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from the reports-of-my-death-are-not-exaggerated dept.
The U.S. Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) released a new Vital Signs report on Thursday, 7 June, 2018.
In the press release about the new report, the CDC states that:
Suicide rates have been rising in nearly every state, according to the latest Vital Signs report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2016, nearly 45,000 Americans age 10 or older died by suicide. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death and is one of just three leading causes that are on the rise.
[...]
Researchers found that more than half of people who died by suicide did not have a known diagnosed mental health condition at the time of death. Relationship problems or loss, substance misuse; physical health problems; and job, money, legal or housing stress often contributed to risk for suicide. Firearms were the most common method of suicide used by those with and without a known diagnosed mental health condition.
Are any Soylentils contemplating suicide? Do you know anyone who has attempted or succeeded in taking their own life? Why do you think suicide rates are on the rise?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Friday June 08 2018, @07:23PM (20 children)
IMHO, something is changing. I don't know what, but look at our dysfunctional political system up and down the spectrum, suicides, school shootings, etc etc.
Dammit Jim! I'm a software engineer, not a psychiatrist!
I'd like to point out that that's another thing that's completely different.
Star Trek used to be a highly optimistic, even utopian show about a team of likable and competent people working together to solve problems without being involved in completely unnecessary interpersonal conflict and drama.
Now it's a show about one completely unlikable character among a crew of sociopaths at each others' throats.
When you can't even trust Star Trek to paint a rosy picture of the future, you know that something is seriously wrong with society.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Friday June 08 2018, @07:44PM
So, should we blame Batman Begins for ushering in an era of dark shows, where the TV/stream doesn't compensate for the daily grind ?
I'll drop in FaceBook et al., for showing you how much better all your "friends" lives are, and amplifying conflicts (something fragile people don't need).
Add a sprinkle of flat wages for a couple decades, a pinch of rising costs and declining benefits, a teaspoon of global shittitude ... dang, where's my gun?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Friday June 08 2018, @08:27PM (6 children)
The problem is all legacy TV is like that. The problem isn't Trek.
Some of the problem is all boomers watched MASH or All in the Family, for example, but all organizations get weird and extremist as they implode and die, all. Think of any dying company you ever worked at, or dying industry, its always bonkers. So its novel that TV as it dies is going thru a major depressive event, but it doesn't really matter because practically no one as a percentage watches TV any more, no longer a cultural influence.
Another way of putting it is in the boomer 70s a show like MASH influenced culture by being watched. A show like ... anything on TV, how about Survivor, has little influence on culture but what little it does is from people talking about it, as almost no one watches TV anymore. Newspapers are like that too.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @02:19AM (5 children)
> A show like ... anything on TV, how about Survivor, has little influence on culture but what little it does is from people talking about it, as almost no one watches TV anymore.
I'd say it has had great impact over time. That shit has been smeared across the air waves for two decades now. It grinds people down. In addition to the laundry list bob_super posted above, some of the general shittitude looks as if it were directly out of the Survivor (tm) playbook. That show, like many others, are just templates to train small people how to gang up on, conspire against, and take down those with more skill or talent. At least in principle in generations past, a common way you could get ahead was through skill and hard work. Since the end of the millenium that no longer holds true and sucking up is not just one alternative it is the only option. Skill gets in the way of that because it takes time away from sucking up. Hard work gets in the way of that because it too takes time away from sucking up ... and back stabbing.
Take another series like Game of Thrones. It's just a collage of plotless violence, yet people eat that stuff up. They eat it up, digest it, and then put it into practice.
Hell, none of the shows are either fun or relaxing to watch. Most seem designed to greatly increase anxiety and stress. That's on top of the changes to the workplace which really are increasing anxiety and stress.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday June 09 2018, @02:33AM
It's just a mildly exaggerated fantasy about late Medieval Era societies, politics, and inevitable warfare. Which happens to be a collage of violence, though not necessarily without plot.
I think contrary to whoever kicked off this thread, that entertainment which contains depressing themes is more a sign of good times than bad. In bad times, people don't want to be reminded of that. You get a lot more feelgood entertainment.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday June 09 2018, @03:33AM (2 children)
Take another series like Game of Thrones. It's just a collage of plotless violence, yet people eat that stuff up. They eat it up, digest it, and then put it into practice.
Hey now, while I'm a bit Star Trek (but not Discovery) fan, I'm also a GoT fan.
The thing about GoT is that it basically shows human nature as it really is. The violence isn't "plotless", it's all part of a very complex story; that's why the show is so popular with people who don't even like TV much. It takes a lot of thought to keep all the different characters straight; it's an incredibly complex plot. The whole show is basically showing how stupid humans are because they're constantly fighting each other (mainly for power), even when there's a much larger threat to all of them. In the show, the "white walkers" are coming for the living, but no one believes it, and instead they're massacring each other in constant wars. This is somewhat like us in real life, constantly competing with and warring with each other, meanwhile we're all likely to suffer catastrophic effects from climate change and ecosystem destruction. But I'll agree, it's not relaxing to watch, but it was never meant to be. Were Ben-Hur or Lawrence of Arabia fun and relaxing to watch? How about All Quiet on the Western Front? Apocalypse Now?
(Score: 2) by zugedneb on Saturday June 09 2018, @11:24AM (1 child)
The problem is, the violence it shows was needed in times of need; a snapshot of a particular time, or slice of history...
It does not show a way out of it, and it is that way that is needed.
As it is, it programs the autopilot in people to think in ways they did not normally allow themselves.
Human nature is programmable, u know...
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday June 09 2018, @11:39AM
It does not show a way out of it, and it is that way that is needed.
What the heck are you talking about? The show isn't over yet, and the most recent season was all about Jon and Dany talking about building a better world together, because they realized just how screwed up their world was.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 09 2018, @03:40PM
Question: Just how many TV shows from the '50's '60's and '70's do you think were any more than senseless violence? Oh-kay, Star Trek. How many more can you name?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @08:53PM (11 children)
The world needs a quick infusion of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. Cancel Family Guy and replace it with Ponies.
Uh oh... here it comes... people born with penises are REQUIRED to watch mindless fart jokes and people getting their guts blown out all over the sidewalk. Because.... because... penises!
It is actually interesting how TV was once used to channel common ethical beliefs. A larger problem is that ethics and morality have all but disappeared. If something is not expressly illegal then it is fair game. Part of it is probably fewer people believing that some magic sky being commands what is right and wrong, while there is no alternate to fill the void yet. Uh, do what is right because Princess Celestia commands it! :P
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @09:26PM (2 children)
Sorry, once they put wings on Twilight Sparkle, the show just wasn't the same.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @10:29PM
True enough. Between that and the new "castle" you could just about hear some corporate suit screaming "buy our new merch, bitches!"
But it has still been over all better than most other shows out there. Which says more about the other shows.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @12:56PM
Wings? Is that a euphemism for 'gay'?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @11:44PM
Delicious. Equine. Pussy. The only thing keeping me from taking my own life.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @01:01AM (5 children)
Without the grace of God, there is no hope for you. Or any of us. What you are seeing is the soul of the West shriveling up and dying. Without a new awakening, it will only get worse from here on out.
Enjoy your cartoons.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @04:13AM
The thesis to The Decline of the West, (Spengler, 1918).
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @02:11PM (3 children)
Bzzt. God does not exist. And there is no magic afterlife. It is depressing, but that is reality. There are other, real, things that we can obtain hope from.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @03:29PM (2 children)
As much as I dislike the sky fairy worshipping you don't have any real proof on your side. Humanity doesn't even understand gravity let alone consciousness, so save your superiority complex for when you can actually prove something.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @06:30PM (1 child)
Sky fairy worshipers don't have any real proof on their side. So they will save their superiority complex for when they can actually prove something?
Right?
No?
Well, then.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @11:23PM
You are an automaton and cannot prove otherwise. I should have no more compulsion for or against you than a rock. Of course you could say I should because of evolution, selfish gene and all, but then there are 7+ billion homo sapiens and it's not a problem. The opposite actually.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @02:22AM
> Uh oh... here it comes... people born with penises are REQUIRED to watch mindless fart jokes and people getting their guts blown out all over the sidewalk. Because.... because... penises!
Violence against women is a crime, of course, no evidence needed. Bleat that mantra long enough and you internalize its corollary:
Violence against men is entertainment, LOL duh.