--- Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com> wrote:
> 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
> 
>
~~~~~speaking from the personal experience with
addiction and manic-depression camp myself, here's
what i don't get....

i can see why taking your own life doesn't make one a
hero, nor why does it necessarily have to make one's
music inherently worth more (although there is
something to the economics of rarity...if something is
good and you can't get anymore of it...), 

BUT...  for people to be spiteful and angry about
someone who was obviously suffering seems crass.  the
state of confusion and depths of depression one has to
be at to ACTUALLY kill oneself has to be incredibly
horrible.  there have been times that i have been
fairly wretched in a diagnosed illness, but you know
what, i hope it's never even been anywhere that close.

the other thing is, if he suffered from untreated
mental illness, this may not have been anything he had
control over.  i just hate to see people forget to see
people as humans.  the time you saw him in that
performance, he might have been at the height of a
real state where he hardly knew himself.  

it's always been a real paradox to me.  the
artist/addict/creative/crazy.  the pattern is way too
strong to deny.  from van gogh to the blues men, from
janis joplin to jackson pollack.  from william s.
burroughs to brian wilson, from sylvia plath to elvis.
 it's all over the history of creativity and genius. 
addiction and mental illness combined with streaks of
great material.  but it isn't always nice, and it
doesn't always end pretty.

jocelyn

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