Archived comment by Passerby:
Interesting side note: In downtown SF, near the Caltrain Station at 4th & King, the words "We are not morons!" are written in tall block letters on the fence enclosing the underside of a road ramp. (I believe that several homeless people live under there.) The "We are not robots" reminded me of that, FWIW.

Archived comment by steff:
*groan*

Archived comment by Mike:
The cide-anger-cide theory? Is that what my high school geometry teacher was trying to teach us?

Archived comment by Michael:
Calculate the length of any given cide based on the amount of depression/agression (d or a) divided by method (m), so as to form: d/m=l or a/m=l.

Archived comment by Mike:
"Insecticide? You monster!"

But yeah, I see fair's point, and pretty much agree, although I'm not sure how suicidal people would react to criticism on that front; seems like depression can build itself up into quite an unstoppable force sometimes. (*sigh*) If you do find yourself in that sort of situation-- well, I can't personally say what it's like, but I would hope that you'd try to get some help.

P.S.: passerby, I'm not quite tactless enough to blurt out any guesses, but for future reference, when posting anonymously, please don't say things like "going anon on this one"-- that just implies that you're not usually anonymous, and leads certain overly curious idiots with years of experience reading other peoples' English papers to analyze your writing style in order to figure out who you are.

(*ahem*) I'm just sayin.

Sorry about your friend, too-- although, like fair, I'm thinking that maybe living under the burden of the disease might have been nearly as beneficial an example to others as being a healer had been. Of course, I've never been in that sort of position, so I can't say I wouldn't react similarly.

Archived comment by Saint:
*sigh* Given. Any given cide.

Archived comment by Saint:
I think just how selfish any give cide is depends on how many other people want the victim gone.

Archived comment by fair_n_hite_451:
Exactly Apple, exactly.

Archived comment by jcharles:
C'mon, Mike. We've all seen Sling Blade. Sometimes homicide can give you warm fuzzies.

Archived comment by Apple:
Well, to be fair, fair_n_hite_451 did say about the most selfish.

Archived comment by Mike:
C'mon, homicide has got to be just a little bit more selfish!

Archived comment by Saint:
No matter how hard I tried, I could never convince myself that my death would be more solace to me than pain to friends/family. I used to limp along on promises to myself--"As soon as my parents die," etc--and research into the quickest and most painless methods. (Yep, sounds pretty pathetic, don't it?) Then I found total happiness. If I had offed myself, I would have missed out on so much. So suicide isn't even a selfish act, really, because you deny yourself even a future chance at happiness.

Archived comment by fair_n_hite_451:
Understandable or not, that's still giving up. So, you feel like you can't follow your life's calling? Get a new one. If you can't heal, teach other so they can.

Man, suicide is about the most selfish act a person can commit.

Archived comment by Passerby:
I am going anon on this one but I did hear of one suicide that I can understand. I am obscuring the details a great deal to protect someone.

This person was a dedicated healer and felt that personal purity was an important part of being a dedicated healer (no drugs, didn't smoke, didn't drink, etc). This person had sex with someone trusted. Then learned that said person is HIV positive, knew it & did not share this information or use any protection to prevent spreading it. This healer felt contaminated and as such could not continue to be a healer, despite the fact that healing was a life calling. Without healing, this person's life was over, the body just hadn't gotten the message. So this person gave the message & committed suicide.

I do not approve, but I understand.

Archived comment by berkeleypi:
I'd like to add that I hadn't been to Evans Hall for the past couple of days and when I saw the memorial and the comments for the first time today I started crying. It makes me terriblly sad to think that anyone would think that suicide is the answer to thier problems. As someone who once threatened suicide, I speak from experience when I say, life does get better and you can't give up hope.

Archived comment by Noyock:
That's very true. I used to be suicidal (am not anymore) and I was honestly convinced that if I were gone, no-one would particularly care. I figured most of them, aside from my immediate family, would barely even notice. It just didn't figure into the consideration of the idea at all.

Archived comment by Jon:
Um. I've never felt suicidal before, but I've dealt with various levels of depression before. Some kinds of depression force one into an entirely egocentric mindset(or are caused by said mindset, I'm not sure which). In that kind of situation, that other people would miss you doesn't even show up on the radar, or at least is a low-priority item.

Admission: OK, I've mixed up metaphors, and spouted some psycho-babble without having any education beyond Psych 101. So don't take any of the above as from an educated perspective on the issue.

Archived comment by jcharles:
Mike - It looks as though the Daily Cal has one generic discussion page, with each topic there being the entrance to a "forum." There's one forum about Nicolai. The rest are just whatever people want to post. So the people posting there are following normal procedure, even though the things they're saying are pretty wack.

Archived comment by Alex Andra:
That is sad. Some people dont realize the value of their own life. Don't they know they'll be missed? Don't they know that they effect everyone around them? That some one out there loves them terribly, or could? That they can change their life if they're not happy?

And why are there so few comments for this?

Archived comment by Mike:
Jeez, are the forums attached to those previous links a troll haven or what?

Archived comment by Mike:
Whoa.

No need to apologize for the truth, Roxy. How sad. I mean, are we really at the point where people need to be reminded that we're all human? "Okay, have a nice day, and try not to go on a homicidal and/or suicidal rampage!" (*sigh*)

So... how's everybody doing?

Archived comment by Destructicon 5000:
This guy should speak for himself. He doesn't know that I'm not actually a 50 foot robotic juggernaut of destruction in disguise, ready to transform on a whim and rampage down mainstreet, crushing buildings like tiny cardboard models of buildings and people like small clay sculptures. Yes, I am destructicon, and I shall destruct things.

Archived comment by Tucker:
Not to be too cynical, but have you noticed how once someone dies everyone talks about how wonderful they were? They even did that with Richard Nixon. Makes me wonder if my own reputation might be improved by kicking off!

Tucker (40% chance of living to age 49!)

Archived comment by Roxy:
i really really don't mean to come across as a wet blanket, but maybe you wouldn't joke about this if you knew the story. i'll sum it up for you. UC Berkeley student found dead in Evans, apparent suicide. From The Daily Cal, "A memorial of candles, flowers, pictures and momentos has been arranged on the steps of Evans Hall to commemorate Rosen's life. Messages to Rosen were also written on concrete in blue chalk by friends and colleagues."
Clearly this message was an inside joke or something otherwise meaningful to someone who is right now in a lot of pain.
please don't hate me for putting a damper on the fun, i love inpassing and the comments just as much as the next person, if not more. i'm just surprised that eve didn't already know the meaning behind these chalk messages, or if she did, why did she not include an explanation? anyway, this is the last you'll hear from me on this topic. take care everyone.

Archived comment by Montygirl:
Maybe Hi was their leader, who showed all of them that they, indeed, were not robots. Then, he was tragically and horrificly killed by the robot king. Now, even though Hi's followers are being oppressed by the robots, this guy is starting an uprising.

Archived comment by lurkereh?:
The best part about being nice to people, you get things done...oh wait, I mean, the joy and satisfaction of treating people the way you want to be treated.
(whew..close one)

Archived comment by Danielle:
The world would be a much better place if we remembered to be nicer to people. Now, when strangers say hi, all I think is, what do they want from me? Or, is my skirt stuck in my underwear?

Archived comment by emma:
I think was written by a service-type person who was tired of just being given an order after giving a friendly greeting to customers. "Good Morning!" to which is often responded "Large black one sugar" As a waitress, it gets to the point where, when people are friendly to me, it throws me off.

Archived comment by fair_n_hite_451:
Made me think of "Are we not men? No, we are DEVO!"

Archived comment by tom:
was it like, a robot writing in the "Hi and Lois" comic strip and not learning about punctuation? If it'd read the "I hate periods" quote a while back, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Archived comment by candigyrl:
Maybe that was Seth's problem? Or Sharon's?

Archived comment by Roxy:
well, maybe this would help explain. watch out, it's actually very sad, many people are in mourning.

http://www.dailycal.org/article.asp?id=7999

Archived comment by Spee:
Yeah, robots say "GREETINGS."