Aus. Gov't Considers Fines for Online Suicide Info 674
downundarob writes "The Australian federal government is once again showing its cluelessness regarding the workings of the Internet. The short article tells us how, under legislation to be introduced this week, corporations would be fined up to AU$500,000 and individuals AU$100,000 if they use the Internet to incite or promote suicide methods. In Australia it is illegal to commit, or attempt to commit suicide."
Re:teenagers.. (Score:3, Informative)
Hmmm... Let's see:
"Wacky News?" check.
Flamebait headline?... check.
Single link to short article?... check.
Trolling?... check.
Re:Now I'm screwed (Score:3, Informative)
(Metalica before they became obvious money grubing pussies)
Re:Goofy (Score:2, Informative)
details (Score:3, Informative)
I wrote "I had" becase it's over.
I'm cured.
I was having a bad time: I lost a job which I actually hated, and I also considered changing my life.
I then had the following strategy : Waiting until the temperature would fall below -10C and sleep naked in my balcony.
The cold came... but too late.
I did not want to end it abruptly because I am married with a delicious woman and I wanted it to look like an accident.
Finally, I decided to perform my auto-therapy.
I am creative, you might not lik what I do but I have fun doin it.
I recorded a rock album which is described here [everything2.com] and available (for free) here [gnuart.net].
My advice ?
Spit the anger and the fear. You'll end fearless, stronger and alive !
God bless you.
Suicide is not illegal in Australia (Score:5, Informative)
So much for slashdot (Score:1, Informative)
In order to avoid "close", you want a method which is as simple and quick and possible. Hence, firearms. Methods based on poison or strangulation have a period during which things can go wrong, and if you vomit or the rope breaks before then, you've failed; you want to avoid this risk entirely. Similarly methods based on falling, snapping your neck, or fire have the possibility that you very well might get "lucky"; you want to avoid this risk entirely as well.
Even with the firearm be careful; where you aim matters, not all the lobes of the brain are essential (the ones in the temples especially it generally doesn't matter if you lose them), and you want to make sure you do this in a place and at a time where in a worst case scenario you can successfully bleed to death without being disturbed.
Do not slit your wrists. I repeat: do not slit your wrists, period, under any circumstances, or even try. There's this rediculous "down not across" meme floating around lately. Doesn't matter. Even if you do it "right", it's still not going to work. Those funny visible blue veins near the surface aren't what you're aiming for at all, and the cuts necessary to slit one's wrists successfully are just so ridiculously deep there's just about no chances of you self-administering such a wound. Similarly: Don't try to kill yourself with carbon monoxide. Just don't bother trying, for one thing it's a much more horrible way to die than you think.
For more information and advice I highly recommend looking for the alt.suicide.holiday "methods file", likely available on google.
And if this is about your love life, or your girlfriend, or some other stupid shallow thing that honestly you're going to forget in a month, don't do it. Suicide is a permanent solution and it is for permanent problems, and permanent problems only. Most problems, whatever they look like to your whiny little self at the moment, are just temporary. Things to consider are that maybe you just need to get over it, and maybe you just have a brain chemistry imbalance which is preventing you from seeing the situation properly. If at any point reading the above you find yourself thinking "but what if I don't have the courage to pull it off" then you had better fucking consider these last two possibilities a lot more strongly.
"You can't yell fire in a crowded theatre." Therefore you have no free speech rights at all. Funny how those seven little words can overpower centuries of struggles to establish the lack of right that the state has to interfere with the expression of a free individual. Funny how these are just words, yet I have to post this as anonymous coward.
It is NOT illegal to commit suicide in Australia (Score:2, Informative)
from http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti52.pdf [aic.gov.au]
"In all jurisdictions, suicide is no longer a crime and, except in the Northern Territory, the crime of attempted suicide has also been abolished. It is, however, still an offence for a person to assist another person to commit suicide or to attempt to commit suicide"
Re:Fines ? (Score:1, Informative)
alt.suicide.* has 4 groups;
http://groups.google.ca/groups?hl=en&lr=
Re:HELP..... (Score:3, Informative)
I dunno. It was a big big big news event when I was growing up (I was a kid then, in junior high school). If she was in my age group, I'd say she would have copped hell at school. Australian kids (no, wait, all kids!!) in her age group weren't even born then, so chances are that they'd no more know the significance of 'Azaria' than they would know about vinyl records.
Mind you, kids can be evil little feckers, you can bet your bottom dollar that one or two will figure it out. I'd hazard a small wager that it won't be wholesale teasing though.
Re:HELP..... (Score:2, Informative)
So I'm weird, ok?
Re:Been there, tried that (Score:3, Informative)
- Slicing wrists: damage to tendons
- Slicing the veins in armpit: takes ages to drain the blood and it's really freaky to see that blood gushing out of you...
- medicines: risks of overdose or not high enough dose, plus the potential to really damage something if you survive...
- plastic bag: uncomfortable, takes AGES, plus you look like an idiot...
- hanging: asphixy is not a way I'd like to die of...
- bullets: if you can get hold of a gun (not necessarily easy outside the US), let's get real here, the chances of not dying after blowing your brains are small, besides if you're left in a vegetative state, what do you care, your real self,the thinking one, will be gone (which is what we're after)... Then again, plugging that trigger can be extremely difficult...
The best option I found so far is hydrogen cyanide.
The good thing about it is a gas and thus you only have to breathe it, that it is lethal at low doses, that you pass out nearly instantly (in some seconds) and if you somehow manage to fail, there are no consequences as it doesn't damage your brain, lungs, liver or anything else. Should be pretty pleasant, if you can get hold of it, but that's seemingly not easy. Otherwise it can be synthesized with ammonia and methane, but I've yet to figure out exactly how (building a flat bed reactor with Platinum-Rhodium catalyst sure doesn't look easy)
Finding a sure, painless method is not easy, and reading suicide HOWTOs on the net is more a deterent than anything else. The methods these sites claim to be good are often cryptic, and there seems to be an emphasis on the ones that are not a Good Idea(TM).
The other bad idea about suicide is that if you somehow fail (which is more common than being "successful"), others will look at you as if you have the black plague, AIDS and an extra leg...
Just consider life an interesting experiment, since you don't care anyway...
Re:Fines ? (Score:3, Informative)
Emotions aren't rational, they're chemical. As immensely stupid as it might sound, if you're not eating properly, sleeping well, and getting exercise, that might be a good place to start.
You should probably mention your feelings to a therapist. The social stigma regarding mental illness is horrible, but you shouldn't let that stop you if you're not happy and you think something's wrong. They can also help with permanent chemical imbalances which are part of clinical depression.
It's hard to make that first step.
Re:details (Score:5, Informative)
Upper middle class family, dad started his own company, but by the time my sister was around he was home a lot.
No abuse, parents rarely fought..When I was growing up we were pretty poor (company just getting started and all) but when my sister was growing up we were decently well off.
My dad's side of the family is european, and all had very strong family values...
Parents seem to believe in god, but not enough to go to church, and never preached it to us, letting us make our own decision when we got old enough (me and her both decided it was a lot of hooey).
My parents every other year save up all year and take me and my sister on a trip to mexico. Sometimes every year if the money is good enough.
Not sure really how our family life could have been improved. Everyone i see around me has divorced parents, dysfunctinal relationships with the parents they do have...etc
I had a good relationship with her, but I moved out early because I love living on my own.
The sad thing is, because of the strong family values and that my sister had a good personality and everyone liked her..if she would have let on the tinyest bit that she was suicidal, anyone in the family would have done ANYTHING to stop this from happening. Myself included.
She left no note or indication of why she did it. She blocked me on msn that night, i assume so i wouldnt see her name she put "fuck you all, i'm gonna say goodbye" or something along those lines.
She has some really shitty drug addict freinds, i assume that couldnt have helped. The tox report came back negative for everything except a little bit of alcohol.
Either way, all of that beeing said..I am angry at her, but i still love her. I came off sounding madder at her than i am. Just trying to convince the grandgrandparent that suicide was a stupid thing to do because of the consequences it has for everyone.
Maybe she did have her reasons to die, but they werent worth the misery they caused.
A lot of people thus far have called me selfish etc, but i cant imagine what would be more selfish than what my sister did. I'm thinking of the welfare of my entire family. Now my parents marriage is on the rocks, my grades have gone to shit, and the rest of the family is totally depressed (all like i said before).
I think it must have been illness, but she didnt display any of the signs. She didnt get happier towards the end like some do, she didnt look super depressed. She had a low self image, like most teen girls...but none of this seems like suicide material to me...I guess it must have been illness.
Ah too much typing, just trying to get across to you that our family life was really great, and i dont have a single regret about my childhood. My sister was more spoiled than I was i guess because we had more money, maybe that contributed.
And its okay dont bother sparing my feelings, I'm near impossible to offend.
Re:HELP..... (Score:2, Informative)
Illegal??? (Score:2, Informative)