4 ms·

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

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.

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.