The Selfish Act - A Portrait of Suicide

Following our post about Jeremy Clarkson' comments on suicide, Rosen Trevithick has written a short story depicting a suicidal mind.

On her blog, Rosen posted,

"Clarkson likes saying things for shock value, but the fact remains that an astonishing number of people genuinely believe that this method of suicide, or indeed suicide on general, is selfish."

About the story,

"Morwenna has a very satisfying life, but she's plagued by an undiagnosed mental health problem that she refers to as, 'Too many thoughts.'

When she wakes up the morning after her engagement party, feeling disconnected from the world, her despair drives her to a railway bridge. She finds herself trapped between the reality of phone calls from loved ones and the alternative universe painted by desperate depression."

Rosen added,

"It's not very cheery reading, but it is honest."

Read The Selfish Act.

Clarkson versus Husband of Train Suicide Victim

Jeremy Clarkson on what to do after a train suicide:

"Change the driver, pick up the big bits of what's left of the victim, get the train moving as quickly as possible and let foxy woxy and the birds nibble away at the smaller, gooey parts that are far away or hard to find."

Was he joking? Was he sincere?

To be honest, I don't really care. It's not acceptable to make comments like that in sincerity or jest.

In an important radio interview, a man who lost his wife to OCD, discusses the impact Clarkson's comments have had on him.

Following his wife's suicide in front of a train, Glinn tortured himself imagining the parts of his wife that were hard to find. He found comfort in the level of respect with which the rail company treated his wife's body.

Clarkson's comment was part of a wider discussion in his column in The Sun newspaper, in which he argues that suicide is selfish.

Suicide could only be selfish if the person committing it, is fully aware that the destruction that their suicide will cause, is going to be worse than the destruction caused by he or she remaining alive.

"In most Western countries, close to 90 per cent of those who die by suicide have a mental disorder. " - Mind

"Broken down by type: mood disorders are present in 30%, substance abuse in 18%, schizophrenia in 14%, and personality disorders in 13% of suicides." - Wikipedia

This means that most suicide victims have a distorted perception of reality at the time of suicide. Many sufferers of the conditions listed above, are not capable of fully appreciating the impact that their suicide might have on others, especially not during the moment that they take their own life.

In the aforementioned radio interview, Glinn states, "She [his wife] wanted to die because of the effect it [the OCD she suffered from] was having on lots of other people around her." He also said, "She was probably one of the most unselfish people you could ever meet."

It is outrageous, in this day and age, for anybody to view death that is a consequence of an illness, as a slight on the sufferer.

Listen to Glinn interviewed on the radio.

If anybody can tell me what radio station this is from, or who the presenter is, I'd be really grateful. Thanks.

Glee - Santana's Coming Out Episode Utterly Disappointing

After Glee's sensitive handling of Kurt Hummel's sexuality, viewers had high expectations for the episode about Santana Lopez coming out to her mother and her high school. Unforgettably, the episode was extremely badly written with an offensive choice of songs, uninspiring covers, poor dialogue and an absence of substance. The fact that it was named after a Katy Perry song was the first clue that it was going to be bad.

Finn Husdon sings Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper. Apart from the fact that the cover was so insipid and lifeless that it took me a long time to recognise it, the lyrics are offensive and kind of irrelevant to coming out. Most girls want to have fun, but very few just want to have fun. Certainly lesbianism isn't as shallow as simply girls having fun.

Then, the female characters cover I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry. If anything, I Kissed A Girl is an anti-lesbian song. It totally undermines the depth of lesbian feelings and the importance of sexual experiences between women. Far from being a gay anthem, homosexuals everywhere despise it.

I'm not the only one to have hated the episode. Many people online, including autostraddle.com point out that even though the episode is called I Kissed a Girl, no girl actually kissed another girl throughout. In fact, Santana's relationship with Brittany is largely ignored, making the episode rather hollow.

To be honest, I'm starting to wonder if any of the episode's six male writers, have ever spoken to a lesbian.