Current Events > Is death or suffering less of a tragedy if its largely self inflicted?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Saying right out, I'm NOT talking about suicide. I'm talking about cases where people die because they do something unsafe, or fail to care for themselves. Things like people dying because they're unvaxxed, succumbing to addiction, crashing while driving recklessly.

Do these deaths, to you, lose the element of tragedy, or does it just change the form of the tragedy?

imo, loss of life is always a tragedy. I have less sympathy for people in some self-inflicted situations, but it doesnt lessen the tragedy. I do try not to let the specific circumstances shape my sympathy with what we know about mental health now. There are typically always unseen factors even in some cases that appear cut and dry.

The_Yahtz09 posted...

imo, loss of life is always a tragedy. I have less sympathy for people in some self-inflicted situations, but it doesnt lessen the tragedy. I do try not to let the specific circumstances shape my sympathy with what we know about mental health now. There are typically always unseen factors even in some cases that appear cut and dry.

Yup. And it's still a tragedy to the people around them. It's a ripple effect :(

No it's MORE of a tragedy, and in fact it a requirement of classic tragedy. Let's look at a few examples:

Oedipus: should have abandoned his investigation, but kept pushing
Hamlet: should have just killed Cladius, not try to determine if Claudius goes to heaven or hell. through his arrogance to pass eternal judgment he accidently kills Polonius, a crime for which the universe must make him pay
MacBeth: coulda just stopped killing ppl at almost any point, but just keeps on killing till it's beyond fucked.

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Yeah, when I worked in addiction counseling the clients dealt with some truly awful shit, and often it doesn't stop after they get clean. I remember hearing about one of the clients hiding and crying in the basement at his new work over ptsd because an angry customer started arguing even after police were called.

If someone is born dumb and they die because of being so dumb, is it tragic? To me, yes. Its a different kind of sadness.

A very dear, but also very dumb, friend of mine died in his 50s because his liver failed after having eating ibuprofen like candy because the work he did made him hurt.

He almost died in the hospital and was told that Ibuprofen would kill him if he kept it up, so he stoppedfor a while. Then the pain was so intolerable he went back to them. And then he died.

Another friend had Hep C. In his loneliness, he decided hed go to a bar to try to meet women. He never had an issue with alcohol prior to this, but before long, his life was falling apart because of his drinking. Within 2 years he died.

Both these guys cried the last day they lived. Lamented their lot in life. It was terribly sad. Especially the ibuprofen guy. In a weak, feeble voice, he said I dont want to die, but he did. Less than 6 hours later.

Snap judgements made with zero sympathy only serve to aggravate me. You can judge someone after reading one sentence about their lives, but its next to impossible to truly understand.

The anti-vax group is tough. Some are stupid and being led, and some are stupid and leading, and some are leading only to win political points. There are some in the mix who are dumb and being led and yes, its tragic for thembut also for us. I stopped hating on all of them and have focused more of my ire to those who have a pulpit and preach to the dumb. Shame on them for destroying so much for power.

NecroFoul99 posted...

If someone is born dumb and they die because of being so dumb, is it tragic? To me, yes. Its a different kind of sadness.

A very dear, but also very dumb, friend of mine died in his 50s because his liver failed after having eating ibuprofen like candy because the work he did made him hurt.

He almost died in the hospital and was told that Ibuprofen would kill him if he kept it up, so he stoppedfor a while. Then the pain was so intolerable he went back to them. And then he died.

Another friend had Hep C. In his loneliness, he decided hed go to a bar to try to meet women. He never had an issue with alcohol prior to this, but before long, his life was falling apart because of his drinking. Within 2 years he died.

Both these guys cried the last day they lived. Lamented their lot in life. It was terribly sad. Especially the ibuprofen guy. In a weak, feeble voice, he said I dont want to die, but he did. Less than 6 hours later.

Snap judgements made with zero sympathy only serve to aggravate me. You can judge someone after reading one sentence about their lives, but its next to impossible to truly understand.

I'm so sorry for all of this :(

Horrorbooksguy posted...

I'm so sorry for all of this :(

Me too. They were good fellas who would do anything to be kind or helpful and they made lots of people smile.

Things like this are why I usually dont join in with the zero sympathy crowd.

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I agree, but there's a sad amount of people who don't :(