I don't seek to offend but some will not like this post.
Robin Williams died this week. It seems that he was suffering from 'depression' and may have been aware of the early onset of Parkinson's Disease as well as facing financial bankruptcy. So he took his own life.
That is sad. Forget all the stuff about his being a great comedy actor and comedian, his family have lost a father and a husband. As said, earlier, that is truly sad and if they wanted them, the family would have my condolences. I would offer them the same as I do for any death of which I hear. These are heartfelt but some might say only cursory as in many cases I do not know the deceased, however, as a Christian I pray they and Robin Williams rest in peace and rise in glory.
That's almost it from me, as regards the suicide of Robin Williams, however, I do have something further to say about the reaction to his death.
This was out of all proportion. Yes he was a funny man and as said, his passing is a loss for his family and perhaps the world is a little bit more of a sadder place, without his presence but a sense of proportion is called for.
On the days before his death, when he was maybe pondering the troubles that ailed him, people were dying in Iraq and in Syria. Dying really doesn't do it justice. They were being murdered. In the case of Iraq, they really doesn't cut it either. They were being butchered for their beliefs.
They may have had 'depression' like so many people claim to now know so much about, although I think that 'depression' is a 'western' concept. In the Yezidi and Christian villages of Iraq, they might feel 'down' about their crops or the marriage prospects of their children or a thousand and one other mundane things but in those villages, they just had to get on with life. $500 an hour shrinks (or however much these charlatans charge) aren't thick on the ground in rural Iraqi areas.
One of those thousand and one other things which might have caused mood swings was likely to be, will ISIS or the Islamic State (IS) as they now style themselves, come to our village. If they come will my neighbors denounce me as a non-Muslim or rather as a non-Sunni Muslim, since even Shias are not safe.
The existential threat posed by IS, carries with it the ability to focus the mind. Not on deep and dark inner worries and mis-givings. No, but onto how do I survive? How do I get my family to safety? The introspection suggested by depression is a luxury that much of the world, and certainly those facing beheadings in Iraq, simply cannot enjoy.
So, to the reaction. The media was immediately flooded with tributes from so called celebrities bemoaning the loss of a comic 'genius'. Then these tributes were re-cycled and re-cycled. None of these 'celebs' paused to mention the true tragedy that was occurring at the same time, on the other side of the world. None thought to question whether the drug abuse that Robin Williams had previously admitted to, might have messed-up his mind so much that suicide could seem like a reasonable way out of whatever was troubling him. None thought to ponder, how many people, right there in the USA, might decide that the debt burden that they and their children have is just so great that they can't go on and so take their own lives? That this debt or other troubles was such a 'downer' that they felt depressed enough to end it all? I am sure that there were people hearing of Williams' death and thinking to themselves 'Williams should have tried to walk a mile in my shoes. Williams should have had to worry about from the next meal was coming or how the hospital bills, for Grandma, could be paid. Then Williams would know what depresses me!'
And if that person was on a mountainside in Northern Iraq and heard of Williams' death, whether that person knew of Williams or not, I believe that the thoughts from the depths of their depression, would not be ones of sympathy but would be ones of 'how do I save my family' . They would have a sense of perspective. They would understand that Williams chose to end his life. They would understand that they and their fellow Christians or Yezidis have only two choices - flee and maybe die, or stay and certainly die.
When people mourn Robin Williams, I trust that they will also remember the thousands of people that are being murdered in Iraq and Syria. People that don't have a global fan-base. People that were content to live a 'simple' rural life, far away from the glamour and glitz and the psychiatrist's couches of Hollywood.
Before I get accused of speaking ill of the dead, in respect of Williams and venting my anger and such against him, let me be clear. I do feel angry about Williams' death but more so about the reaction to this death. President Obama spoke eloquently about the death of this individual. If only he had spoken so about the thousands that are dying elsewhere. Dying not at their own hand but at the hands of fanatical butchers. I feel angry that the media make such a spectacle of the death of someone like Williams, who chose to take his own life or of the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who effectively did the same by overdosing on a cocktail of drugs and yet say so little and show even less of the horror being inflicted on others because of their beliefs. Do we say that because these people have chosen their god, that their murder is somehow equated to a suicide?
When did we get to the state that the death of a celebrity out ranks the genocide of a people?
If you've read this far, you perhaps understand the lack of perspective that has been shown by the media and politicians. If you agree with me, please pass this blog onto others and help raise awareness of the genocide of Christians (and Yezidis) that is happening in Iraq. Today there are no Christians in Mosul, the city that was recently overrun by IS, for the first time in 2,000 years!
Robin Williams died this week. It seems that he was suffering from 'depression' and may have been aware of the early onset of Parkinson's Disease as well as facing financial bankruptcy. So he took his own life.
That is sad. Forget all the stuff about his being a great comedy actor and comedian, his family have lost a father and a husband. As said, earlier, that is truly sad and if they wanted them, the family would have my condolences. I would offer them the same as I do for any death of which I hear. These are heartfelt but some might say only cursory as in many cases I do not know the deceased, however, as a Christian I pray they and Robin Williams rest in peace and rise in glory.
That's almost it from me, as regards the suicide of Robin Williams, however, I do have something further to say about the reaction to his death.
This was out of all proportion. Yes he was a funny man and as said, his passing is a loss for his family and perhaps the world is a little bit more of a sadder place, without his presence but a sense of proportion is called for.
On the days before his death, when he was maybe pondering the troubles that ailed him, people were dying in Iraq and in Syria. Dying really doesn't do it justice. They were being murdered. In the case of Iraq, they really doesn't cut it either. They were being butchered for their beliefs.
They may have had 'depression' like so many people claim to now know so much about, although I think that 'depression' is a 'western' concept. In the Yezidi and Christian villages of Iraq, they might feel 'down' about their crops or the marriage prospects of their children or a thousand and one other mundane things but in those villages, they just had to get on with life. $500 an hour shrinks (or however much these charlatans charge) aren't thick on the ground in rural Iraqi areas.
One of those thousand and one other things which might have caused mood swings was likely to be, will ISIS or the Islamic State (IS) as they now style themselves, come to our village. If they come will my neighbors denounce me as a non-Muslim or rather as a non-Sunni Muslim, since even Shias are not safe.
The existential threat posed by IS, carries with it the ability to focus the mind. Not on deep and dark inner worries and mis-givings. No, but onto how do I survive? How do I get my family to safety? The introspection suggested by depression is a luxury that much of the world, and certainly those facing beheadings in Iraq, simply cannot enjoy.
So, to the reaction. The media was immediately flooded with tributes from so called celebrities bemoaning the loss of a comic 'genius'. Then these tributes were re-cycled and re-cycled. None of these 'celebs' paused to mention the true tragedy that was occurring at the same time, on the other side of the world. None thought to question whether the drug abuse that Robin Williams had previously admitted to, might have messed-up his mind so much that suicide could seem like a reasonable way out of whatever was troubling him. None thought to ponder, how many people, right there in the USA, might decide that the debt burden that they and their children have is just so great that they can't go on and so take their own lives? That this debt or other troubles was such a 'downer' that they felt depressed enough to end it all? I am sure that there were people hearing of Williams' death and thinking to themselves 'Williams should have tried to walk a mile in my shoes. Williams should have had to worry about from the next meal was coming or how the hospital bills, for Grandma, could be paid. Then Williams would know what depresses me!'
And if that person was on a mountainside in Northern Iraq and heard of Williams' death, whether that person knew of Williams or not, I believe that the thoughts from the depths of their depression, would not be ones of sympathy but would be ones of 'how do I save my family' . They would have a sense of perspective. They would understand that Williams chose to end his life. They would understand that they and their fellow Christians or Yezidis have only two choices - flee and maybe die, or stay and certainly die.
When people mourn Robin Williams, I trust that they will also remember the thousands of people that are being murdered in Iraq and Syria. People that don't have a global fan-base. People that were content to live a 'simple' rural life, far away from the glamour and glitz and the psychiatrist's couches of Hollywood.
Before I get accused of speaking ill of the dead, in respect of Williams and venting my anger and such against him, let me be clear. I do feel angry about Williams' death but more so about the reaction to this death. President Obama spoke eloquently about the death of this individual. If only he had spoken so about the thousands that are dying elsewhere. Dying not at their own hand but at the hands of fanatical butchers. I feel angry that the media make such a spectacle of the death of someone like Williams, who chose to take his own life or of the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who effectively did the same by overdosing on a cocktail of drugs and yet say so little and show even less of the horror being inflicted on others because of their beliefs. Do we say that because these people have chosen their god, that their murder is somehow equated to a suicide?
When did we get to the state that the death of a celebrity out ranks the genocide of a people?
If you've read this far, you perhaps understand the lack of perspective that has been shown by the media and politicians. If you agree with me, please pass this blog onto others and help raise awareness of the genocide of Christians (and Yezidis) that is happening in Iraq. Today there are no Christians in Mosul, the city that was recently overrun by IS, for the first time in 2,000 years!
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