Fox News host labels Robin Williams ‘such a coward’ over alleged suicide

[KamaAina]

Well, that didn't take long.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/12/fox-news-host-labels-robin-williams-such-a-coward-over-alleged-suicide/

The Fox News host noted that Williams had once told a story about his daughter, Zelda, who asked him to read a book to her in his normal voice.

“One of the children he so loved, one of the children grieving tonight,” Smith said. “Because their father killed himself in a fit of depression.”

“It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it?” he continued. “You could love three little things so much, watch them grow, they’re in their mid-20s, and they’re inspiring you, and exciting you, and they fill you up with the kind of joy you could never have known.”

“And yet, something inside you is so horrible or you’re such a coward or whatever the reason that you decide that you have to end it. Robin Williams, at 63, did that today.”

And it was Shepard Smith, almost the only one there (besides Dennis, of course), who walks upright!

[spanone]

1. fukfox

[ZombieHorde]

2. I suspect many people feel that way about suicide.

For the record, I don't feel that way.

[FBaggins]

8. I think they just don't get it.

People in these situations often think that their decision is self-sacrificial - even courageous. It isn't.

So those with less-nuanced understandings assume that it must therefore be selfish and cowardly. But those aren't the only alternatives.

[uppityperson]

3. Anyone who feels that way is either ignorant or an asshole. Or both.

[FBaggins]

4. He died of a mental illness

We don't blame cancer victims for dying of cancer.

Courage and cowardice necessarily involve rational decisions based on risks that are accepted or rejected.

Someone who crosses a minefield to rescue a child is being courageous... crossing the same field without even knowing of the danger is not courage. The same is true on the other end of the spectrum. If he understood the decision that he was making... how it would hurt people that he loved... but chose to think only of himself, then perhaps you could use "cowardice" or "selfishness" - but that isn't possible in these cases. He wasn't capable of weighing those factors - perhaps couldn't even see them. Thus he cannot be said to be cowardly or selfish.

[merrily]

9. The Bible tells of driving demons out of people with symptoms of

mental or emotional disturbances, so you know there have to be people around the world who still believe there is a marked difference between physical dis-ease and emotional dis-ease. (As if you have emotions and a mind that are somehow separate from your body.)

I have a friend who says our bodies evolved faster than our minds. If she's correct, I hope global warming holds off long enough to allow our minds a chance to catch up some. Just imagine what we might accomplish with opposable thumbs AND highly evolved brains.

[steve2470]

10. yes you nailed it

He had struggled with depression and chemical dependence for many years. He had sought treatment. The illness finally won. RIP Robin Williams.

[merrily]

13. People object to the expression "lost his battle with cancer."

Robin Williams was a genius, by all reports, a very nice person, and a man who did a lot for so many causes. He was no loser.

[steve2470]

15. ok, I meant no disrespect to Mr. Williams but....

time for ME to come out of the closet also. I've suffered from depression for almost my entire life. It IS a battle. Every day, you fight against it, and every day you win that you are alive. Depression is a weird illness: it's the only illness I'm aware of, that forces you to not care about yourself.

So, you see, I know what I'm talking about. Hopefully, with treatment and medication, I will never lose my battle with depression. Again, I mean NO disrespect to Mr. Williams, because I am a fellow sufferer. I have not been suicidal for many years, and God willing, I never will be again.

GET HELP EVERYONE. Call someone. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255.

[FBaggins]

18. Why would that be disrespectful?

Recognizing your own courage does not mean that he is cowardly.

[merrily]

21. I know you didn't mean any disrespect. I was just giving you a different take that is relatively

new to me. It's only within the last year that I've heard people say, "Please don't say s/he lost his/her battle with cancer." Until then, I used to think nothing of saying that.

I also hope you will never be suicidal again. And thanks for posting the number.

[steve2470]

22. my pleasure ! nt

[LordGlenconner]

32. I understand what you meant

[Dawgs]

31. Jesus Christ. Saying someone lost a battle to a disease does not imply that they are a loser.

WTF!!

[Hugabear]

19. Many on the far right do not believe in mental illness

I've heard this several times from people on the far right, they think that mental illness is something cooked up by the pharmaceutical industry to push their meds. Apparently they believe that the brain is the only part of the human body that is immune to problems.

[gordianot]

5. Two institutions totally predictable fOXNews in the Westborough Baptist Church.

The Westborough Baptist Church is next I'm sure.

[merrily]

6. Some posters yesterday immediately got accusatory as well.

Or managed to make his suffering and his family's tragedy about them in some way. (I do NOT mean those who said they also suffered from depression or bipolar disorder and urged fellow sufferers to get help. To the contrary, I commend those posters for their disclosures.)

[madamesilverspurs]

7. The only people who understand

the breadth and severity of such pain are the ones who are no longer here to explain it to us.


And labeling it as cowardice is easier than facing that truth, and is in itself, truly cowardly. In a way, such snide dismissiveness serves only the purpose of making ourselves seem superior by virtue of still being here.

[WeAreKochs]

11. The Most Offensive Thing I've Seen in a Long Time

It's probably hard to ad-lib if you're a TV anchor whose used to staying on script.

But, this has to be one of the MOST OFFENSIVE things that's been said by a TV professional on-air in a long time.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. Showing empathy or compassion would be anti-Republican

I mean that's really the way that entire Teabagging party is going. The party of Jesus considers sympathy or human kindness to be weakness, the same kind of weakness they mock when they see it in Obama for his "kumbaya" foreign policy. They are such macho tough guys who literally have to be restrained from going into combat abroad, don't you know.

[Tom_Foolery]

14. Hey, Shep, you better hope that the dark beast of depression never comes for you...

It's evil and never satisfied. I know. I've battled the motherfucker for almost 40 years, and I win every day. The only positive thing that I've gained from my fight is my sense of empathy for others. You don't have it. Robin Williams was no coward. He did things that would have scared the shit out of you, Shep.

[steve2470]

16. + 10000000000 nt

[LordGlenconner]

26. I'm sorry you feel that way

But I will to honor your support for Shep Smith.

Enjoy your day.

[FBaggins]

27. And I'll honor your respecting DU's rules...

... by allowing you to pretend that it had anything at all to do with "support for Shep Smith and Fox News"

[LordGlenconner]

29. Whatever gets you through the day.

[Rex]

28. Fuck Shepard Smith all the way to Hell.

Shep you fucking stupid tool, they only thing cowardly is you sitting their being TOTALLY IGNORANT about clinical depression! PRAY ASSHOLE that you NEVER have to deal with the abyss.

[Initech]

30. There's a special place in hell for Fox News hosts.

Although I'm guessing that the only TV played in hell is Fox And Friends. Satan probably has them on speed dial.