4 ms·

The western world seems to be gripped by a death cult - drug overdoses, assisted suicide, suicide, victim culture - despite having 'the highest standard of livi

The western world seems to be gripped by a death cult - drug overdoses, assisted suicide, suicide, victim culture - despite having 'the highest standard of living on the planet. What's happened, is it the incredible pressure to perform and get ahead? Very rich school kids are topping themselves in the heart of silicon valley despite having probably some of the best prospects of anyone anywhere. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/the-silicon-valley-suicides/413140/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/the-sil... We have vast transient encampments across north America, particularly the west that are riddled with violent and petty crimes, substance abuse and serious mental illness. It is really hard to know what remedies are possible or workable.

op00to 4y ago
What planet are you on? Vast transient encampments?
- joe_the_user 4y ago
  You have vast transient encampments some places (Fresno, the desert, etc) because the homeless are moved from one place to another and sometimes an encampment gets established and so takes a lot of people a lot of place - but usually the homeless are invisible, yes. Edit: not that the alienation of modern society isn't also a factor but people unable to meet their costs of living (especially rent) is factor that should always be mentioned with any description of the mood of today. Plenty of people don't want to die but being pushed into death by circumstances - the subject of the article, in fact.
  - olivermarks 4y ago
    joe_the_user You have entirely missed my point. I broadly agree with what you say, but why is it that the western world are killing themselves in droves, when 2% of the world's population are homeless and close to a billion go hungry every day. what has gone wrong in the society that is supposed to be the flywheel of the global economy? San Francisco and Los Angeles have massive transient drug and SMI issues right now. More people died of drug overdoses in SF than of Covid etc.
    - joe_the_user 4y ago
      I broadly agree with what you say, but why is it that the western world are killing themselves in droves, when 2% of the world's population are homeless and close to a billion go hungry every day. what has gone wrong in the society that is supposed to be the flywheel of the global economy? I'm not sure what you're saying, that Westerns doing drugs are privileged and ungrateful, unable to deal with the real problems of the world? I guarantee you that the homeless of San Francisco are not privileged. Suicide is a complex phenomena - the US suicide rate has risen over the last twenty years but it's still below quite a few third world nations. Suicide has decreased in other Western nations, etc. Your article about a rash of suicides doesn't show the most wealthy "dying in droves", one needs to look at statistics to see what's happening. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r... And https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5463019/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5463019/ "We found that the hazard ratios of suicide showed an increasing trend as socioeconomic position decreased."
      - olivermarks 4y ago
        Thanks. I think the fundamental point I was making is why 'privileged' westerners are taking to psychological pain killing (and self ending) drugs in such relatively large numbers. I'd also say, knowing quite a lot about San Francisco 'homeless' specifically, is that the social media grapevine has brought huge numbers of addicts in from around the continent because of liberal drug, crime laws, generous benefits and a rapidly growing homeless industrial complex of 'non profits' to serve them.
- olivermarks 4y ago
  @op00 to Watch a few videos about San Francisco and LA, east coast cities, visit a few Twitter accounts https://twitter.com/streetpeopleLA https://twitter.com/streetpeopleLA etc
joe_the_user 4y ago
We have vast transient encampments across north America, particularly the west that are riddled with violent and petty crimes, substance abuse and serious mental illness. Oh, that's what you call ... poverty. Being homeless gives you a strong incentive to do drugs 'cause they dull the misery. The homeless often wind-up mentally ill because they're systematically prevented from getting sufficient sleep as well miserable and isolated.

op00to 4y ago

What planet are you on? Vast transient encampments?

joe_the_user 4y ago
You have vast transient encampments some places (Fresno, the desert, etc) because the homeless are moved from one place to another and sometimes an encampment gets established and so takes a lot of people a lot of place - but usually the homeless are invisible, yes. Edit: not that the alienation of modern society isn't also a factor but people unable to meet their costs of living (especially rent) is factor that should always be mentioned with any description of the mood of today. Plenty of people don't want to die but being pushed into death by circumstances - the subject of the article, in fact.
- olivermarks 4y ago
  joe_the_user You have entirely missed my point. I broadly agree with what you say, but why is it that the western world are killing themselves in droves, when 2% of the world's population are homeless and close to a billion go hungry every day. what has gone wrong in the society that is supposed to be the flywheel of the global economy? San Francisco and Los Angeles have massive transient drug and SMI issues right now. More people died of drug overdoses in SF than of Covid etc.
  - joe_the_user 4y ago
    I broadly agree with what you say, but why is it that the western world are killing themselves in droves, when 2% of the world's population are homeless and close to a billion go hungry every day. what has gone wrong in the society that is supposed to be the flywheel of the global economy? I'm not sure what you're saying, that Westerns doing drugs are privileged and ungrateful, unable to deal with the real problems of the world? I guarantee you that the homeless of San Francisco are not privileged. Suicide is a complex phenomena - the US suicide rate has risen over the last twenty years but it's still below quite a few third world nations. Suicide has decreased in other Western nations, etc. Your article about a rash of suicides doesn't show the most wealthy "dying in droves", one needs to look at statistics to see what's happening. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r... And https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5463019/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5463019/ "We found that the hazard ratios of suicide showed an increasing trend as socioeconomic position decreased."
    - olivermarks 4y ago
      Thanks. I think the fundamental point I was making is why 'privileged' westerners are taking to psychological pain killing (and self ending) drugs in such relatively large numbers. I'd also say, knowing quite a lot about San Francisco 'homeless' specifically, is that the social media grapevine has brought huge numbers of addicts in from around the continent because of liberal drug, crime laws, generous benefits and a rapidly growing homeless industrial complex of 'non profits' to serve them.
olivermarks 4y ago
@op00 to Watch a few videos about San Francisco and LA, east coast cities, visit a few Twitter accounts https://twitter.com/streetpeopleLA https://twitter.com/streetpeopleLA etc

joe_the_user 4y ago

We have vast transient encampments across north America, particularly the west that are riddled with violent and petty crimes, substance abuse and serious mental illness. Oh, that's what you call ... poverty. Being homeless gives you a strong incentive to do drugs 'cause they dull the misery. The homeless often wind-up mentally ill because they're systematically prevented from getting sufficient sleep as well miserable and isolated.