14 year old Jamey Rodemeyer commits suicide after homophobic bullying

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/jamey-...open-criminal-investigation/story?id=14580832


Jamey was part of the It Gets Better campaign.
It was approximately a year ago that It Gets Better was founded after the September string of gay teenagers committing suicide.
Lady Gaga, his idol, paid tribute to him.

 

Ok, who do I kill first? The ones that made fun of him online or offline?
This is really depressing. It's sad to see someone commit suicide, and especially because it came from something like bullying. But one of the bigger things is that I can't believe that the parents and counselers decided not to do anything "because they thought he was stronger." If any of you had someone come to you for trouble, I'm sure you guys wouldn't do that right?
Still, I'm amazed even Lady Gaga is going on about this. Can she really take this to the President?

 

It's sad that there's still hatred towards homosexualality to this extent. If somebody was just uncomfortable with it, fine, but actively abusing somebody because of something that doesn't even affect anyone else, as well as being way beyond concious decision, is just plain wrong. There aren't even words for it.
Telling somebody to go ahead with suicide and telling them people would be happier for it? Humanity never fails to dissappoint me...

 

Really? No one took his life from him, he did it himself. This is not a murder case.

I would make him stronger, but the most that you can justifiably do to kids who call you names is call them names back. An eye for an eye at least makes some kind of sense. If you cannot deal with things that are not going to kill or injure you, then you are weak, and that is your own problem. Consider that there is still an investigation and that the method of suicide has not been reported. These are strange circumstances and we cannot rule out a murder instead of a suicide without more information.

 

oh wow, you're nice. Try taking into account that some people might not be able to take things as well as others. Whether he took his life or not isn't the problem, the problem is what was the reason that he did it. And calling someone weak just because they can't take a few names is going to far. Sure some people might not be able to stand it like others, but that doesn't entitle them weak.

 

What does 'entitle' people weak, then? It is not a matter of comparison to other people. He could not withstand circumstances that were not directly threatening to his life. Even if the bullying continued throughout high school, he would have made it out eventually. If he did commit suicide, then the fact that he was involved in the It Gets Better campaign is an irony. He clearly did not believe in that philosophy if he would rather have died than waited and saw.

 

You have every right to voice your opinion on the matter; but I think you're well aware that what you're saying is going to upset a lot of people and I'd really prefer it if you tried not to do that. At least not here, with as touchy a subject this is, and the fact that what you're saying may come across as disrespectful considering this fourteen-year-old boy has passed on and his actions can't be reversed.

@Thread:

Regardless of the reasons, or how he took his own life, or whatever this is very sad. The issue in itself is sad, to me. Homophobia and the resulting death's and alienation. Everyone deals with this sort of thing differently, but it should not be tolerated--anywhere. Bullying and feeling driven into a corner...Especially people telling someone else to die. I would personally not allow anonymous submissions after something like that happened the first time, and the ones they feel are responsible for this should have been punished before this happened. ​

 

It was his choice, and I respect his decision, but I do not hold a lot of respect for the people who would mourn and get angry over him. He did far more harm to himself than the bullies could ever do, so the sadness in this escapes me. It is sad that there are people who would bully him, but not that he died. He was not forced into it by any means, and I stand by that claim until further evidence is presented.

 

You know, every time I hear of a suicide incident from someone who's gay, it just brings a tear to my eye.

Thankfully, my school is pretty strict on harassment of any kind, but those other schools really to get to do something about all of this homophobic bullying that's going on.

My condolences and prayers go to this boy's family.

I agree 100%.

Some people just can't deal with the pressure.

Technically speaking, there's no such thing as weak and strong people.
Everyone handles stress / peer pressure differently.

Yes, it was his choice, but that was because of all the pressure he was put under from the bullying.

 

Whether or not I agree with Makaze, keep in mind that he is entitled to his opinion and "putting your opinion out there multiple times" is the same thing everyone else is doing.
Also, this isn't the Debate Corner.

anyway, what really gets me is the timing of it. Like I said, near the anniversary of It Gets Better. Like the video says, it makes you question if it really has gotten better.

 

I am speaking for myself and others who do not want to hear about you caring. It is the same.

Strength is the capacity to survive in a wide variety of circumstances. If you cannot survive in a circumstance, then that is considered a weakness. Humans cannot survive underwater without aid. This is considered a weakness. If a specific human has a particularly low survival rate for a circumstance compared to the rest of his species, then he is weaker than the rest, and he will be eliminated from the gene pool.

No other species kills itself based on stress to my knowledge. This makes humans the weakest species on the planet regarding stress. Some humans are weaker than others, and that is an undisputed fact. Otherwise, all people who experienced the same level of stress would have the same survival rate. This is not the case.

It could have been from the stress of his school work, it is all the same to me. It is no more a tragedy as long as the cause is stress only.

 

Just another example of the true evil that lies within humans, specifically teenagers. That's why when a kid says school is H*** you believe them. People that bully make me sick to my stomach, no matter what kind of s*** you've been through you don't do that. If I ever saw this kind of s*** going down i'd kick there a**s. My school thankfully only has fights based on "I don't like you for that s*** you pulled" fights/bullying, not "I don't like you cause you're different" fights/bullying. Honestly it's stuff like this that makes me wonder if the human race is even worth caring about . . . we are all fools.

 

So, both the bullies and the bullied are fools? Explain your reasoning.

 

As it's been said before, everyone is entitled to their opinions. If someone already stated their opinions and there's no need to question it, then let it be. If it's not purposely trying to be disrespectful, then it's okay.

That said, do not instigate others. And do not let yourself be instigated.

It bothers me that someone died, and like this. As you say, it is possible he did more harm to himself, but I hardly doubt that's how he saw it. He wouldn't have wanted to die were it not for his circumstances.

And like many of us, he had dreams and motivations and tried to be happy. The fact that he didn't resist and threw all of his future away -- that's sad. It's over, there's no retry in this. That's sad.

Bullying has to stop. All bullying. Not just against homosexuals. It's destroying the frail minds of our future generations.

Being told you're _____ everyday. Being made fun of and laughed at. Being segregated. Again. Over and over. Being hurt like that constantly. I don't think anyone should be subjected to that. Specially young people who are still developing.

I still don't think giving children criminal charges over another person committing suicide is correct. They need discipline. And the idea should be to correct them. Not let them rot in a juvie.

 

I think this is really sad, some say people who commit suicide are selfish, but I can't undestand what Jamey went through. I don't really know what to think, I always find it sad when someone so youthful (or even not so young) commit suicide, there must be some horrible reason that they think is better otherwise they wouldn't do it, obviously. I find bullying disgraceful but just like the bullied, they do it for a reason, like to make themselves feel better but that doesn't make it alright to do. I don't think bullying should be made illegal but I think there should be some laws stating punishment can be dealt in cases such as this- but not a full criminal punishment- a lot of people bully anyway and you'd need to draw the line as to where bullying stops being acceptable, it usually helps people get stronger when it stops and at a young age understand some horrible things in life.

 

How he saw it is irrelevant. It takes two to make an offense; the offender and the offended. There are many people who commit suicide based on factors that they consider too harmful to live with, and it is a failing on the part of all of them. Without an actual threat to your life expectancy, all harm is based on perception, and that perception is usually inaccurate. All people die (commonly accepted), and if I had to choose, it is better that he took his own life instead of having it taken by someone else. Which still has yet to be proven.

Apparently not. In the end, his main goal was to end his life. He gave up on his own dreams of his own volition, they were not forcibly taken from him. He achieved his last dream, and that was dying.

I agree with this. If kids are bullying, then bully them back. Show them how it is done. More, ostracize them. If someone acts out of line, give them no attention. Make them earn your time. That is the most effective way to show them how they should treat other people, because that is what people do in the real world.

 

This thread feels very political with everyone saying 'You're entitled to your own opinion.... but...'
Look if you don't like a comment, ignore it or confront it. Don't start saying 'It hurts my feelings' no one is trying to antagonize or offend anyone here, we're just voicing each others opinions. No need to get insulted by anything.

On topic... It is a coincidence that the suicide occured at the same time as the anniversary of It Gets Better, but I doubt that he had any intention to coincide his suicide with the date of the foundation's anniversary. He surely had more on his mind then dates.

This is effectively how I dealt with my long duration of being bullied in the end. They liked me to react to their jokes. When I didn't they were bored and moved on to someone else. It is tough to teach but after so long, it becomes so natural to be bullied that it's an experience that's so common you won't react to it.

In the whole time I was bullied I never once contemplated suicide as far as I remember. Not like I actually wanted to do it I mean, I may have shouted 'I'd rather be dead!' and so on so forth, but nothing like actually committing suicide. I don't think I ever grasped the concept of suicide till I was old enough and at that I didn't want to do it.
I'll admit that it caused me heart ache and desperation, probably helped me develop my ever so slightly fragile mixed mentality and my social awkwardness, but that, in my experience can be tackled after sufficient time and effort.
I am now a sociable and reletively well adjusted person. I'm not afraid by much of anything anymore, I've been to the worst place in my life, few things can match that. In that respect, I am happy with who I am, I am stronger because I came over the bullying in time, and I can't help but be content with the way my life has turned out so far.

Btw, **** off Maakaze! : )