(India) Teenager hangs herself over Saddam's execution

[Bhaisahab]

KOLKATA: A 15-year-old girl from Kharda district hanged herself in response to the execution of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on Thursday.

"She said they had hanged a patriot. We didn't take her seriously when she told us that she wanted to feel the pain Saddam did during the execution," the girl's father, Manmohan Karmakar, said.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bengal_teenager_hangs_herself_over_Saddams_execution/articleshow/1052172.cms

[Dammit Ann]

1. good lord.

what have they done? unreal.

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Maybe if they would stop showing it over and over on the news

kids wouldn't do this. How incredibly sad.

[Judi Lynn]

4. They're doing it as a favor to their slimey pResident, I'm sure, public be damned.

Of COURSE anyone with a trace of humanity has a grasp of what kind of material is appropriate for throwing in front of unsuspecting, unprepared, highly vulnerable children.

By the time they can possibly "Hey, just turn to a different station," the damage HAS been done: the image is imprinted on someone who doesn't have the depth of experience to understand or rationalize this hideous situation. The parent cannot just say, "It's just a story. It's made up."

Pathetic dregs. Yes, it most certainly SHOULD be laid at the feet of monsters who find politics more important than people.

You are correct.

[Cass]

11. Yes, I agree. Its getting ridiculous now. It seems that they're showing clips

of that spectacle every few minutes. I wish they would knock it off already.

[PurpleChez]

3. Who is 'they'?

This is a sad incident, but 'they' didn't do it. Not any more than Judas Priest did it. Or Ozzy Osbourne. Or "first-person shooter" video games. I don't agree with the execution or the media's coverage thereof, but let's be careful who we blame for what.

[Dammit Ann]

8. "they" being the bloodthirsty jackals.

our government, their government, an irresponsible media, us, them, everyone. it is an ugly, sad world sometimes.

[PurpleChez]

24. So...in the context of the thread you're saying that the aforementioned

are responsible for this girl's death. Although I'm not a fan of any of the institutions you mentioned I can't support your conclusion. That's way too close to making heavy metal bands and video games responsible for that one-in-a-million "troubled" fan who does something stupid after a round of "tower sniper" video games. Most of us at DU would be among the first to object if the RW tried to blame BET when kids kill each other for their iPods.

[Dammit Ann]

39. while i concede...

that the fault ultimately lies somewhere in the ether, two more children have died "imitating" the hanging, so you knows? it is an shameful affair all around and i'm tired of contemplating it.

[Mikey929]

19. Judas Priest

Exactly. I was thinking of that very incident. They actually went on trial for causing a teenage boy to kill himself. Thankfully they were acquitted.

There are mentally disturbed individuals all over the world who will latch on to one incident as the "reason" for their terrible acts.

[cui bono]

28. any 15 year old Indian girl who believes Saddam was a patriot and

who kills herself over something like this has had poor parenting or is mentally unstable in the first place.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Thank you, paagal kutta, for this article. n/t

[rpannier]

6. Tragic

She was probably not that well mentally.

To hang herself over the death of a murderous, contemptible, sociopathic, slimy dictator like hussein and after referring to him as a patriot...well...there has to have been something wrong with her.

To those who find my post offensive, would you feel the same way if she hanged herself over the death of pinochet, pol pot or bush? three other murderous, contemptible, slimy, sociopaths.

[Judi Lynn]

7. She, being 15 years old, probably would not have had the political

perspective you enjoy, would she? She also would not have had the right-wing spin created by the wholly deceitful Republican administration to highly color her perception, living in INDIA.

What she would have SEEN would have been an old man being hung. Use your head, for chrissakes.

[MrPrax]

9. Well yes, I would!

This story is a sad tale of a young girl with serious problems, the least of which is ADULTS NOT LISTENING TO HER PROBLEMS.

I sure hope you don't have kids...

[SayWhatYo]

17. Why would you hope he doesn't have kids?

He was able to identify that she had more problems than Saddam being executed. I am betting that if he was the father then he would have identified that her issues went deeper than some guy being hung; unlike some people who seem to believe that the execution of Saddam was her primary problem. :D

[noonwitch]

18. I suspect that that wasn't her real reason for suicide

Teenagers don't kill themselves for any one single reason, certainly not this one. Perhaps she got the idea for the method from watching the execution, but not the original idea to commit suicide. I'm sure she had depression or mental illness.

[malaise]

23. Maybe all she saw was a human being and maybe

she bought the view that thou shalt not kill.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. Darwin award 2007?

[fujiyama]

27. Darwin awards are for people that do something incredibly stupid

killing themselves in the process.

It's difficult to consider a teen that committed suicide a candidate for a Darwin award. In fact I find that rather cold and insensitive.

[Freddie Stubbs]

32. "she wanted to feel the pain Saddam did during the execution"

That sounds pretty stupid to me.

[rebel with a cause]

43. It is called romanticizing a moment./action/death.

Teenagers are often apt to do this. That is why when one girl/movie star gets pregnant, there will be a rash of pregnancies. That is why when one teen commits suicide, towns are often besieged by a rash of suicides. There are many more examples of this, but it does not necessarily mean they are mentally ill (although they might be), only that they are teenagers and have problems realizing the consequences of their actions. No concept of danger, or of there not being a tomorrow. A feeling of being invincible.

[fujiyama]

44. Stupid yes

but it's a freakin' teen who likely not only had a poor understanding of who Saddam was (he was probably just some old man that was challenging a superpower in her eyes - almost Gandhi like) and she wanted to know what a hanging felt like (maybe she wanted to just feel the pain and thought it wouldn't kill her - young people often have a feeling of invincibility)...or she was suicidal anyways and used this incident as an excuse (suicides among teens in India often occur due to educational pressure)...

Either way, simply dismissing this as a "Darwin Award candidate" sounds incredibly cold and insensitive. I don't view mental illness as any sort of joke. Sounds by your tone that you do though.

[Dutch]

47. It sounds like a result of mentally illness to me.

Very, very sad.

[Judi Lynn]

41. I agree with you. I question the soundness of people who strike out at children

who are having trouble with fears that seem too big for them.

[fujiyama]

45. Exactly

People have a different ability to comprehend these sorts of events, especially young people.

That poster's tone was surprising cold and nasty (and more suited for a comment from FR), but considering the poster, that's not much of a surpise.

[Xenotime]

12. The father should blame * for his loss.

[Mizmoon]

13. I call bullshit

This girl was obviously unbalanced. If it wasn't saddam's execution, it would have been something else.

[SayWhatYo]

16. I was thinking the same thing...

She had issues to begin with...

[Barrett808]

22. Welcome to DU, SayWhat!

:hi:

[SayWhatYo]

33. Thanks...

Thank you for the welcome.

[PurpleChez]

25. EX-FREAKING-ZACTLY!!! Thank you!!!

I can't believe the number of posters who are willing to blame dumbya for this girl's suicide. I destest bush, but it is patently absurd to blame him (or anyone) for this. The girl was likely extremely troubled, and if it had not been the hussein video it would have been something else. I've already made this point elsewhere in this thread and I don't mean to be repetitive, but most of us here would likely FREAK OUT if the RW tried to blame rappers or heavy metal rockers for the actions of their fans.

[MindPilot]

14. This is the second story of a kid hangin' with Saddam.

The other one was IIRC a 9-year old in Pakistan.

I'm just a bit skeptical since I don't recall European children shooting themselves after Reagan took a bullet.

I suspect these stories maybe fabricated to enhance Hussein's martyrdom

[PurpleChez]

26. Some fans killed themselves when John Lennon died. Whos fault was that?

Lennon's? Mark David Chapman's? Oh...what the heck...everyone is just gonna blame Yoko anyway....

[H2O Man]

29. Paul's.

I never liked Wings much.

[PurpleChez]

30. Me, I'm just the right age that I first knew about Wings

and then discovered that he had another band before that. And I'll admit I still really like some of those songs.

[H2O Man]

31. "Let Me Roll It"

was good ... because it was a tribute to the Plastic Ono Band.

[PurpleChez]

34. I didn't know that!

A lot of Paul's/Wings' songs may not be incredibly deep on an intellectual level but they are some of the best pop songs ever. Much like Stevie Wonder or Brian Wilson, who are generally darlings of the critics. Paul gets dissed by the unavoidable comparison to his Beatles work,

[H2O Man]

37. I think that with Paul

part of it was because people knew he was capable of great work -- "Hey Jude" and "Yesterday" are outstanding. "Silly Love Songs" and the like are difficult to listen to. I like to go through and pick out the good stuff he's done, because some of it is of "Beatles" quality.

[SemperEadem]

49. Magneto and the Titanium Man...

that was one of the hardest pom-pon routines we learned that year (1976).

[PurpleChez]

50. I love that song!

I'll admit that some of Paul's truely bad stuff is unlistenable (e-bon-ee and i-vor-EEEEE!!!), but a lot of his pop stuff from the 70's just gets an unfair rap. If someone else had recorded Venus and Mars people would rave about what a wild concept album it was. I also just dig the fact that, after a lifetime of press attention and adulation that would turn most people into self-obsessed egomaniacs, Paul still seems, by all accounts, to be a self-effacing normal guy, a nerd even, who makes awkwardly corny jokes, hang out around the house, and who just happens to own half of Scotland.

[zalinda]

15. Teenagers do stupid things,

why do you think that's the age they try to get them in the military service. I've read that teenagers have this "what, me worry" attitude, like nothing bad can happen to them. They don't think things through, which is why so many of them do stupid things.

What's amazing is that she probably didn't think she would die. She probably got it in her head to feel what it was like to be hung, and didn't put any safe guards in place to prevent herself from dying. I know, even as an adult, I've had passing thoughts of doing things that were stupid, like what would it feel like driving off this bridge. It's a passing thought, and I can easily dismiss it. But, a teenager can easily get stuck into that thought, and carry it out.

zalinda

[Tight_rope]

20. Oh My Lawd!

So sad.

[slackmaster]

21. I Am Joe's Complete Lack of Giving a Shit

:nopity:

[MindPilot]

36. Took me a little while to get the "I am Joe's..." reference

:D

[PurpleChez]

46. I still haven't gotten it (got it?)...

I appreciated the sentiment but I didn't get the joke. I'm so lame.

[sendero]

35. The mentally ill...

.... can find all sorts of triggers and excuses for the sad things they do. Look at our president for a perfect example.

[blondeatlast]

38. No names in that piece, and as the spouse of a very educated Indian, I'll also

say that the Times of India tends to be suspect in my eyes.

[Judi Lynn]

40. It seems traditional that childrens' identity is concealed in extreme stories

like rape, child molestation, etc., etc. It seems logical to assume they would also conceal the identity of a child who committed suicide.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

42. While Saddam was not a good man, he's a now martyr

Add that to bush's legacy.

[SemperEadem]

48. clearly, she didn't live in Iraq while he was in command

nor has her family been butchered, her brothers slaughtered, her sisters raped, so what would she know about him being a Patriot?

Anytime any teenager beings talking about suicide, it should be taken seriously and not dismissed because they're perceived as being overly dramatic.