Sports writer kills himself, leaves behind website describing how and why

Wow. A perfectly reasonable post by Dumar followed by nothing but snark. Well done, guys. You sure showed him.

khalid_sl said:

Yeah right, perfectly reasonable.

Lets go over his "perfectly reasonable" thesis, that anyone who feels unhappy in modern society should kill themselves because capitalism steals your souls. So how does he defend this "perfectly reasonable" thesis? By psychoanalysis of a single incident of a kid meeting his father after months.

How are we supposed to respond to that other than snark?

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Really, Khalid? For one thing, you got his "thesis" all wrong, since he never even implied, let alone stated, that "anyone who feels unhappy in modern society should kill themselves because capitalism steals your souls". This is an irresponsible statement on your part. For another thing, I said his post was reasonable. As an isolated aside making an isolated point, there was nothing offensive or even arguable in that post. This is just yet another example of people looking for someone to shit on because that and tits are what the internet is for. And cats.

Oh, and it was the mother the kid was reuniting with. Did you even read the post?

I see Dumar hasn't killed himself yet. Put your money where your mouth is and off yourself. Teach capitalism a lesson.

khalid_sl said:

The only irresponsible statements are his, where he says things like

As that article said, if you can objectively point to the ridiculousness, alienation, and overall mental unhealthiness of society, if your mind can objectively look at these facts of reality as they are, does it make any sense to try and adjust to them?

That's actually even more insane.

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and then use that as evidence that if you are depressed, instead of getting help, you should just kill yourself.

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What's wrong with that quote? Society is absolutely ridiculous, alienating and mentally unhealthy. Most of us just choose not to objectively look at these facts, because to do so is simply too painful and/or depressing. We look at it through filters instead, which society is more than willing to help us with. We ignore what's too disturbing, we focus on distractions and we convince ourselves that things are pretty good overall. And, again, unless I missed something Dumar never said anyone "should" kill themselves, just that it could be considered a rational decision based one's perception and circumstances.

khalid_sl said:

When you make silly pronouncements like that and other things about how commodities steal souls, then are asked to back it up with facts and instead start quoting Marx, you should be responded to with snark. Even worse though, is if you come back and again instead of backing any of your arguments up with science, come back with a single anecdotal scene and then psychoanalyze it.

If Lumie joined this thread and said anyone depressed shouldn't seek help because after all, lizardmen run everything and you SHOULD be depressed if you had the forethought to notice this, would you be suggesting that we respond to him seriously? Of course not. Yet Dumar's arguments are no more scientific than lizardmen. The only difference is, in this case you believe in Dumar's nonscientific thoughts whereas you dismiss Lumies.

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Did Dumar ever say "steal souls"? I would think you would know that re-wording people's points to over-simplify them and make them easier to ridicule is a pretty shitty debate tactic. Not shitty in the sense that it doesn't lead to "won" debates (it sure does), but shitty in the sense that it eschews out-smarting your opponent in favor of misrepresenting his platform. Yes, if someone brings lizardmen into the conversation, it is more than reasonable to ask for facts to back that up. What part of anything Dumar has said do you feel is wrong or in need of further support? Do you disagree with the claim that our emotions have been commodified?