Richard Jenni - apparent suicide

[wiggles]

Bummer. I liked this guy.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Obit_Jeni.html

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=richard+jeni&search=Search

 

[Tarantulas]

At the moment, CNN is saying "Police have not confirmed it was a suicide." It could be something like what happened to Phil Hartman. Or maybe it was an accident, like what happened to this actor.

My view of suicide is that it is never, ever, ever a good thing. Not for the victim, who could somehow recover from whatever his problem might be, not for the family or friends, who are devastated for the rest of their lives, and not for the people who read about famous suicides and decide to try it themselves.

I was on a discussion board a few years ago where one of the moderators posted a message, something like "I'm just so tired, guys. I'm sorry to those of you who called me a friend, but I can't do this any more." Then he made a "suicide attempt," which was one of those half-hearted pill-popping things where you know you won't die but want the attention. It was a pure Drama Queen move, and it worked just like he wanted it to, because he got plenty of people to stroke his fevered brow and feed him peeled grapes, figuratively that is. No one said what should have been said, which was "You freakin' idiot, what the hell is wrong with you? Straighten up and fly right! If you're considering suicide, then seek professional help, you bonehead!" But of course on that board anyone who dared to utter such a thing would be immediately banned. Luckily that board is no longer in existence.

With my luck, if I had a terminal disease and committed suicide, a doctor would run into the room one second later with an immediate cure for the disease. In my mind, as long as I have the mental capability to consider suicide, there's still hope for recovery.

I think Richard Jeni was a funny guy, and I'm sorry to hear of his death.

 

[wiggles]

He doesn't look very healthy in that picture of him in the article. Someone on another board mentioned that and speculated maybe he was sick. Maybe he was suffering from a terminal illness and decided to put himself out of his misery. Come to think of it I hadn't seen him around in a while.
Or it could have been drugs and/or alcohol. Those will make you look like crap and mess up your thinking.
Or maybe he was just depressed - not depressed as in sad, but depressed as in mentally unbalanced.

I'm not sure I agree entirely that "You freakin' idiot, what the hell is wrong with you?" is the correct response to a suicide attempt. Maybe for some people. Some people just threaten it for the sympathy. I've known people who've thrown that out there whenever the attention starts to drift from them. After so many times talking them off the ledge, you get to be like, "okay, well, call me tomorrow if you're still alive. bye." But some people genuinely want to not exist anymore. Those people usually don't make a big scene before they try to kill themselves though. They just quietly give away all their stuff. Those are the ones you've got to watch.

And there's still the possibility his girlfriend or someone else shot him.