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Author Topic: Robin Williams dead at 63  (Read 15263 times)

jwhouk

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #50 on: 13 Aug 2014, 09:22 »

Went in for physical therapy this morning, they were talking about favorite Robin Williams movies.

I let loose with GOOD MORNING VIETNAM! Everyone in the place loved it.
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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #51 on: 13 Aug 2014, 09:22 »

And as is perhaps inevitable, the usual Twitterists have started trolling Williams' daughter, leading her to close her account.

On a personal note, if there is to be a statue in memorial to Williams, perhaps it would be more befitting that it be a bronze school desk that people can stand on.

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GarandMarine

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Zebediah

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #53 on: 13 Aug 2014, 10:31 »

I;m just going to ramble a bit here. Apologies in advance if it doesn't make sense.

If you're asking "Why did Robin Williams kill himself?" you're asking the wrong question. For some of us who are depressed, the question is, "Why NOT kill myself?" When you're in emotional pain every single day and you don't see an end to it, suicide can seem like a way out. Not a good way out, but a way out nonetheless. The struggle then becomes to find a reason, every single day, to go on living. Any reason. And, for a lot of us, it's often other people. For me it's my son - when the demons start whispering in my ear about taking the easy way out, I fight them off by reminding myself about how much my son needs me and how devastated he'd be if I was gone. It's enough. It's always been enough. Fifteen years ago, during a particularly rough stretch, it was actually my cat who kept me going, because I had no idea what would happen to him if I was gone. Again, it was enough - I got through it and found better times.

The problem then becomes the fact that, being human and fallible, you will eventually fail the people who love you and who keep you going. You beat yourself up over it, you tell yourself how useless you are, and begin to think that maybe they would be better off without you. That's the trap. Those are the truly dark times. I don't know if that's the trap that Robin Williams fell into, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Finally, if there's one good thing that's come out of this, it's that we finally seem to be having a conversation about mental health in the United States. Here's hoping people keep paying attention long enough to do something about it.
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Lupercal

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Re: RIP Robin Williams
« Reply #54 on: 14 Aug 2014, 13:47 »

I loved his acting.

But his own material was a real eye-opener - he's got such a dirty mouth doing stand-up. His skit on the Bush administration was brilliant, right on the money:

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ThinksTooMuch

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #55 on: 14 Aug 2014, 21:27 »

Robin Williams was an intrinsic part of my childhood.  And in middle school, he, through the character of John Keating helped me find the will to survive the most isolating time of my life.  At the time, our family had just moved to a new city.  I am introverted by nature, and I went from a private elementary with a class of 20 to a public school and a class of 360. The environment was a complete shock and I retreated into my mental bubble so completely it took me nearly three years before I even tried to make a friend there.  Williams didn't get me through that, my brother did, but Dead Poet's Society is where I got the courage to face the world again. I met my first lifelong (so far) friend I met shortly after my first viewing. Carpe diem, it's so cliche but it is also true, and Bubbly (we are polar opposites personality-wise) is the kind of person I would have ignored or driven away a few months earlier. I don't think anyone other than Williams could've made me, a teenager lost in my own mind, actually make the effort to pay attention to the world around me.

This is not near eloquent enough.  He lived a damn good life, and while I am sad he has gone, I will continue to return to his works when I need inspiration.  I was incredibly blessed to share this world with him. I hope he has found his peace.
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Carl-E

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #56 on: 14 Aug 2014, 23:05 »

I heard this morning that his wife said he had recently been diagnosed with the onset of Parkinson's. 

That's not an excuse, of course, but certainly may have been a major factor, triggering a major depressive episode.  Depression doesn't mix well with life changes and challenges. 

Also heard that the tweet (from Disney, I think?) with the picture of Genie and Aladdin hugging that said "You're free now, genie" has caused a lot of problems. 

Suicide is not freedom. 
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GarandMarine

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #57 on: 15 Aug 2014, 00:13 »

It's freedom in it's own way. It's not a good choice, but I think we safely say that those who choose to go willingly into the long night don't do it because they aren't in incredible pain, be it from a terminal illness that has left their body ravaged or the kind of life long, crippling struggle Mr. Williams faced with his depression, bi polar (alleged) and various addictions. We can all look and say "Well if he survived all that still smiling...". Throwing something like Parkinson's on top of that, that would rob a man often described as "pure energy" of everything that made him the vital, quick, beloved entertainer that he was... he'd even lose his ability to tell jokes over time.

In that light, perhaps we can be a bit more understanding of Robin's choice to bow and take his curtain call before he could not do so on his own two feet, and smile for the applause that was his due.
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I built the walls that make my life a prison, I built them all and cannot be forgiven... ...Sold my soul to carry your vendetta, So let me go before you can regret it, You've made your choice and now it's come to this, But that's price you pay when you're a monster with no name.

Thrillho

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #58 on: 15 Aug 2014, 00:50 »

I heard this morning that his wife said he had recently been diagnosed with the onset of Parkinson's. 

That's not an excuse, of course, but certainly may have been a major factor, triggering a major depressive episode.  Depression doesn't mix well with life changes and challenges. 

Also heard that the tweet (from Disney, I think?) with the picture of Genie and Aladdin hugging that said "You're free now, genie" has caused a lot of problems. 

Suicide is not freedom.

Freedom from pain? Freedom from an existence which might itself be agony? I think it could be considered so.
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LTK

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #59 on: 15 Aug 2014, 01:53 »

The problem is that it glorifies suicide, and makes it seem like a courageous way to take control of the end of your life, when it really isn't. There's a reason we don't treat suicidal people the way we do people who ask for euthanasia at the end of their life. If someone is suicidal it is because they are mentally ill, and the last thing that person can do is make rational decisions about their own life. Pretending that a suicidal person must have a good reason to want to die is, well, life-threatening.
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Barmymoo

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #60 on: 15 Aug 2014, 02:18 »

I don't think that's fair. It is incredibly courageous to take your own life. That doesn't mean it's a good thing to do, but the idea that it's the coward's way out is unfair and untrue. It's also extremely insulting to say that mentally ill people can't make rational decisions about their life. You contrast suicide with euthanasia; euthanasia isn't offered, even in places where it is legal, to people who have crippling mental illnesses that no amount of treatment has improved, despite the fact that a mental illness is just as agonising and debilitating as a physical one.
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hedgie

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #61 on: 15 Aug 2014, 03:08 »

Suicide is not freedom.

Tell that to Pterry.
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ev4n

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #62 on: 15 Aug 2014, 04:28 »

fwiw, ymmv, imho, this conversation just became a bit triggering.
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Thrillho

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #63 on: 15 Aug 2014, 04:39 »

Agreed, might be worth a mod edit.
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TRVA123

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #64 on: 15 Aug 2014, 07:52 »

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Carl-E

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #65 on: 15 Aug 2014, 15:22 »

I'm sorry, all I get for Pterry is

a) an animated pterodactyl

2) a nickname for Terry Pratchett, who's works I am unfamiliar with

So what's the relevance here? 

Also, about my comment that suicide =/= freedom; 

Yes, you're right that it frees you from the situation in which you find yourself.  That situation may well be permanent.  It may not be.  But suicide is.  You destroy your ability to make choices in the future by throwing away your future, whatever it may hold.  You have no more freedom wiith which to make further choices. 

It is also, because of the stigma, a decision that is usually made alone, without any other input from those around you, whether they be loved ones, professionals or even disinterested third parties.  This is rarely a good idea, especially for decisions that will affect so much more than just your own life. 

Which is why the main advice of talking to someone is the best advice there is. 


Sorry for raising such a fuss, but if there's one thing I know from the depths of despair, is that it can get better.  It may not, but it can; and if you're not there to work on it, you'll never see the miracle that turns it all around. 
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Pilchard123

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #66 on: 15 Aug 2014, 15:34 »

It would be the second meaning. I can't remember the exact words, but Pterry has previously said something to the effect that he wants to kill his Alzheimer's before it can kill him.
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hedgie

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #67 on: 15 Aug 2014, 15:36 »

I was referring to Pratchett.  And since he got diagnosed with a form of early-onset Alzheimers, he has stated that he plans to take his life before he degenerates too far.  In fact, he has made documentaries about both his condition , and assisted dying (one won a BAFTA, IIRC).  As of now, he's still fighting, and both donating money and lobbying to get more research for a cure, or at least an effective treatment.  He's also been lobbying to make assisted dying legal in the UK, so that he doesn't have to travel to Switzerland when the time comes.
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Carl-E

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #68 on: 15 Aug 2014, 15:58 »

Thanks, I actually got it when I followed TRVA's link to the other thread.  Sorry. 
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Blue Kitty

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #69 on: 16 Aug 2014, 12:08 »


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GarandMarine

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Re: Robin Williams dead at 63
« Reply #70 on: 16 Aug 2014, 22:31 »

Hey that's how my great grandpa died!
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I built the walls that make my life a prison, I built them all and cannot be forgiven... ...Sold my soul to carry your vendetta, So let me go before you can regret it, You've made your choice and now it's come to this, But that's price you pay when you're a monster with no name.

jwhouk

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I built the walls that make my life a prison, I built them all and cannot be forgiven... ...Sold my soul to carry your vendetta, So let me go before you can regret it, You've made your choice and now it's come to this, But that's price you pay when you're a monster with no name.

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Quote from: snalin
I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.
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