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'Genie, you're free'

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, Aug 13, 2014.

  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Perhaps this should go on the running Robin Williams RIP thread/pissing match, but it seems to deserve its own thread.

    After Williams died the other day, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sent out a Tweet picturing his character from "Aladdin," with the caption, "Genie, you're free."

    It was shared millions of times over, and, now, suicide prevention experts are starting to beginning to criticize - rightfully so, I believe - the sentiment. Basically, the Academy, in three words, presented suicide as a romantic, liberating option. Terrible move.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/08/12/suicide-contagion-and-social-media-the-dangers-of-sharing-genie-youre-free/
     
  2. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Thought this as soon as I saw people posting it on Facebook.

    That Williams died, and committed suicide is very sad. I understand people want to express sympathy, and work out their own grief.

    But, this seems to almost affirm suicide as an option.

    And, while I don't expect everyone on Facebook to understand this, the Academy should have.
     
  3. Amy

    Amy Well-Known Member

    Did this go out before or after it became public that his death was a suicide?

    I think the publication of the details of his method of suicide are more dangerous for people considering killing themselves than what the Academy did.
     
  4. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    I was under the impression that his death was almost immediately reported as a suicide. Maybe that wasn't the case.

    Yes, the tweet was irresponsible. That's a tweet for someone who lost a bout with cancer.
     
  5. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    I think Disney should have gone with: "Purgatory just got a lot funnier."
     
  6. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    The media has been romanticizing celebrity deaths for as long as celebrities have died.

    This is no better or worse than any other instances.
     
  7. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    There is a lot of danger in romanticizing the suicide of a celebrity.
     
  8. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    More danger than romanticizing the death of a child molester? Or a drug addict? Or an alcoholic? Or a wife beater?
     
  9. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    I didn't think Philip Seymour Hoffman or Heath Ledger's deaths were romanticized. I'm sure there were some who romanticized Michael Jackson's death, but I think there was enough "good riddance" sentiment to off-set that.
     
  10. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    Heath Ledger's death essentially was chalked up to method acting by some.

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/heath-ledgers-creepy-joker-diary-revealed
     
  11. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    It's a bit of a stretch to suggest that tweet presents suicide as a romantic, liberating option. Reads to me as if someone tried to express a sweet sentiment in the way grieving, well-meaning people often try to make sense or find some "silver lining" aspect to a tragic death of a loved one. And it apparently struck a favorable chord with the 320,000 people who retweeted it.

    I have more of a problem with people latching on to it to make a political statement. If they genuinely believe that tweet could cause some kind of suicide contagion, they should just leave it alone and not draw any further attention to it. Now, shall we expect right-to-die advocacy groups to chime in next?
     
  12. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Amy Winehouse, Tupac, Elvis, River Phoenix, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson. Just off the top of my head.

    All romanticized.
     
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