{"id":136,"date":"2014-12-31T15:17:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-31T21:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/12\/parking-a-link-a-suicide-report-on-cnn.html"},"modified":"2015-02-24T23:26:45","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T05:26:45","slug":"parking-a-link-a-suicide-report-on-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/12\/parking-a-link-a-suicide-report-on-cnn.html","title":{"rendered":"Parking a link: a suicide report on CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here\u2019s a report from CNN today: \u00a0\u201cA transgender teen\u2019s suicide, a mother\u2019s anguish<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0The story: \u00a0a 17-year-old teenager commits suicide, and posts a suicide note blaming his parents for lack of support.<\/p>\n

Now, the first thing you\u2019ll notice is that CNN has wholly adopted the approach that, if you announce you\u2019re transgender, and provide a new name, their stylebook dictates that this becomes, for reporting purposes, your new name, as they use this new name in their reporting and even call out the parents for failing to do so.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s what the teen\u2019s note said: \u00a0it was not about being miserable. \u00a0The boy was upset that he wouldn\u2019t be able to seek out surgery until age 18 (that is, concerned that the changes of puberty would mean that he wouldn\u2019t really look like a woman anyway), but didn\u2019t really seem to be in the pit of despair so much as lamenting the prospect of a life that wasn\u2019t \u201cgood enough,\u201d and, besides, was just angry. \u00a0And \u2014 here\u2019s the key paragraph: \u00a0\u201cMy death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say \u2018that\u2019s fucked up\u2019 and fix it. Fix society. Please.\u201d<\/p>\n

A while ago, with respect to the Brittany Maynard case, I wrote that<\/a> (based in part on a book I\u2019d read, Man\u2019s Search for Meaning<\/i>) it is having a purpose or meaning for your life that gives one a motivation for living, particularly those in grim circumstances or facing a serious, even terminal illness, and that the irony of her case was that \u201cshe did indeed find a new purpose after being diagnosed with brain cancer, but this very purpose, that of promoting assisted suicide, compelled her to kill herself in order to fulfill this purpose, which could only be achieved that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could this not be a part of the issue with suicide in a great many more cases? <\/p>\n

Was this child so full of despair about his future that life was unbearable? \u00a0Was he depressed, suffering from mental illness, not able to see his way to a brighter future?<\/p>\n

Or had he, in fact, found a purpose to his life \u2014 but one that could only be fulfilled by killing himself? \u00a0The purpose being: \u00a0sending a message of acceptance for transgender teens (\u201cmy death needs to mean something\u201d) and punishing his parents for their lack of acceptance (both through their anticipated suffering by losing a child, and a hope that they will face criticism from others).<\/p>\n

Now, look, I\u2019m no expert \u2014 and when Robin Williams killed himself, we heard repeatedly that suicide is caused by depression\/mental illness, and it isn\u2019t the \u201cfault\u201d of the individual himself. \u00a0And my brief looking around didn\u2019t produce any significant facts or figures on this, but I wonder how often the individual does think that committing suicide is somehow a positive action they can take that will achieve some goal, however mistaken that goal is.<\/p>\n

Sunny thoughts for New Year\u2019s Eve, eh? \u00a0But now I\u2019m off to make some cookies and play a game with the kids.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a report from CNN today: \u00a0\u201cA transgender teen\u2019s suicide, a mother\u2019s anguish.\u201d \u00a0The story: \u00a0a 17-year-old teenager commits suicide, and posts a suicide note blaming his parents for lack of support. Now, the first thing you\u2019ll notice is that CNN has wholly adopted the approach that, if you announce you\u2019re transgender, and provide a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[102],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-suicide"],"yoast_head":"\nParking a link: a suicide report on CNN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's a report from CNN today:  "A transgender teen's suicide, a mother's anguish."  The story:  a 17-year-old teenager commits suicide,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/12\/parking-a-link-a-suicide-report-on-cnn.html\" \/>\n<meta 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