[Notorious B.i.G.]

Mental health is a serious health problem, and ranks alongside many other health issues. 20% of all Australians will suffer from mental health illness at some point in their life.
Respectfully, I think that the attitude that, people who suffer from mental health issues are pathetic and not worth sympathy, is a sign of weakness in your on belief system, a sign of weakness of far-right ideology.

[Far-Right Sage]

How exactly is it a sign of weakness?

I certainly wouldn't allocate a single dollar or any amount of resources to treat this women. The problem with Australian society is that it has become weak and decadent, and that is a great credit to Western liberalism, the most self-defeating and inherently destructive ideology on the planet. The mental weakness of such people is a cancer, and much like a rotten limb afflicted with gangrene, the only solution is to cut the source of such rot off from the healthy body.

[SecretSquirrel]

wrong... the only solution is not to have welfare of any kind in the first place. Then people like you who don't care about the sufferings of others (that is not your fault) won't have to, and the people who DO will be able to give more to charity.

[Far-Right Sage]

What in the world does this have to do with welfare?

Are you not a libertarian? I have not said anything against welfare existing in a productive, healthy nation. Those pathetic enough to harm themselves over virtual words are more harmful to maintain than to allow to meet their natural end.

[SecretSquirrel]

you mistake my previous post for having made a value judgment. This was not the intent of the post

[Thompson_NCL]

I agree with the spirit of what Far Right Sage is saying, however I would stress that I am not saying no one can ever be upset or feel desperate. If a woman was raped or had a miscarriage for example, or a father lost his son or daughter, then of course we must respect that person needs to grieve and anyone attacking that person has no place in society. Anyone abusing someone who has a legitimate reason to be in a great deal of pain should be dealt with harshly.

However that is a very different thing from just being mentally and emotionally weak, and THAT is something we must not tolerate. People should learn to fight, not surrender. And even in the above examples, there would come a time when the grieving must end and the person must get on with their life. I don't say this without prior experience, I have lost a mother, sister, nephew and so forth. I watched my grandmother died in front of me. Sure it took time to get over it, but I move on. If someone tried to attack me now about my mothers death, I'd be strong enough to handle that.

[Joe Liberty]

Am I the only person left on Earth who remembers the childhood mantra, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"?

They're just words. Worse, they're just words from strangers. Another person's words have only the power that you give them and no more. If you don't like them, don't bloody read them. Good grief.

[Diligent]

Am I the only person left on Earth who remembers the childhood mantra, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"?

They're just words. Worse, they're just words from strangers. Another person's words have only the power that you give them and no more. If you don't like them, don't bloody read them. Good grief.

Agreed. It seems we are increasingly living in a hyper-sensitized society, where people are offended or "hurt" over the most frivolous things. If this woman allowed a pack of rabid strangers over the internet drive her into a suicide attempt (if this is in fact what prompted her hospital visit), then she must have deeper psychological issues to contend with. More and more though, it makes one wonder: where is the line drawn between being sensitive about said mental "issues" and telling someone to simply toughen up and grow a goddamned backbone?

[SecretSquirrel]

Joe I think most people would agree with you

[Plaro]

Although I somewhat agree with people like Joe, yet what is also true in today's society is that we allow a lot of verbal insults and vulgarity to go unpunished. This creates very negative atmosphere around us, that could really lie heavily on a person's psyche. So I kinda see it is a two way road mostly.

[Decky]

Anyone who commits suicide as a result of unkind words on the internet is a weak pathetic idiot who is doing society a service by removing themselves.

Pretty close to this. If you are killing yourself because someone is mean to you then you have some sort of problem. It isn't necessarily your fault; but insults should not be making people kill themselves.

[ness31]

It's the Internet, I accept that verbal abuse or 'trolling' is something I may encounter if I choose to participate in this miracle known as the web.
It's when you begin to experience harrasment and a convergence of your internet/real life that it becomes concerning. It has then morphed into harassment or stalking.

But words on a screen? Switch the damn thing off if it bothers you so. I'd have expected a media personality to be slightly savvier than that...but what the hey, it makes a good story, right....

[redcarpet]

Threats over the net are pretty mild. I'd take threats on my life seriously if they were in person.

People who do it online are clearly just bluffing and trying to scare you.

[Franker65]

The woman was obviously very far gone already. The Twitter rage-fest probably just pushed her over the edge. It certainly wouldn't be the first time somebody attempted/committed suicide due to social media.

[RhetoricThug]

Here I thought we were going to be on topic. The real dark side (to me) is the destruction of vocabulary