Suicidal Humor

In response to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's (AFSP) press release urging the entertainment industry to take responsibility for depictions of suicide on the screen or TV, I feel that their response was relatively unsuccessful. I feel that their success could have been increased and they could have had a better reaction had they noted the lack of connection between media portrayals and recent suicides. Part of this is that there could possibly be no correlation between suicides since the October 29th episode of The Office and the depiction of Michael Scott hanging himself.

While they do state that "[m]ore than 50 studies world-wide have consistently led to the same conclusion, explicit media depictions of suicide may prompt vulnerable people to copy the act", they never mention the fact that suicide rates also tend to rise during the holiday months of November and December. Perhaps the suicides are related to that statistic?

Michael even addresses that "suicide is never the answer" shortly after he depicts himself being hanged. Although he does depict a suicide, he also states that suicide "is the easy way out, you are never alone". This message is one of hope, in all reality. Having dealt with two friends who have been placed on 72 hour suicidal watch (three separate incidents) one of the best things to tell them is that they're not alone and that others feel the same way. It is also important to note that as Michael said, suicide is never the answer. It will not solve any issues. I feel that his depiction actually was rather smart and that The Office should never have come under fire for this depiction.