According to the National Institute of Mental Health in 2007 suicide was the 10-tenth leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 34,598 deaths. For young people (ages 15 to 24) suicide is the third leading cause of death. It is unfortunate that these suicide victims are letting these issues (whether societal or person) succumb them into paths of casualty. However, The purpose of this weeks blog isn't to convey pity to those suicide victims but disappointment to those who I believe mainly responsible for this behavior, society.
Our society functions or claims to function under the idea of cultural pluralism, which supports that minority groups fully participate in dominant society but maintain their endemic identities. This ideal has become the forefront of our society thanks to activists like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. who were advocates against the segregation of minority groups from society. Even with all this change that resulted from those civil conflicts, minority groups are still being socially repudiated and disrespected by fellow Americans. People from countries such as Afghanistan, India or Iraq are called demoralizing names such as "terrorists" or "bomber". As a result, teens and adults from foreign countries are deprived of the opportunity to live cohesively amongst society. Foreign teens and adults are forced to forbore these conditions some of which are very overbearing and hard to withstand. The ultimate resolution? Suicide to drive them away from the harassment they endure because of their culture. We look like hypocrites; we portray evidence that America welcomes all sorts of cultures, yet when they enter we do not have that "welcoming" attitude we tend to portray. Instead we drive foreigners to drastic measures of dealing with our degrading behavior towards them. Studies by Suicide Prevention. Resource Center demonstrated that suicide is the eighth leading cause of death among American Indians/Alaska Natives and the second leading cause of death of American Indians/Alaska Natives ages 10 to 34. At this age group, individuals are the most active in society. As a result of being active in our society, people are killing themselves. Sorry to put it so bluntly but some people in our society are really evil. Business owners will restrict you from a job because of your ethnic background. People will not want to work with you because your skin color is indicative of those who committed terrorist attacks. These people cannot live a fair and peaceful life. They start to question the point of living and thus commit suicide. Suicide is claimed to be a permanent solution for a temporary problem but in my opinion suicide is slowly evolving to a permanent problem resulting in a sole solution.
I like the fact that you included a source with statistics at the beginning, but you barely talked about suicide and it's causes, if at all. All I saw was like you calling Americans cutthroat hypocrites. And also you information is not factual most suicides don't occur in foreign countries but in developed countries like the united states. Could have been better. Sorry to put it so bluntly.
ReplyDeleteEveryone who has done this has done an excellent job at explaining the effects of suicide and what drives them to it. You added a new perspective. We need to raise awareness. Good word choice too!
ReplyDeleteI mean, I agree about how we can be hypocritical. And we aren't that open in some senses, after all. I like the last line of the blog. But I also think you could've talked more about suicide in the US, since it's mostly occurring in developed countries like ours anyway. But I like how you did something different from everyone else.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I was not specific enough but I was discussing how American society which contains one of the biggest mixtures of cultures, acts disrespectfully towards other cultures and thus creating a double standard. Furthermore, to the 1st comment I did not make any claim that suicide rates are higher in foreign countries. I was more making the claim that foreign individuals are more likely to commit suicide when they move to develop countries like the United States. So there is no need to apologize, the mistake was made on your behalf.
ReplyDeleteas all the comments before me said, you really could have talk more about suicide itself rather than americans being hypocrites. it wasn't very factual. your beginning was decent though.
ReplyDeleteYou specified one of the causes of suicide and I reading this made me believe those that commit suicide feel like they are the minority. It doesn't matter their race, status, or religion. Great formal diction. :)
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