A man jumps to his death and people -- laugh?

[Liberal_in_LA]

A man jumps to his death and people -- laugh?

On Tuesday afternoon, a man crawled out of an apartment window. He stood on the ledge above the Forever 21 store at Powell St. near the cable car turnaround and, eventually, he jumped. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

But this is only part of the story. According to the SF Examiner, a large crowd watched as the man contemplated his demise. Some people tweeted about it. Even more horrifying, others encouraged him to jump, said passerby Terence Prasad, of San Francisco. (**The Chronicle and SFGate elected not to report on the suicide)

Online commenters who say they witnessed the incident paint a similarly disturbing picture. They describe the callous reaction and behavior of bystanders. At the same time, posters expressed with startling honesty the trauma of seeing the suicide while offering an outpouring of empathy, perhaps making up for the sickening lack of humanity yesterday and reminding us there are still many good, decent people out there.

Below are excerpts of posts from the Examiner, Flickr, Yelp and Facebook:


Wilfred Galila (SF Examiner)


I watched this man standing on the ledge a few moments before he jumped. He was thinking and hesistating (sic). I exclaimed that I hope that man is not going to jump and a lady replied that if he really wants to do it, he should already have done it. It is very disturbing then to learn that there were people who did encourage him to jump. Society has become so desensitized and human life reduced to an amusement and a spectacle.

jchuckp (SF Examiner)


... I was so disgusted at the severe lack of respect shown by so many in the crowd. All of the people who were encouraging him to jump.....may your souls burn for all eternity.

Jon Barnhardt (SF Examiner)


The fact that I saw people in the crowd laughing less than 10 seconds after the man's death may be more disturbing than actually watching him die. May he rest in peace.

Robert Kolbe (SF Examiner)


I walked by just as the police were covering him up. I asked a couple what had happened and the man responded yes -- laughingly. I asked him if he thought it was funny. He then gave me a kind of funny look and didn't say anything. How very sad this man died this way. People, please be nice to each other.

c. (SF Examiner)

...More comments by bystanders at the link

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?entry_id=57406#ixzz0fqnySH1y

[Taverner]

1. Consider exactly where he was - above Forever 21 nt

[SoCalDem]

2. Because people are so accustomed to the "tee-vee-ification" of everything they see

and many have lost a grip on real "reality".

[KittyWampus]

34. DU'ers with great regularity assure me that doesn't happen. I've been told again and again

People seperate tv and real life.

[Greyhound]

42. Rather amusing, isn't it? Companies spend hundreds of billions for a product

that doesn't work...:crazy:

[Echo In Light]

45. Never mind that they also spend millions annually on psyche marketing depts

... and that an entire body of well sourced studies and books on the subject have been written over the past four decades (and more) and that college courses are available re the socio/political sciences.

[EFerrari]

3. .

[ddeclue]

4. Sick bastards..

:argh:

[FreakinDJ]

5. This has been happening for decades

People yelling "Jump, Jump"

[virgogal]

20. You beat me to it. :-)

[tavalon]

21. That doesn't make it any better.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[amborin]

23. it happened in greater Los Angeles several yrs ago; think the man jumped off the freeway overpass?

sounds very similar

[Greyhound]

43. The 105. He was sentenced to death by the insurance industry and he objected.

Hung a big banner, set his truck on fire, let his dog go, and then blew his head off with a shotgun.

Is that the one?

[amborin]

54. yes, very tragic

[niyad]

6. may the ones who laughed and egged him on, get everything they deserve. may they, if they ever

find themselves in similar despair, at wit's end, find no more compassion, caring and empathy than they showed this poor, unfortunate soul.

[Snow Bird]

7. Genovese syndrome or diffusion of responsibility.

Kitty Genovese, 1964

[niyad]

8. she came to mind immediately

[Snow Bird]

10. We both probably remember

Lew Alcindor too. Comes with age and experiance.

[niyad]

11. welcome to DU--yes, I remember him, and cassius clay, and. . .

gee, one would think we have been around for a while, eh?

[depakid]

14. That phenomena applies to onlooker passivity- NOT aggression

Two different beasts.

[JI7]

25. i don't think that is the same thing, this case is worse in many ways

[Canuckistanian]

28. This was worse than Genovese

These people actually ENJOYED the death. They didn't merely ignore it.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[invictus]

12. Decades of violent TV/movies and government pro-war propaganda have made Americans insensitive ...

... to loss of human life.

[Codeine]

15. This is old behavior though.

People shouted "Jump! Jump!" at people on ledges back in the 50s too.

Some folks are just cruel.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

27. Yes, because people were so sensitive back in the Good Old Days.

:eyes:

[raccoon]

47. Two thousand years ago people enjoyed watching other people be mauled by wild animals in the

Colosseum. Nothing new, sadly.

[Guilded Lilly]

13. There is a considerable portion of the American public

that is, plain and simple, UGLY from the inside out. Always has been.
This society just nurtures and enables them much more than ever before.
Perhaps because a portion of the government and media is, plain and simple, UGLY as well.

My heart goes out to that poor soul.
Rest in a happier place.

[MissDeeds]

16. It makes you wonder

If someone had stepped forward and spoken compassionately to the man if it all might have been prevented. I hope he did not hear the taunts and jeers... :cry:

[Stinky The Clown]

17. Incidents like this pop up every now and again. It will be portrayed as part of some new pattern.

That would be a wrong conclusion.

It is not part of some new pattern. It is ongoing and has always been thus.

We had that kid beaten in from of guards in Seattle. Same kind of thing, really - cold, callous behavior toward one's fellow man. There was a huge spate of it back in the 70s that was the focus of the news for a while.

An incident gets picked up by the news and suddenly it will be seemingly an epidemic. The only thing that is changed, really, is reportage and awareness.

[Better Today]

18. Whoever thinks "we" have "become" insensitive doesn't know much

about human history. This is more of a case of folks not advancing into sensitivity than becoming insensitive. People have for centuries and still into modern times in many countries, reveled in the despair, humiliation, and untimely deaths of others; I give you hangings, and lynchings, and beheadings, and stonings, and drownings, all of which were/are "enjoyed" by the community masses involved.

Very few in this world are sensitive to the deaths of those who are not immediately known and already cared about. TV, games, movies... none of it is responsible for making us (us=general public) insensitive, though it may be responsible for keeping us insensitive.

[jjcrain]

35. Didn't people use to bring sandwiches and drinks when they went to see an execution?

[comrade snarky]

38. Some places they did

At one time it was considered a good idea to bring children to public executions, give the kiddies an idea of what happens if you break the law. It was thought to instill a sense of right and wrong in them.

As a bonus, so the kids would remember the day, the children were beaten. Sometimes severely.

All this before TV desensitized us to violence.

[KittyWampus]

36. ah, there it is. TV and the Media do not desensitize.

[RedRoses323]

48. Kudos!

My thoughts as well....:thumbsup:

[Uzybone]

55. thank you. People lamenting how "desensitized" we have become are ignorant of history.

[Edweird]

58. Yep. That's the real deal.

[aikoaiko]

19. It's just extreme schaudenfreud. Always been there.

I remember hearing these stories a lot in NYC from 1975-1985.

[jberryhill]

24. Laughter is a complicated reflex not always signaling pleasure

Laughter begins as a fear reaction in babies.

People will laugh in all kinds of situations which are not at all "funny".

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

29. that is exactly right

I went through about five years in my mid teens when a lot of really bad things happened to my family: for quite awhile every piece of really bad news would make me laugh out loud. It had nothing to do with humor: it was a horrifying time. I'm glad my family understood.

[jberryhill]

31. It's why jokes work

It releases tension from conflict of some kind. Jokes are "funny" because of some sort of incongruity or twist in a narrative.

[20score]

26. Been hearing about stories like this since I was a child. Always made me sick.

Was actually hoping this type of reaction had stopped, because it's been years since I've heard or read anything like this.

[daleo]

30. Suicide is not uncommon, sadly

I have known way too many in my life. There is a good chance that the laughers will come face to face with the bitter truth of the suicide of a loved one some time in their own lives. Then they will know how awful it is.

[flamingdem]

32. Is there a documentary or any sort of film or book related to this human trait? nt

[Yurovsky]

33. Inappropriate... unless it's Dick Cheney...

that evil bastard needs to hang a la the Nazi generals at Nuremburg. Jumping off a ledge would be too fucking easy on that monster.

[Incitatus]

37. come on now

There's a lot more rw assholes that just Cheney who deserve that.

[indy legend]

60. Now let's not get ahead of ourselves.

It's ok to hang him as long as he's water boarded first.

[MellowDem]

39. Broad-brushing time!

Cmon, why aren't more people broad-brushing California as some sort of conservative hell-hole and Californians as soulless assholes? ;-)

[Berry Cool]

40. Some people here laugh and joke about death here on DU all the time.

They can always be counted on to post a clever quip or comment about an industrial accident that takes someone's life, or a freak accident in which some unwise person gets killed--you know, declare them a Darwin Award winner.

[AsahinaKimi]

41. Some of the comments

On the SFgate.com web page were really very bad! Most of them saying, "Yeah, this is typical of San Francisco and San Franciscans" but thats totally not true.

First of all, where this happened is where TOURISTS go to catch the Cable cars. Very few San Francisco residents go there to use the cable cars as they are a tourist attraction, unless of course, we are talking about the poor who live in the tenderloin that are there begging for a hand out.

This city has changed in the last ten years.. and it seems like, there is an influx of many who come to this city, with the idea that many San Franciscans need to be "Saved". Our city has had many conservatives move here, hoping to change the politics of this city.

The comments section on SF gate seems to attract people, like right wingers who want to take a shot at liberals, and progressives, and have found the perfect place to do it. San Francisco has always been a place where Liberal and Progressive ideals have been welcomed, and unfortunately many modern conservatives, republicans, tea baggers and right wingers hate us so much, they just have to go there to harass those who only want to speak their minds freely.

[Liberal_in_LA]

59. SFgate comments are awful. I go in periodically to offset the cruel, racist, stupid sh*t that's

posted there.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

44. Probably Republicans Doing The Laughing

God forgive me.

[Dreamer Tatum]

61. Yeah, from the huge population of Repubs in San Fran...

:eyes:

[Lance_Boyle]

46. Public suicide - the last (if successful) refuge of the attention whore. n/t

[Uzybone]

56. yep. Frankly I'd rather they jump than fly a plane into an office

[Leopolds Ghost]

57. Interesting. Tell us how you really feel n/t

[FedUpWithIt All]

49. RIP to the poor soul who fell from the building. And hope for change in those

who could not/or chose not to value and embrace a precious human life.

I want those people who were cruelly laughing to see the best side of human nature when they themselves need it. I want them to see true compassion when the situations, they find themselves in, are dire.

I want them to change.

Often, it is during those times, and the example set through the kindness of others, that people realize their own failings and feel shame for them. Revenge certainly serves a purpose but i would rather "we" start learning how to change "human nature" rather than responding in like.


And eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.

We have to change.

[Fla_Democrat]

50. Isn't there someone who posts here...

Isn't there someone who posts here, with a picture in their sig that shows a sign saying...'Jump, you fuckers"? :shrug:

Even more horrifying, others encouraged him to jump, said passerby Terence Prasad, of San Francisco.

Ahh, found it, kinda, googling the term, looking for images, brought up on the first page.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4131981

I guess it's another example of the old axiom.... it's not the what, it's the who. :smoke:

[WI_DEM]

51. it's sad but nothing new--sick people have encouraged people to jump forever.

[madmax]

52. Generally speaking

People suck.

Remember Kitty Genovese - NYC, circa 1960's?

[LanternWaste]

53. Odd the responses...

Odd the responses... the justifications of the callous responses by the crowd are more often than not made by the same people who righteously rail against their perceived stupidity and/or ignorance of the American people, usually calling them "sheeple"-- which I imagine is just as "normal".

[rudy23]

62. Plenty of cheering & laughs for Katrina when it was going on, too.

Many of the sources being just a few miles away---as it was still unfolding. I still haven't completely adjusted to or accepted that experience. I fear these examples warn of the kind of society that lies ahead.

[Shell Beau]

63. There was a time not too long ago when this desperate

man climbed on the top of a hotel (still under construction). My lucky brother (cop at the time)was chosen to go up there with him. It was a steeple like top. Very unsturdy and slick, so my brother was tethered up there. He was trying to talk the guy down. The guy had a shard of glass, and every time my brother got closer to him, he would dig the glass in his neck. People were riding by because a main highway was right there. Many of those riding by were screaming "jump, jump". It was disgusting, I imagine. And yes, the guy ended up doing just that. He died right there. It was later found out that he was very mentally ill. His sister was one of the people gathered on the ground watching this horror unfold. Camera crews were there for the news, and it was being shot live for the tv. Thankfully, the camera guy turned the camera away as he jumped.

But people can be so disgusting. I always hoped that man didn't hear those riding by encouraging him to jump. Who knows.