Is suicide brave or cowardly?

[Water Salesman]

So I've seen a couple discussions about this before, and I wanted to know what you think: is suicide brave or cowardly? On one hand, you have to be pretty brave to take your own life, but on the other, your a coward for not manning up and facing your own problems.

What do you think?

[Kevin the Chicken God]

suicide is definitely cowardly

hence why its called "the easy way out" because you cant face your own problems and are just looking for a way to escape from them

[Karam]

Cowardly .. is this even a question ?

[Spicy Ham]

It really depends on your definition of suicide

I'm assuming you mean the general killing yourself out of sadness, which isn't brave in the slightest.

If we are talking about, for example, soldiers sacrificing their lives for their country / others, however,  than that is true bravery.

[w0lk]

Running away from your life is cowardly.

[BlaqkAudio]

I say it would depend on the situation. 

 

In World War II, the Japanese would commit suicide because they don't want to become prisoners of war. So their way of honorably dying would be to suicide.

 

Now if you are having troubles in your life, that's a completely different story. You can always get help from somebody out there. Whether it be a friend, family member or even professional help. If someone commits suicide because of depression, that would be cowardly in my book.

[♥Prof. Sugarcube♥]

'Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem' - Robin Williams

 

R.I.P R.W

[Heated Bread]

I'm going to have to say that it depends on the circumstances and the motivations of the person.  In some cases it may be brave, in others cowardly, and in some cases it may even be neither or perhaps both at the same time.

[Muffin Button]

In my opinion you should face your problems, suicide is like running away from your problems with no chance of fixing them. So i would have to go with cowardly

[Heated Bread]

In my opinion you should face your problems, suicide is like running away from your problems with no chance of fixing them. So i would have to go with cowardly

 

What if you don't want to die but you think that your suicide will benefit others?  How is that at all cowardly?  The phrase "noble sacrifice" comes to mind.  Would you call japanese kamikaze pilots cowardly?  That takes guts.  Dying is scary.

 

See, this is why I am saying that it depends on the circumstances and the motivation of the person.

[Muffin Button]

What if you don't want to die but your suicide will benefit others?  How is that at all cowardly?  The phrase "noble sacrifice" comes to mind.

I guess it's the type of situation the person is in, you do make a good point however. Also i doubt most of the kamikazes would care because apparently "It is generally thought that those men who volunteered to join the 205th Air Group were given a guarantee of a place in heaven for sacrificing their life for the emperor." Dying is scary, but these people believed that they would end up in a "special" place.

[Jakey-Boo]

Only time I see suicide as a brave thing would be when you sacrifice yourself for your allies in combat

[stohpidarsesheet]

suicide is beautiful

[Heated Bread]

I guess it's the type of situation the person is in, you do make a good point however. Also i doubt most of the kamikazes would care because apparently "It is generally thought that those men who volunteered to join the 205th Air Group were given a guarantee of a place in heaven for sacrificing their life for the emperor." Dying is scary, but these people believed that they would end up in a "special" place.

 

http://www.historynet.com/a-kamikaze-who-lived-to-tell-the-tale.htm

 

"But the fact that he did survive meant that he was able to correct the central myth of the kamikaze—that these young pilots all went to their deaths willingly, enthused by the Samurai spirit.

On the contrary, Oonuki said, when he and his fighter pilot colleagues were first asked to volunteer for this "special attack mission" they thought the whole idea "ridiculous." But, given the night to think about their decision, the men reconsidered. They feared that if they did not volunteer, their families would be ostracized and their parents told that their son was "a coward, not honorable, shameful."  And then, as fighter pilots, they would be sent to the most dangerous part of the front line where they would still die—but dishonored. As a result, he told me, "everyone put down the answer which was opposite from what we were feeling. Probably it's unthinkable in the current days of peace. Nobody wanted to, but everybody said, 'Yes, [i volunteer] with all my heart.' That was the surrounding atmosphere. We could not resist."

 

The article goes on to talk about the sad look in the eyes that people would get before going on their suicide mission.  They did not want to die.  Perhaps some of them believed the myth, but you can see that it's not the cut-and-dry situation that you thought it was.

[Muffin Button]

 

http://www.historynet.com/a-kamikaze-who-lived-to-tell-the-tale.htm

 

"But the fact that he did survive meant that he was able to correct the central myth of the kamikaze—that these young pilots all went to their deaths willingly, enthused by the Samurai spirit.

On the contrary, Oonuki said, when he and his fighter pilot colleagues were first asked to volunteer for this "special attack mission" they thought the whole idea "ridiculous." But, given the night to think about their decision, the men reconsidered. They feared that if they did not volunteer, their families would be ostracized and their parents told that their son was "a coward, not honorable, shameful."  And then, as fighter pilots, they would be sent to the most dangerous part of the front line where they would still die—but dishonored. As a result, he told me, "everyone put down the answer which was opposite from what we were feeling. Probably it's unthinkable in the current days of peace. Nobody wanted to, but everybody said, 'Yes, [i volunteer] with all my heart.' That was the surrounding atmosphere. We could not resist."

 

The article goes on to talk about the sad look in the eyes that people would get before going on their suicide mission.  They did not want to die.  Perhaps some of them believed the myth, but you can see that it's not the cut-and-dry situation that you thought it was.

Who said i thought it was a "cut-and-dry situation"? (Notice how i said "Dying is scary"?) I have my opinions you have yours, i think it's wrong you're trying to defend people that attacked first (Pearl Harbor). You didn't have to go to all the trouble of looking up some article. If you want to continue this PM me. And YES it is cowardly to send your soldiers into their inevitable death by kamikaze.

[Heated Bread]

i think it's wrong you're trying to defend people that attacked first (Pearl Harbor).

 

Excuse me, but NO.  I am not defending the bombing of pearl harbor, nor am I defending the actions of the kamikaze pilots or the japaneese military.  We are simply discussing whether or not we think the kamikaze pilots were cowardly or courageous.  You can easily do so without condemning or condoning their actions.  You need to take some time and think about what you're doing, because you are putting words in my mouth.  I believe you are being overly defensive/sensitive and there is no good reason for that.  This should be a civil and rational discussion.  If you cannot handle the discussion maturely, then I think you should remove yourself from it.

[Muffin Button]

Excuse me, but NO.  I am not defending the bombing of pearl harbor, nor am I defending the actions of the kamikaze pilots or the japaneese military.  We are simply discussing whether or not we think the pilots were cowardly or courageous.  You can easily do so without condemning or condoning their actions.  You need to take some time and think about what you're doing, because you are putting words in my mouth.  I believe you are being overly defensive/sensitive and there is no good reason for that.  This should be a civil and rational discussion.

If you want to continue this PM, no point in changing the topic.

[Muffin Button]

Excuse me, but NO.  I am not defending the bombing of pearl harbor, nor am I defending the actions of the kamikaze pilots or the japaneese military.  We are simply discussing whether or not we think the pilots were cowardly or courageous.  You can easily do so without condemning or condoning their actions.  You need to take some time and think about what you're doing, because you are putting words in my mouth.  I believe you are being overly defensive/sensitive and there is no good reason for that.  This should be a civil and rational discussion.  If you cannot handle the discussion maturely, then I think you should remove yourself from it.

Excuse me, but i simply stated my opinion, i am being civil and rational, in what way was i not? Obviously my opinion seems to bother you a lot.

[￪Combine ✰]

when people fight on the internet.

[Heated Bread]

Excuse me, but i simply stated my opinion, i am being civil and rational, in what way was i not? Obviously my opinion seems to bother you a lot.

 

Because your so-called opinion is demonstrably false.  At no point did I ever expressly defend or condone the action of deliberately crashing a plane into a ship, nor did I ever take the side of the japanese military during world war 2.  Not only is what you said irrational, it's a blatant fabrication on your part.

[Muffin Button]

Because your so-called opinion is demonstrably false.  At no point did I ever expressly defend or condone the action of deliberately crashing a plane into a ship, nor did I ever take the side of the japanese military during world war 2.  Not only is what you said irrational, it's a blatant fabrication on your part.

Jesus Christ can you just PM me?

[♥Prof. Sugarcube♥]

HOW ON EARTH DID A FLAME WAR START ABOUT SUICIDE

 

I thought the internet was for sophisticated discussions random flame wars

 

I guess it's true.

[Heated Bread]

Jesus Christ can you just PM me?

 

No thanks.  I think we're done.  I think you owe me an apology by the way.

[Muffin Button]

No thanks.  I think we're done.

Great. Guess "defending" was the wrong way to put it, but no way i'm apologizing, thanks.

[Ixenzo]

You have to differ suicide wannabes from actually motivated to end themselves people.

First ones are cowards whose goal is to attract attention, become famous, etc. Death is their biggest fear. They do not plan suicide, that's why they rarely actually die or even hurt themselves.
Second ones. They plan their suicide. For years. They do everything to ensure that they will die and nobody will be able to help/rescue them. They also tend to continue trying to kill themselves, no matter what. Motivation and sheet.