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| From | "Michael Bennett" <mrhonorama@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Suicides R (not) Us |
| Date | Thu, 23 Oct 2003 14:51:51 -0500 |
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The back-and-forth on Elliot Smith, depression, suicide and who has
apparently stored up enough credit to be a jerk on this list leads me to
something I just read over lunch, in a Chicago Reader piece on the Chicago
Sun-Times decision to publish the name of Steve Bartman, the Cubs fan who
prevented Moises Alou from catching a foul ball that might have staved off
their stunning collapse in the National League Championship Series:
"The wrangling began just minutes after the
Sun-Times outed
Bartman, another sign of the obsolescence of
measured reflection."
Indeed, what started as spontaneous outpourings on this list, has
transformed into a variety of responses, many of them off-the-cuff and knee
jerk, that have led us from expressing thoughts on Elliot Smith to a debate
on how everyone feels about suicide. While lists like this provide a great
place for folks to utilize a worldwide community to deal with a loss that
hits hard (even if you didn't know Mr. Smith, if you loved his music, it
meant something), eulogies can turn into hyperbole, and those who didn't buy
into Smith or how he conducted himself then respond in turn. I would like
to presume that if a relative or friend of someone you (meaning any of us
Auditeers) knew took his or her own life that the response wouldn't be "Fuck
'em. Selfish loser."
I just hope Kyle Vincent doesn't die any time soon...
Mike Bennett
Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com
>From: Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com>
>Reply-To: audities@smoe.org
>To: audities@smoe.org, audities@smoe.org
>Subject: Re: Suicides R (not) Us
>Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 15:35:38 -0400
>
>At 10:19 AM 10/23/2003 -0700, W. Colter wrote:
> >Guys, you're talking about a man who had a severe
>mental/physiological/physical imbalance which led to, or was exacerbated
>by, addiction, alcoholism and depression. It's a complex disease, and
>those who struggle with it very often don't recover from it. To be angry
>or condemning about his choices is to be child-like in your observations
>and reactions.
>
>Speaking as someone with a family history of depression, bi-polar
>disorders, drug addiction and other mental health problems, not to mention
>some personal experience with the topic at hand, I must first say that I'm
>about the last person who needs to be lectured about the seriousness of
>this topic, and I'll thank you to refrain. I would also argue that anger
>and condemnation are no more "child-like" than a knee-jerk "Oh, what a
>horible tragedy," and possibly even less so. I admit that it's likely that
>my reaction to this news has been colored by the fact that I never cared
>much for Elliott Smith's music, nor indeed for the man himself, based on
>the one time I ever saw him live, a 1996 solo performance most of which he
>spent drunkenly insulting and screaming at the rapidly-dwindling audience,
>but I stand by my opinion that -- not necessarily on a conscious level
>although I wouldn't put it past him -- in some ways, Elliott Smith chose to
>commit suicide, and specifically that he chose to commit suicide in the
>manner that he did, in order to become a legendary tragic figure. Given
>that I've already twice seen eulogies that called him "the greatest
>songwriter of his generation" -- a piece of hyperbole that I don't recall
>EVER seeing when he was still alive -- I'm afraid that he's already well on
>his way.
>
>S
>
>
>
>
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