Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
Stupid?
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2003 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
The new Smithsonian has an article about Sylvia Plath. Slate also features a Plath article, and The Economics of Suicide:
Why should suicide be an economic boon? Once you attempt suicide you suddenly have access to lots of resources�medical care, psychiatric attention, familial love and concern�that were previously expensive or unavailable. Doubters may ask why the depressed don't seek out resources earlier. But studies have demonstrated that psychological and familial resources become "cheaper" after a suicide attempt: It is difficult to find free medical care when you are sad, but once you try to kill yourself, it's forced on you.
Come on, media. People's lives are hard enough without you all yelling, "Jump!"
