Posted on 06/12/2018 2:59:09 PM PDT by davikkm
Here’s a shocking and telling statistic on the direction of American society today: suicide rates have risen sharply in every U.S. state (except Nevada, which was already alarmingly high) from 1999 to 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide rates are up more than 30 percent in half of the states over the last couple decades. There were 45,000 suicides in 2016, up from 44,193 in 2015. Suicides on average across the nation have increased by 25%.
Depression, isolation, opioids, technology, and substance abuse are to blame. But more important than the causes is the fact that we need to learn to talk about this, open up with how we’re feeling to those closest to us, and learn how to handle life on life’s terms instead of ending it all. Taking one’s own life is tragic yet cowardly and the dramatic spike should be of utmost concern to every American.
(Excerpt) Read more at investmentwatchblog.com ...
In the past religion was a big part of peoples’ lives. Suicide meant you couldn’t go to heaven. Apparently less people following religious teachings means more suicides.
The numbers extend only through 2016. The increase is almost entirely in the Obama administration years. This was during the Great Recession of the Obama years.
During those years, older white men were villified. Detesting them was considered legitimate. They were especially vilified if in rural areas. If they had been blue collar, their employment was often gone, and economic hope with it. Large numbers of thrifty retirees saw their income plummet as government bond returns fell through the floor. An enormous amount of wealth was transferred from those investing in government bonds to those investing in the stock market. Many saw an insurance premium as a way to save family members or the family business or farm. Many veterans despaired with the odious attacks on the military by the Obama administration.
I expect the numbers of suicides to go down with the Trump presidency, which gives men hope that they are not forgotten, gives veterans an idea they are appreciated, and which has brought back employment and rational policy to the United States.
“I see people my age whose families, careers, homes ... everything ... look so much better than my situation.”
Do not fall for that. Ever :-). It isn’t the intention of people posting that stuff to rub things in other people’s faces. Maybe “not all”, but I’ve found people to be generally good ... they simply want to share a great experience with their friends :-).
I once posted some pics of my wife, my son, and me on vacation in the Keys. The one pic I took looked cute and I posted it. An old friend commented to me, privately, that he was jealous of me in a way and had nothing but problems (no career, felt like a failure to his family, etc).
I explained to him a period from 2009 to 2010 that was bad. I won’t bore you with details. It was hell. Everything from financial wreckage, deaths in the family, drug abuse (not me) ... it was seemingly nonstop agony for no real reason. It was a very dark, almost rock bottom time for me and my wife. I didn’t post any happy pictures back then.
During that time, I remember seeing pics of other people my age all happy and seemingly satisfied. It depressed the hell out of me. Not suicidal depression ... just a feeling of failure.
Anyway, my wife and I worked hard to claw our way back. During that aftermath, my son popped into the world :-). I did what I always do and fought our way back. I wasn’t going to fail my wife (nor was she going to fail me). There is no way in hell I was going to fail my son :-). In many ways, I feel we are better people after that experience.
Turns out that, in many instances, snapshots of, as you put it, someone’s “best of” videos are just that. Some people, for whatever reason, get to cruise through life. I can assure you that those instances are rare. Behind those smiling faces, new cars, new homes, exotic vacations, etc. are horror stories of what people had to endure to get to that point.
Anyway, I told my friend about what we went through those years ... he shared some similar stories, but was amazed what I went through since he thought I was living some kind of textbook life. It kicked his ass into gear and he finally grew some balls to start working on his own.
Life’s too damn short to waste time being envious of others ... in many instances, swapping lives would simply mean inheriting new sets of problems ... unless swapping involved Kate Upton somehow ;-).
The article notes that 50% of suicides are committed with people using guns. That number is taken out of context as a way of attacking Second Amendment rights.
Yes, 50% of suicides are committed with guns.
30 years ago, in 1998, 61% of suicides were committed with guns.
In 1998, there were .928 guns for every American in the United States.
In 2016 there were 1.25 guns for every American in the United States.
Per capita guns increased over 34%. The percentage of suicides committed with guns decreased 22%.
That is why they only list the 50% number.
Life’s too damn short to waste time being envious of others ... in many instances, swapping lives would simply mean inheriting new sets of problems ... unless swapping involved Kate Upton somehow ;-).
I think it is the Internet. As we untie social connections and pretend we have social connections online... we leave ourselves open to the disconnect of suicide.
This article is clearly false from the get-go.
Conspicuously absent from the top featured causes of suicide is global warming.
Just make it legal. That would reduce the stigma. Still someone else has to clean up the mess. I say legalize ecstasy in old folks homes. Let them have a different kind of happy ending.
When you have the deranged Hollywood influence front and center what can you expect.
Always important to keep some perspective on this “new” crisis.
The “old” annual suicide rate was 1 per 10,000. The new suicide rate is 1 per 7,200.
Tragic? Of course - for the victim and the family.
Common? No. It’s rare, even when you include failed suicide attempts.
For suicide among healthy adults, there are typically three categories...
(1) Schizophrenia or Clinical Depression
(2) Alcohol or drug addiction.
(3) Family history of suicide.
For adolescents and teens - suicide is usually impulsive, and often follows a very emotional event.
For the elderly - suicide usually follows the death of a spouse or close companion, or, an intractable illness or disability.
Social media should be called alienation media or something, at least for some people. I feel bad about the kids who have never known anything else.
Freegards
In fact, youths in general 19-30 are more prone to suicide and a large number of vets fall in that age group. So, while there may be larger numbers of vets they are also representative of their peer group.
The other end of the spectrum, geriatrics are now also more prone for suicide as they approach natural end of life conditions. Since most males in those generations served they also can be classified as "troubled veterans" if some analyst choses to list them that way.
I think the increase in suicides is due to broken homes and single parent households. I’m not putting single mothers down. I just know that two biological parents are usually much more supportive and protective.
Nihlism, self worship, materialism no God.
Yep. Pump them up with self esteem. When they turn 19 life hits them in the face, and it turns out they’re not the center of the universe, it’s a real bummer.
Many people simply see no role for themselves in the future - be they young people unable to accept that they’ll have a lower standard of living due to globalism & socialism, or older people booted from their “before-times” jobs simply unable to maintain the standard of living they had. Since so many have no religious reason to turn from suicide, they remove themselves from the picture. Here in NJ plenty of people are walking in front of trains as our economic death spiral continues; we just elected a new governor who promised before the election to raise taxes on the highest-taxed population in the country.
Yes, we live in insane times.
Incidentally, the highest marginal tax rate during WWII was 94%!!! Granted, this was on the extremely high-income earners, but you can probably track lower tax brackets as being just as relatively high. Even in that time, people were not as despondent as they are now.
Adding to the despair, telling sexually confused teens that they are “gay” and CANNOT do anything about it. Even finding professional help for it is being criminalized in an increasing number of jurisdictions.
During WWII jobs were plentiful; restaurants and theaters in Detroit stayed open overnight to accommodate workers in defense plants that never closed (there were 3 8-hour shifts always going on). Today a lot of people simply can’t maintain a decent standard of living with the jobs available to them. We have some high-paying jobs, but far too many McJobs - and too many people lack the skills for the former. In fifty years it won’t be so depressing, as there will be few around who remember the “before-times”, but for now many people look at the standard of living just a couple of decades ago and realize they’ll never attain it.
I’ve posted on other threads that anyone earning $50K or more is dealing with forces scrambling furiously behind the scenes to either move that work elsewhere or bring foreigners here to do it; here in the NYC metro area Asians are being imported as white-collar replacements for Americans in the financial sector in the same manner as they were for the tech sector - and in many cases each new Asian means another American losing his home.
THAT is why Trump was elected - and why his numbers are improving despite 24/7 attacks from the enemedia. He speaks to those Americans who are one foreigner away from taking a walk in front of a train.
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