So let me tell you a little story…
Last year, a somewhat-notable and beloved internet personality committed suicide. A rather shocking event to those who supported the guy. I never knew the guy nor have I seen any of his content, but I’ve heard him mentioned here and there. So basically, I had no connection with him. He was another loss in a continuing line of them and his presences will no doubt be missed by those who did.
Some time later, another internet personality – one that’s a little more notable but also a little more notorious, to put it mildly – is asked about this recent suicide by this one individual and he says things that might not go over too well and naturally, some people got offended… which is understandable. However – and I don’t want to sound like I agree with this individual, because I don’t – but I also understand that suicide is a touchy subject. It’s not something that’s seen in a positive light and it’s not something that everyone is going to agree on as far as many aspects are concerned.
I knew someone who committed suicide several years ago and I’ve heard similar comments made. Of course, I was offended, but at the same time, I also knew there were people who would feel that way. Again, suicide is a touchy thing. Not everyone sees it the same way. So while I was offended by such comments, I held no malice towards the person who made them. I still talk with the guy every so often.
But then again, that person is not a polarizing internet personality who has been the recipient of tremendous heat over the years and who has been the subjective of an overtly obsessive blog with a seething, irrational viewpoint that everything this guy does is terrible.
So when those comments were made – which were said on the guy’s facebook page that’s closed circles only, so it’s essentially a private or restricted forum similar to inviting only a few people to your house rather than let it be open to all – naturally, this blog picked up on it through their “Facebook Informant”. And they would run with it. They wouldn’t touch on it all the time, but every so often, they’d bring it up and they’d bring up what a horrible person this guy is… and of course, every year, that blog does a year in review. And on top of that list, that point gets brought up. And because of that obsessive viewpoint to tear down this guy over comments that he made regarding this other guy’s suicide – that somebody asked him about; he didn’t shoot out of his own volition, someone ASKED him about it and he gave his honest thoughts without thinking about it… presumably the same “Facebook Informant” that broke the news – but because of that viewpoint, I’m starting to despise the other guy. Not because of his suicide, not because of anything he’s done or hasn’t done, because of what he now represents… because my only knowledge of the man is that he was a personality who committed suicide and whose suicide was trivialized because someone they obsess over said something bad.
For those who need more context, I will sum up my thoughts in brief.
Justin Carmical did not commit suicide so that a certain blog could use a lapse of judgment by Christopher Bores as further fuel in their obsessive campaign to hate on the man. Telling me I should hate Bores because his beliefs over Carmicals’s suicide conflicted with theirs is a graver insult to Carmical’s memory than anything that could come out of Bores’ mouth because that tells me that Carmical’s suicide is nothing more than a trivial afterthought to these people. So my only memory of Justin Carmical is that he’s the guy who committed suicide and whose suicide was used as fuel in a campaign to hate on another guy because he said things they didn’t agree with. And because of that, I feel nothing but malice towards Justin Carmical and what he now represents in regards to these people.
Let me tell you something; that is not a pleasant thought. I shouldn’t have to feel that way. But suicide, and to a broader point, death in general, is a very touchy thing. It is something that is very fickle and something that everyone reacts differently to. It’s the kind of thing that anything that is said about the matter is bound to offend somebody out there and I’m sure there’s something in my words that people will find objectionable or offensive. And that’s fine. It’s not something people like to talk about. I don’t like talking about it, which is why I never said anything when it happened last year.
There are better ways of honoring Justin Carmical that doesn’t involve this sort of thing. Watch his past content, discuss his better moments, share in some pleasant memories. Let this Bores thing be a footnote and focus on the good memories. Because focusing on this one thing is a much graver insult and a much more disrespectful, or rather, disgraceful act to the man’s memory than anything that could come out of Bores’ mouth.
On a side note, this same blog did a brief note on the passing of Ralph Baer and that post originally featured more nasty things directed at Bores, but that portion of the post was edited out and I applaud that blog for it because not everything needs to be about Bores.
If only that same forethought and restraint was shown in regards to the late Justin Carmical.
dtm666 