Over the last few days, more information has come out about the teen suicide viewed by hundreds of people on Justin.tv. The situation is sad, and was likely avoidable, but I’m going to resist blaming the people watching on the internet for letting it happen.
The young man in question, Abraham Biggs, was obviously troubled, and had more than once threatened to commit suicide, both in his real life and in his online activities. He had even attempted suicide at least twice, but had been stopped both times. The only people who knew for sure what Abraham was going through was his his own family and those that surrounded him in real life.
While it is tragic that this had to happen with an audience, much of the audience in question had heard the same threats from Abraham in the past, and did not believe he was serious about actually committing suicide. When he took pills, his viewers didn’t know if it was a handful of relatively harmless tylenol, or something much more sinister. Since there had been such a game of “the boy who cried wolf” about Abraham’s activities over the previous 2 years, it is not really all that surprising that people watching his live feed did not believe he was actually going to go through with his threat.
To blame those watching from afar is to misplace our anger. Those who had the most interest and knowledge about Abraham’s condition were his own family and close real-life friends. Even they did not realize how serious Abraham was, or he wouldn’t have ended up committing suicide in front of hundreds of strangers who only had their online experiences with him as background material.
I agree that it is tragic, and that Abraham should have received the help he needed when he needed it. But to blame an Internet audience pushes it too far, in my opinion. How many times are we hoaxed on the Internet every day, by all manner of pranksters with all manner of intentions? How many articles do we read in any given day that are not accurate? Most of us take the Internet with the proverbial grain of salt; it is only as real as we allow it to be, and most of us don’t give it a whole lot of reality in the total scheme of things.
I feel badly for Abraham’s family, and his close real-life friends, who now have to grieve this incredible loss. I’m sure the people that were watching, now that they know Abraham went through with his threat, are suffering as well. But to blame anyone in this case is misplaced. Abraham was responsible for his own behavior, and the final blame for his activities have to fall on him and him alone.
All that being said, if someone threatens suicide, please believe them and get them the help they need. There are Life Crisis and Suicide Hotlines all over the United States, and if you have a friend, coworker, acquaintance, or family member who expresses thoughts of suicide, then do your best to attempt to get them help in the quickest way possible. You could save their life.