Ok a very serious subject. But anyway, I feel extremely sorry for the family, but I think they are trying to blame someone for something that she choose to do. The internet cannot make you do it, neither can someone talk you into it. Internet or not, if she wanted to do this, she would have found a way. I feel bad that they have to face this, but there is no blame in this case.
Suzanne Gonzales seemed to have everything going for her.
A bubbly 19-year-old with loving parents and good friends, she was also a strong student and earned a science scholarship for college.
But everything changed one spring day two years ago, when Suzanne's parents, Mike and Mary Gonzales, received the following e-mail.
"Dear Mom, Dad, and Jennifer, I will make this short as I know. It will be hard to deal with. If you haven't heard by now, I've passed away," the e-mail read. (Watch the parents talk about their shock -- 4:15)
Alone in a Florida hotel room, just miles from her college apartment, Suzanne methodically prepared and swallowed a lethal cocktail of potassium cyanide, lay down on the bed and died.
In doing so, she joined the roughly 4,000 people between the ages of 15 and 24 who commit suicide each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide is now the third leading cause of death among young people, the CDC reports.
But Suzanne's case has an unusual twist. She frequented an Internet newsgroup called called ASH, short for Alt.Suicide.Holiday.
Members of this news group trade advice on how to commit suicide, using code words like 'transitioning' and 'exiting' and 'catching the bus.' Suzanne found this group nine weeks before she died, posting nearly one hundred messages detailing her plans.
"My chosen method is potassium cyanide....I've stopped eating so my tummy will be nice and acidic," one of Suzanne's posts read.
Suzanne's father claims the newsgroup gave her everything she needed to kill herself.
"The knowledge, the tools, their psychological encouragement. ... She was led to her death," Mike Gonzales said.
Newsgroups like ASH work something like an online bulletin board. Anyone with a computer and some basic Internet knowledge can gain free access to thousands of messages about suicide. And they can post their own messages.
An archived section of the site called "The Methods File" contains a list of recipes, recommendations and tips on the best and worst ways to commit suicide.
Suzanne's dad believes one of those messages taught her how to illegally obtain and use cyanide to end her life. And he was horrified to learn that an older ASH member who goes by the alias "River" may have helped her.
"Suzy had me proof-read her notes and we went over all the details of her exit, just to be safe," reads one ASH message from "River."
But "River" disputes his role in Suzanne's death.
"No one in ASH encourages anyone else to commit suicide. ASH is pro-choice," he wrote in an e-mail to CNN.
"Geo" is another ASH member. He was the same age as Suzanne when he joined the group last year and thinks suicide groups like ASH actually keep people from committing suicide.
In fact, "Geo" credits ASH with saving his life.
"If it weren't for it, I think the chances of me having committing suicide would have been greater," he said. "Having a place where you can write those thoughts, get them out of your head. It can be very therapeutic."
But Suzanne's dad thinks otherwise.
"That's not pro-choice," Mike Gonzales said of the site. "That's brainwashing. And they are not being held responsible."
I want to take a look at the site to give an opinion. But I do agree, that she would've found her own way to commit suicide. I think a lot of this is the parents' denial, they don't want to face the facts that she killed herself, and they want someone to blame.
It is horrible for the family to have to endure the loss of someone so young. I think it is possible to talk someone into committing suicide... look at all of the religious fundamentalist suicide bombers in the world. Someone has to be giving them the notion to take the actions they take. A charismatic enough person can talk the right person into doing just about anything. The trick to it is finding someone who is lost, desperate, or just searching for something to believe in. It happens every day... remember the Heaven's Gate people?
I don't believe this is the situation with Suzanne Gonzales from the description in the story. It appears that she was in some way desperately unhappy with her situation and determined that this was her only way out. Tragic as it is for the family, it seems that this girl made up her own mind.
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MM
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
The sad thing is I think people like that just don't have the benefit of some perspective.
Everything seems so bad when you're in it, but if you can visualize five years down the road you know that this is just a moment in time.
I do think you can be talked into suicide, but I think you have to be a weak person, OR at the VERY least be in a weak moment to be manipulated into it.
If you're considering suicide, and you stumble upon this site, you probably feel some releief. No one wants to feel all alone, it's nice to have people to share your feelings with, whatever they may be. This site provides an opportunity for someone to share their feelings of wanting to kill themselves without judgement being passed upon them.
As Sparky touched on...Jim Jones was able to get 900 people to do it. At least he got the adults to do it. The childern only did what they were told. Wnen someone gets to that level I'm not sure what you can do. I believe if you want to find the help to do it then you will. And if you want to find help you'll do that too. I feel for the parents. They have to blame someone or something.
That's one of the reasons I'm waiting to pass judgement until I see the newsgroup. (But I don't know how to get into a newsgroup!) (Man, today is one of those days I could really use Web!) But I doubt it's a list of reasons why you should commit suicide. I'm assuming it's a support group format, and I'd bet it probably does save more lives than convince people to commit suicide. Suicide is a very spur of the moment thing, and just being made to think through it will probably deter many people from actually going through with the act.
Darnit, they don't have it listed, and knowing these people, they probably aren't there for support today (I swear they're never there). Since mail is usually something like mail.isp.com or smtp.isp.com, is a news server something like news.isp.com?
Okay, I give up. I finally found a news server and figured that much out, but now it won't let me open anything. Oh well, I don't need to se it that bad anyway.
Curse me!! Maybe you can't get to the site because they all commit suicide.
Told ya, curse me.
I feel terrible for the parents, there can be no greater loss or pain. I believe someone may be a catalyst for your actions, but you truly cannot be made to do anything that you are not predisposed to do.