Posted on 08/23/2014 12:59:38 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Henry Rollins slams Robin Williams for committing suicide: 'How in the heck could you possibly do that to your children?'
The hardcore rocker and spoken word artist doesn't mince his words when it comes to Williams' Aug. 11 suicide, suggesting that the 40,000 people who commit suicide each year in this country 'are 40,000 people who blew it.'
Hardcore rocker Henry Rollins is being branded as a punk for criticizing Robin Williams in his weekly newspaper column.
The former Black Flag frontman and self-proclaimed Williams fan slammed the late comic actor for committing suicide and "traumatizing" his three children in the process.
"I simply cannot understand how any parent could kill themselves," Rollins wrote in his Thursday piece for LA Weekly's West Coast Sound Blog.
""How in the hell could you possibly do that to your children....choosing to kill yourself, rather than to be there for that child, is every shade of awful, traumatic and confusing."
Williams committed suicide Aug. 11 in his California home, leaving behind three adult children and millions of distraught fans. The 63-year-old actor, who won an Academy Award for his turn in "Good Will Hunting," had suffered from depression and addiction for years — and had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
"I think as soon as you have children, you waive your right to take your own life," Rollins wrote. "No matter what mistakes you make in life, it should be your utmost goal not to traumatize your kids. "
But Rollins, whose biggest hit is an empowerment dirge titled “Low Self Opinion,” didn't stop there, saving his harshest words for all tortured artists who chose to end their lives prematurely .
Pictured in 2004 are, from right, Robin Williams, daughter Zelda, wife Marcia, and sons Cody and Zac.
"I no longer take this person seriously," Rollins wrote about artists who took their own lives. "I may be able to appreciate what he or she did artistically but it's impossible to feel bad for them."
And taking that logic further: "Almost 40,000 people a year kill themselves in America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," he added. In my opinion, that is 40,000 people who blew it."
Those words incited plenty of reaction on social media, particularly from critics who felt Rollins was the one who blew it.
"Henry Rollins threatening to stop taking suicides seriously will be a serious disincentive for the four people who still take him seriously," tweeted music writer Sam Adams.
Rollins’ flap comes after Kiss frontman Gene Simmons drew boos for harsh comments about suicide.
Rollins' controversial diatribe comes on the heels of a major backlash over Kiss bassist Gene Simmons' controversial comments on depression.
"Drug addicts and alcoholics are always, 'the world is a harsh place.' My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany, I don't want to hear X all about 'the world is a harsh place,'" Simmons told the music site Songsfact.com. ""And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, 'I'm depressed, I live in Seattle,' X you, then kill yourself."
Though the interview had initially been published two weeks before Williams' suicide, it went viral after the tragedy drew a spotlight on depression.
Simmons later apologized for his ill-timed remarks.
He's a down to earth guy, very opinionated like me, and I can't disagree with him about this.
This is coming from a guy who has dealt with a lifetime of severe depression, and came damn close to suicide a few years ago. Scared myself so bad I doubt it's going to happen.
” . . . a spoken word artist . . . “
Huh?
I agree with him. Suicide is the cowards way out and a decision made at one point in time that can’t be undone.
Hey henry
How about being involved with the murder of Dennis Cole’s son?
Shut up henry
“I think as soon as you have children, you waive your right to take your own life,”
I agree...but there are other DUMB THINGS that people should also consider giving up, particularly if they have young kids, like skydiving, cliff-climbing, going to the top of Everest, etc. If you want to do that stuff, do it before they’re born, or after they’re adults - but do what you can to try to stick around while they grow up.
Also if you have parents that are in your life. I think that if more kids were told what a suicide does to siblings and parents, we might see those numbers go way, way, down. As things stand now, we simply IGNORE educating kids on this, and hope it doesn’t happen.
There is no such thing as empathy anymore.
...and another thing. If depressed people on the fence about suicide read all the great accolades that Robin Williams gets they may well think that they will get the something similar if they go over to the other side too.
Another reason the reaction should be that Robin Williams was a great actor/comedian, but...
Suicide doesnt end the pain.....it passes it on to those you love and thos who love you.
It’s not a disease it’s a weakness, cancer is a disease. What a strange comparison it’s like saying addiction is a disease.
http://www.allaboutdepression.com/cau_03.html
But there is stupidity.
Separated identical twins have an incredibly higher chance of depression than two people chosen at random. That proves there is a genetic factor. This means that by any definition it is a disease.
Some of the comments here condemning Williams or anyone else who commits suicide are flat-out ignorant, and nasty, as well.
I suggest that there are 10s of thousands of people out there with what is called ‘clinical depression’ (I hate these terms....one year they’re in the next it is considered incorrect to use them).....and that these folks cannot go to get themselves some professional help because they would risk being blacklisted from such constitutional guarantees as GUN OWNERSHIP.
I do not lump guys like Robin Williams in this category as I am sure he does not believe in that individual constitutional right.
perhaps if he had set himself up without pants and surrounded by porn, he would have been classed with David Carradine as doing an autoerotic strangulation thing and not have been considered a suicide. just a sick thought.
“But there is stupidity.”
Yes there is and your displaying it. You don’t quit and you don’t walk away from your children and your family. The old timers such as my grand Father and Grand Mother would laugh at what people consider hardships today. Get on a buck board wagon and go from Salinas Kansas to Breckenridge Texas, find a job and make enough money to go back and get the rest of the family and head back in that same buckboard. Grand Mother would ride 15 miles into town on a buckboard to sell egg’s and butter while Grand Dad was working cows on a piece of property they sweat blood to buy.
A few years later my Grand Father was killed while working cows and my Grand Mother took on the ranch by herself. They faced hardships we couldn’t imagine but they didn’t quit and they didn’t bail out. Pop’s 93, lost my Mother when she was 86, he turned the operation over to me about 20 years ago. This ranch will stay in the family or I will die trying, I’ll never quit and I’ll never check out until the Good Lord calls me. My girls are the next in line and my oldest is just like her Great Grandmother.
Never call someone stupid when you don’t know how to use the word “you’re”.
My parents went through far worse than anything your family has and did not commit suicide. That fact has nothing to do with the point of all of this. All of this is anecdotal.
The point is that genetic studies have proven there is a link between genetics and major depression. Therefore, it is a disease, by any definition. Criticizing Williams or anyone else who commits suicide is cold and thoughtless.
One of my closest friends used to feel the way you do because his mother committed suicide when he was ten. He hated her guts for 40 years. A couple of years ago, he suffered a mental breakdown and ended up in a mental hospital.
He is better now and he is no longer angry at his mother. He understands, now. Hopefully, you will understand someday.
When you get depressed, you become a zombie.
Zombies eat brains.
Ergo, depression eats your brains. /s
brains,
brains,...
Brains....
“Thank God in Heaven....He saved me.”
Thank you for brightening my day. May God continue to bless you in the life that you spared - your own.
:^)
How about empathy for his family?
The worst response to suicidal thoughts is to join in a pity party with the depressed person. That simply reinforces his temptation of hopelessness and independent thinking separate from God’s Plan.
Just because you find a study that agrees with you doesn’t make it right or correct it just makes you vulnerable to other peoples opinions. Sometimes auto correct misspells words but don’t let that stop your juvenile sarcasm.
It’s been said that Mr. Williams had Parkinson’s Disease. You and others who don’t believe depression is a disease might find this article on the correlation between Parkinson’s and depression interesting:
http://www.startribune.com/?id=27209027
With all due respect, you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Congratulations on having a family made of sterner stuff than I, but this in no way negates the struggles of others.
I’m fully well aware that others face far greater challenges and obstacles that I do, but not only does this not help, it actively makes things worse a lot of the time. It leads to even greater panic over why and how I’m so completely messed up that I can’t handle even relatively small issues while others can overcome the greatest hurdles without breaking a sweat.
I have to remind myself on a near-daily basis why suicide is a bad idea and why I shouldn’t do it. But try to understand, there are many, many times when not only do I not think it would be bad for my children, it would be actively good, as they’d have a whole lot more money and wouldn’t have to deal with my problems anymore. It’s very easy - VERY easy - to think that ending it all would solve infinitely more problems than it would create.
Now, don’t get the wrong idea. The chances that I’m going to kill myself today or tomorrow or anytime in the near future are very small, and I absolutely don’t seek or want anybody’s pity. Just that people understand that it’s not “cowardly” and that it’s not anything that people contemplate lightly. It’s a tremendous and sometimes all consuming struggle.
I feel like I know exactly why Robin Williams did what he did and why other unfortunate souls destroy themselves every day. It’s a hell of a way to live and I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy.
Many people are destroying themselves every day by not living up to their potential. I guess Mr. Williams did and it didn’t help him. That makes him the exception.
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