by several things.  Bugeye hit one of them.  It is just harder to find other reasons to blame in rural locations.  so on and so on.....................

In defense of agriculture and its high percentage of independent thinkers, I think there is a greater perpensity to feel "responsible" for ones life----- throughout that life.  Making personal medical treatment choices gets criticized with the same paint brush if we are not careful.  Too often by a well meaning friend or family member who thinks we should turn that responsibility over to someone else------- other than them, naturally.  As I tried to address in the last Retiring .... thing.  

The subject in the article is tragic.  Only two things bother me more, the shadow of guilt that follows for several to carry and the public desire to fix everything by restricting personal rights.

ECIN's comments give us an answer,  to be a friend to those around us, especially when they need one.  And often they ask................in a very round about way.

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Jim,

(Ironic that this subject comes from an organization that has been willing to broadcast news releases for groups that use suicide bombings to kill others.) ( Lets see how many "children and plastic explosives" articles they release in the US.)

As interesting as that data might be., I will not give them the time to research it -------------------- I am in control of my life and responsible for it, tragic as that might be.

[Kay/NC]

Let's be honest...folks who practice agriculture deal with life and death on a daily basis. I have always said the the main difference between us and the majority of the rest of the world is the definition of a deadline. If you miss an arbitrary one in an office job, you might get canned. If we don't do our farm work on time, something actually dies.

That is both good and bad. Good, in that our work is concrete, not numbingly abstract. Bad, in that we can never really slouch, or take many of what most public workers laughingly call " a mental health day".

Where is the dividing line between independence and isolation? Do we need to be just a little bit crazy to start with, to want to do what we do?

[dairy mom]

I got that your post was about Al J being foreign.  I brought up the subject to my husband.  His response was so what.  Who owns Fox?  An American.  I don't think so.  Murdoch certainly isn't American and I wouldn't claim him if he was.  The point being foreign owned media is not new to this country.

As far as Al J covering a suicide story.  You say it isn't an issue.  Apparently from the responding posts it is.  So I guess the question should be  why aren't American owned media covering this issue.

We tune is Al J when we can no longer take the drivel on the other networks.  Have seen some very interesting and informative stories.  Kind of nice to learn about other places in the world.  The other cable networks don't seem to realize anything happens any where else.

[sw363535]

Great point on the end dairy mom,

Our news services spend enormous amounts of time on political spin and do a dismal job on international news.  The world is daily becoming more interdependant and we generally ignore our world wide neighbors.  Unless it's the royal family. 🙂

I call it "facebook" news.

[hardnox604008]

CNN's international broadcast is much more sophisticated than their domestic version which has to be dumbed down.