Cambodia Expats Online: Forum | News | Information | Blog

Suicides are always in the local news. Usually it's someone that hanged themselves in a terribly low-to-the-ground fashion.

I never knew how any Cambodians feel about it, but I just saw a Cambodian friend on Facebook give her stamp of approval of a lady who killed herself because she didn't want her kids to have to pay for her care due to illness. (She also tagged about 20 of her friends in it too, nor surprisingly.)

Graphic, NSFW Image:
Are her thoughts on the matter on par with others? I assume Buddhism might have a big impact on how they think of it, but I'd never seen such a stamp of approval.

And since we're on the subject, an article about another Cambodian lady committing suicide because of health reasons. Looks like she stabbed herself in the legs to do it. Messy and painful. Stories like these make me a huge fan of euthanasia.

Also graphic, NSFW:
http://www.khmerload.com/news/29701

General Mackevili wrote:Suicides are always in the local news. Usually it's someone that hanged themselves in a terribly low-to-the-ground fashion.

I never knew how any Cambodians feel about it, but I just saw a Cambodian friend on Facebook give her stamp of approval of a lady who killed herself because she didn't want her kids to have to pay for her care due to illness. (She also tagged about 20 of her friends in it too, nor surprisingly.)

That's pretty fucked up thinking on her (your friend's) behalf. So if you follow that thinking through, if you get sick you should be expendable if you don't have the money for your care. Are these people bereft of empathy.

Having had a much loved brother die by the same means, these actions are not helpful, it is something that you carry for the rest of your life. I'm guessing that the deceased was not her mother or I doubt she'd be making such an ill-informed statement?

It's interesting, because so many young Cambodians seem to be willing to ruin their own lives to pay for their parents' medical care (this is often a reason that women go into sex work, at least according to the documentaries I've seen). So maybe while they are willing to make these sacrifices, they secretly wish their sick parent would just die so they wouldn't have to.

Joker Poker wrote:
I'm guessing that the deceased was not her mother or I doubt she'd be making such an ill-informed statement?

I'm definitely guessing not.

I'd be curious to know if she's had anyone close to her commit suicide.

And sorry to hear about your brother. We've talked about that before. Very sad.

giblet wrote:It's interesting, because so many young Cambodians seem to be willing to ruin their own lives to pay for their parents' medical care (this is often a reason that women go into sex work, at least according to the documentaries I've seen). So maybe while they are willing to make these sacrifices, they secretly wish their sick parent would just die so they wouldn't have to.

And here is a working girl buying medications for her mother. I wonder if she secretly shares the same view as my other friend in the OP.



Unrelated:

I wonder how these pictures get taken. Does she say, "hello, fri. Can you take a pic of me buying meds for my mom? Cute nas!"

giblet wrote:It's interesting, because so many young Cambodians seem to be willing to ruin their own lives to pay for their parents' medical care (this is often a reason that women go into sex work, at least according to the documentaries I've seen). So maybe while they are willing to make these sacrifices, they secretly wish their sick parent would just die so they wouldn't have to.

That's a valid point giblet, but I suspect that more go into sex work because of their desire to have consumer items. They fall in love with the nice clothes, i-phones, gold jewellery, make-up, perfumes and general trappings - and of course, the overarching love of money. Sure they give money to family and dead beat boyfriends, but as I've found out, in face-saving cultures what people tell you is so often not representative of the life they lead.

A lot will tell you that they give nearly all their money to family. But when you get to know them a bit you start to realise how much they squander.

Joker Poker wrote:
A lot will tell you that they give nearly all their money to family. But when you get to know them a bit you start to realise how much they squander.

True. I think they mean they blew 90% of their money on iPhones, and they give "nearly all of the money that's left afterwards to their family," thus saving nothing.

Joker Poker wrote: I'm guessing that the deceased was not her mother or I doubt she'd be making such an ill-informed statement?

Joker Poker wrote:That's a valid point giblet, but I suspect that more go into sex work because of their desire to have consumer items.

What are your predictions for this weeks lottery numbers?
Let's put those powers of speculation to good use.

General Mackevili wrote:Suicides are always in the local news. Usually it's someone that hanged themselves in a terribly low-to-the-ground fashion.

I never knew how any Cambodians feel about it, but I just saw a Cambodian friend on Facebook give her stamp of approval of a lady who killed herself because she didn't want her kids to have to pay for her care due to illness. (She also tagged about 20 of her friends in it too, nor surprisingly.)

Why did you interpret her comments as a "stamp of approval"?
If I said I respected Robin Williams in the thread about his suicide would you "guess" that I meant I approved of him committing suicide?
Would you ask me to clarify or ask someone else to speculate on what I may have meant?

ali baba wrote: What are your predictions for this weeks lottery numbers?
Let's put those powers of speculation to good use.

The ones I picked. I'll let you know how I go.

ali baba wrote: Why did you interpret her comments as a "stamp of approval"?
If I said I respected Robin Williams in the thread about his suicide would you "guess" that I meant I approved of him committing suicide?
Would you ask me to clarify or ask someone else to speculate on what I may have meant?

To be more accurate and in order to copy what she said, you would be quoted as saying, "Robin Williams killed himself because he was depressed and didn't want his family to have to deal with it. Respect to him."

Yes, if you said that, I would most definitely think that you were giving your "stamp of approval" for his reasoning.

Joker Poker wrote:
The ones I picked. I'll let you know how I go.

LoL, good call! If you gave us the winning numbers and he went out and bought 100 tickets, a $1,000,000,000 jackpot would only be worth about $10,000,000 to you.

Watch that Ali Baba!

http://www.bartleby.com/16/905.html