On the back page of the Austin Chronicle, skydiving (SAFER THAN SEX!) rubs shoulders with lemon-pepper chicken, egg donors and a solicitation for female models (cute, hairy, and/or pregnant). These strange bedfellows were recently joined by a darker ad: that of a documentary filmmaker seeking the stories of people who are considering suicide.
In addition to soliciting stories for his film, William Lin has created an online forum that suicide prevention professionals say could encourage suicide pacts or a suicide contagion. "Suicide is a choice," Lin writes on the forum. "It's your choice, and don't let anybody tell you differently."
Lin's work may be ugly, and it may be dangerous, but it is still protected by the First Amendment. Laws such as those that prevent libel, sexual harassment and regulate speech require a clear link between speech, action and significant harm caused by that action. For this reason, Lin's work exemplifies one of the most difficult debates surrounding free speech today: In a society that fervently believes in the right to free speech, how should citizens handle speech that is not just ugly, but dangerous?
The Ad
Lin ran ads in the Austin Chronicle and the Dallas Observer in December. The Chronicle ad read, "Thinking about suicide? Before you do, write down why and send it in for an indie film project ..." The film will document the daily lives of suicidal people, and may include interviews with doctors, suicide survivors and religious professionals. If funds allow, Lin hopes to begin filming soon after Valentine's Day.
As of late January, Dan Hyer, classified director of The Dallas Observer, reported no public backlash to the ad. "As an alternative news weekly, we very strongly support the arts," he said.
Cassidy Frazier, classified director with the Austin Chronicle, says that she would not consider reprinting Lin's ad. One Chronicle reader called in, saying that she had gone through a "suicide situation" and that she found the ad offensive. Frazier says she does not have time to run checks on the thousands of ads the Chronicle prints each week, but she does take reader responses very seriously.
Some readers found the ad more than offensive. One anonymous reader e-mailed Lin, calling his ad "irresponsible and tasteless" and asked how he would feel if someone wrote to him and then actually committed suicide. Lin replied that to his knowledge, that situation has never come up.
After running the ad for four weeks in both the Chronicle and the Observer, Lin received more than 90 letters and e-mails regarding his ad. While some were angry, most were from people who considered suicide at one time and felt grateful for a chance to speak out about it, Lin said. No one wrote to Lin claiming they intended to commit suicide.
Glamorizing suicide
More than the ad or the yet to be created documentary, it is Lin's Web site that has suicide prevention workers worried. Lin's site (www.dyingpictures.com), solicits anonymous letters from those considering suicide, publishes suicide-related artwork and provides an open forum for people who are suicidal or have thought about suicide. Dr. Lanny Berman, the executive director of the American Association of Suicidology, says that the site could be a good thing, if it offered some sort of accredited counseling. It does not.
Topics on the message board, where anyone can post anonymously, include "Is suicide really a bad thing?" (site contributors say no), "Everybody thinks about it at least once," and "What is the best way to kill yourself?"
The site also includes a "Poetry, Prose, Philosophy" section containing "original short works written by you and inspired by death!" and a youth forum "where teens can let out some steam because they need to be heard!" Lin says that one of the site's most frequent contributors, who goes by the moniker "Madame Swooly," is a 13-year-old girl who attempted suicide at age 11.
The AAS says that media which glamorizes suicide or includes graphic descriptions of suicide may be dangerous. Lin's site does exactly that, says Berman.
Patrick Eberhardt, a social worker who directs the suicide-prevention hot-line for the Austin Travis County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center, worries that the site could inspire a suicide contagion. A suicide contagion is a series of suicides related to each other by time or place, such as those which commonly occur after rock-star suicides.
The AAS cites an incident in Vienna in the 1980s, during which journalists extensively covered a series of suicides committed by people who jumped in front of trains. After the Viennese journalists were advised to stop explicitly describing the suicides, the local suicide rate dropped dramatically.
Merily Keller, the co-chair of the suicide prevention community network, believes that Lin's site may contribute to such a suicide contagion. Keller's adolescent son died four years ago during a suicide contagion in the Travis County area. "As a mother who has lost a son to suicide ... I think [Lin's site] is unconscionable," Keller said.
According to Keller, adolescents like Madame Swooly are particularly vulnerable to suicide contagion. At the very least, Lin's site should offer links to professional help for suicidal people, she said.
Lin, who went through years of suicidal feelings and even attempted suicide, feels that providing such links would send the message that his site condemns the act of suicide. He feels that would alienate suicidal people, who may feel personally judged as "bad" by those who say that suicide is wrong. He added that his site provides a community for lonely, suicidal people. Lin is not a counselor nor does he claim to be. Outside of his personal experience he has no special knowledge regarding suicide prevention, he said.
Eberhardt and Keller say that people who are experiencing suicidal feelings are often depressed or otherwise mentally ill, and that mental illness is now highly treatable. Both maintain that suicidal people need to be told that suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problems.
Suicide is the ninth-leading cause of death in the United States, according to the AAS. The suicide rate in Texas is slightly below the national average of 11 deaths per 100,000 people, but the rate in Travis County in 2002 was 13.6 deaths per 100,000 people. It is the highest suicide rate among major Texas cities.
The dangers of free speech
UT Law Professor Lucas Powe says that there is no legal basis for regulating Web sites such as Lin's, which are a form of speech protected by the First Amendment. Although various laws such as those preventing libel, sexual harassment and inciting to riot do regulate speech, these laws require "a very close and quick causal link between speech and action" before any citizen's speech may be regulated. According to Powe, even if Lin's site encouraged people to kill themselves, it would not fall under any speech regulations.
Eberhardt and Berman say that, although there may be no legal basis for regulating Lin's site, the issue is ethically complicated by the fact that Lin is reaching out to people who are likely to be mentally ill. To encourage a healthy person to commit suicide is unlikely to do any harm, but depressed people may be uniquely vulnerable to influence, and may not be considered fully responsible for their actions.
The AAS reports that two-thirds of people who commit suicide are depressed at the time of their deaths.
The law does acknowledge different levels of responsibility depending on a person's mental state; the classic example of this is the "insanity" defense. However, Hersel Perry of the government department, says that just because a speech in intended for vulnerable or impressionable people, that does not justify banning that speech under current law. For example, pornography may make impressionable people more likely to rape a woman, but current law says that does not justify a ban on pornography.
Perry said that there could be cases where someone was prosecuted for contributing to a specific person's death by forcefully advocating their suicide, or someone could be prosecuted for materially assisting in a suicide. In a case like Lin's, however, words alone are not subject to legal censure.
UT Journalism Professor Robert Jensen says that "nobody is a free speech absolutist." The law may consider harm done by certain kinds of speech, and regulate such speech according to the harm it does. Jensen said that sites which present a clear danger to the public, such as those that publish the names and daily schedules of abortion doctors and advocate their murder, may be regulated. Sites like Lin's are unlikely to present such an obvious danger, he said.
None of the suicide prevention experts interviewed said that speech such as Lin's should be illegal. "As an American citizen, I appreciate freedom of speech," Eberhardt said. "But there's speech that can hook people up to people who are already depressed, and that's dangerous."
Every 17 minutes
The repercussions of suicide fan out among those still living, who not only grieve, but may also be at an elevated risk of committing suicide themselves.
According to suicide-prevention experts, Lin's work may be ushering such pain into the world. Lin maintains that it is not, and that many people are grateful for his Web site and the chance it offers to speak frankly among "people who understand." But Lin, outside his own understanding, is not an expert on the subject.
In a society that fervently values the freedom of speech, Lin's work presents us with some difficult questions: free speech can be dangerous, but should it be prevented? If the law does not prevent it, should common moral principles? And which is worse: to have our constitutional freedom of speech eroded, or to allow unqualified pundits to promulgate suicide among the mentally ill?
Every 17 minutes another American commits suicide. The debate goes on.
Helpful information
* The Austin/ Travis County MHMR suicide help line can be reached at 472-HELP (472-4357)
* UT runs a 24-hour counseling line for students, which can be reached at 471-CALL (471-2255)
* The Austin Travis County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center publishes a suicide-prevention toolkit, which can be viewed at www.mhatexas.org
* For more information, check out the Web site of the American Association of Suicidology at www.suicidology.org
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