Posted on 08/15/2014 12:21:00 PM PDT by Kaslin
There was something thoroughly distasteful about that Robin Williams press conference the other day. It sounded wrong. It looked bad. It smelled.
Was it newsworthy, so much so that news networks would break into their regular afternoon programming to broadcast live the first official law enforcement press conference surrounding Williams' death? We think so. Williams was not just an iconic American comedian since he burst onto the scene with "Mork and Mindy" in the 1970s, he was perhaps the single funniest man in America. That he would die so suddenly understandably generated interest. When the word "suicide" appeared we became a nation of rubberneckers. We had to know what happened.
Actually there isn't a "need" to know, but the appetite is obvious. From Princess Diana to Michael Jackson to Heath Ledger to Philip Seymour Hoffman, the sudden, unexpected death of celebrities is a source not only of mourning, but also of great fascination. All the news networks showed up for live coverage because they knew their audiences were riveted to this story.
But how much should we be told?
Normally it baffles and frustrates when the official government spokesman approaches the massive bank of microphones and says -- nothing. His official statement tells you what you already knew, and when reporters attempt to gather details, they get bupkis."The investigation is ongoing." "I don't have details at this time." "We are not prepared to release that information at this time." The tone is monotonous, officious. Ten minutes after it began, the networks mercifully pull away as reporters scurry to make news out of what wasn't.
So when the Marin County coroner's office held a press conference 24 hours after Williams' body was discovered, to lay out the initial findings on this suicide, we tuned in expecting nothing more than the confirmation of what everyone already knew -- suicide -- with a barrage of questions providing little, or nothing else. Instead this time we got too much. Controversy erupted.
It didn't help that the press contact in this case seemed to be enjoying the spectacle. Before reading the first sentence in his statement, he had an announcement. "My last name is spelled B-O-Y-D," proclaimed Lt. Keith Boyd, with far too much brio in his voice given the topic at hand. At the end of his prepared remarks, he reminded the press that "Media inquiries should continue to be directed to me, Lieutenant Keith Boyd, via my email," and then he spelled that address out before taking questions, pointing at reporters with gusto.
The first rule of coroner public relations ought to be "never seem to enjoy sharing the specifics on someone's death." That should be followed by "and don't give specifics if you don't have the full story."
An investigation on a death such as this takes time. The toxicology report itself takes weeks. Given Williams' documented struggle with substance abuse, that is a necessary component in the full report. As well, there is a certain distance required between the initial news and its analysis when the news is this tragic. Imagine the Dallas police chief divulging to the public everything he knew about Kennedy's head blown off 24 hours after the assassination.
So it was shocking to hear the gory details -- especially when the story is incomplete. Not just that he hanged himself but how he did it. How exactly he was seated-but-not-really-seated. How the body was in a state of rigor mortis, which, of course, it was, and did he need to repeat himself, too. How he had cut his wrists, but how badly, he wouldn't say. How there was a knife nearby with "red" stains, which -- and this was infuriating -- is being tested to see if it's Williams' blood, as if it could somehow be anything else.
Was the star's privacy compromised? The coroner's office was legally obligated to release a report under the California Public Records Act, and the media's massive interest probably made a press conference unavoidable. But what was divulged crossed a line, and the public saw it. "The amount of info being given out about Robin Williams' death is shocking," wrote one woman on Twitter. Another added: "Why does the world need to know this??"
Suicide is sin. Self sacrifice is love.
The two are extremely different, and it’s very easy to know which is which.
Notice something about the attempt to call Christ’s death a “suicide.”
Nobody does it. This is because such an attempt doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
If you don’t believe me, keep on with it and eventually you’ll understand.
Prove this assertion.
Self sacrifice is love.
Never disagreed with this.
The two are extremely different, and it’s very easy to know which is which.
I never equated the two.
The false statement is that Christ’s death was suicide. Crafty, though not particularly clever, that you don’t include it in the list.
“Thou shalt not murder”.
Ever hear of that you dumbass?!
Suicide is murder.
““Thou shalt not murder”. Ever hear of that you dumbass?!”
Of course. It is a capital offense to murder. Everyone that commits suicide should be executed.
They can’t be executed—it’s too late, they were murdered.
What about the definition the intentional taking of one's own life
is wrong WRT suicide?
If the above is right, and Christ's sacrifice was not suicide, then his sacrifice must have (a) been an unintentional sacrifice, (b) had death as an unintentional result, and/or (c) not been a death.
Let us reject (c) out of hand, as the Christian faith hinges on the Death of Christ. (More accurately the Resurrection, which is but a lie without His death.)
Both (a) and (b) are invalidated by John 10:18 where Jesus flat-out says that no-one takes his life, and that he lays it down of his own will.
Therefore, Jesus did in fact commit suicide.
If you don’t believe me, keep on with it and eventually you’ll understand.
Please, show me where my logic is wrong.
“They can’t be executed—it’s too late, they were murdered.”
Then execute their murderers.
If the case were prosecuted in a court of law, the mens rea would apply to the Roman guards and possibly the Jewish leaders.
This is perhaps a little easier than you might think:
Ask yourself: who administered the lashings?
Who drove the nails?
Who pierced his side with a spear?
This can’t be done when the murderer is already dead.
“This can’t be done when the murderer is already dead.”
I don’t care. If they murdered someone there should be concequences. Freeze their estate and give it to the one murdered.
The next celeb who decides to “off” himself as did WIlliams will maybe have the good sense to do it in Nevada or Arizona, any place but California.
You forgot one important detail: suicide is self-murder.
Nope, it is included.Jesus's death was a suicide
is #1, #2 and #3 all together; this is because:
#1 is the definition of suicide (the intentional taking of one's own life
); #2 is that Jesus's actions were intentional; #3 is that his action was to die [take his life].
Of course he killed himself; without his death the resurrection is a lie.
(1 Corinthians 15:16-17)Notice that word:
For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
raised— implicit in the second instance is from the dead.
> He knew he would live.
> And He did.
Yes; He did.
But it is because he died that our sins can be forgiven; it is because HE IS RISEN that we can have hope.
Then why did God honor Samson's suicide request?
And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. (Judges 16:30)
Why would he be listed in Hebrews as a hero of faith?
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient,[k] because she had received the spies in peace.
32 And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two,[l] they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect. (Heb 11:29-39)
Your assertion then, is that God honors all suicide.
If you set out to argue something, just make sure it’s true. Then you won’t have problems like this.
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