RE: Potential Years Life Lost in Canada

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

I'll chime in on this, since one of my research areas is representations of

and social responses to death (yes, I'm an arts person, but I'm on empiric

studies in psych too...). As a society, we virtually never look at death

realistically in terms of what is likely to happen. Same goes for crime and

(they feed into each other very nicely) social or racial difference. The

very idea of death screws up our ability to think rationally or without

silly, false associations.

Suicides generally outnumber murders in most populations (notably *not*

among 15-25 year old black males in the USA, though I've seen inane articles

complaining about suicide being the 2nd leading killer in this age group,

even though it's only marginally higher [depending on the population] than

the national USA average for that age group; what's disturbing is that the

#1 killer is murder, which requires quite a jump, even though it's typically

#2 for the general population in that age & gender group). We really ought

to bear in mind that most people on this list are in the lowest risk

categories for both murder and suicide. Men, as you may have noticed, are

much higher in unintentional injury, and teenage boys (not exact numbers,

but say 17-25) are *much* more likely to be injured by another person or

themselves than women of this age group. They are also more likely to

engage in risky behaviour. I believe we're all past the highest risk area

for murder & suicide, which is pre-25.

We're lucky up here in Canada, as we don't have so many guns, which means

we're less likely to be shot, but it nonetheless leads to an increase in

crimes like 'assault with intent to harm using a deadly ashtray, briefcase,

or parrot...' People will use whatever is handy, like a hamster, but so

long as it's not a gun, you're less likely to turn into one of those early

'mice.' Bear in mind Walford's mice had no opportunities to suicide or

nibble each other to death... I doubt he'd count them in the population if

they did!

Conversely, and contrary to our general perception, the elderly are *far*

less likely to be victims of violent crimes, especially since they're

generally already dead from an abusive spouse or friend, or they've already

moved on (and that goes for both men and women). For the population of

those who are already 50 years old, the 'life expectancy' is higher than

that of the general population (say mid to late seventies in North America,

becomes early eighties for those who are already past 50 and are not dead).

*When* we all die (which will hopefully be a long way off), we ought to bear

in mind all the things that are likely to kill us, and work against them.

If we're doing it with regard to our diet (prevent heart disease, stroke,

and cancer), then we ought to place suicide as a greater worry than murder

(especially if your spouse has not previously been abusive and you have a

secure partnership). There are relatively few dangers in walking down a

dark alley at night, since most of the assaults are being conducted inside

the poverty stricken homes around you, yet we all tend to be afraid of

" stranger-danger. " We never have " stop suicide " campaigns with as much

fervour as anti-crime campaigns when murder (by a stranger) strikes a small

town. So long as we perceive ourselves as having control over our own death

or injury, we tend not to think of it as a risk factor; it's only 'those

other weirdos' who worry us, even though we're much more likely to do

ourselves harm through suicide or accident...

Best of mornings,

________________________

Gifford

3-5 Humanities Centre

Department of English

University of Alberta

www.ualberta.ca/~gifford

[Guest guest]

wrote:

*When* we all die (which will hopefully be a long way off), we ought to bear

in mind all the things that are likely to kill us, and work against them.

If we're doing it with regard to our diet (prevent heart disease, stroke,

and cancer), then we ought to place suicide as a greater worry than murder

(especially if your spouse has not previously been abusive and you have a

secure partnership).

Good point, . Many Cronies report mild depression as a side effect of long-term CR. (This has been discussed on the other CR list.) So take care all that you don’t find yourself sliding into deep depression.

Dixie

[Guest guest]

Personally, when I get to the point of feebleness and that downhill slope

where life might not be worth living anymore, I might just do some painless

speeding up of the inevitable. If one has a terminal illness or other such

suffering is going on, I don't see anything wrong with ending one's

suffering. Just my opinion and I expect many will disagree.......

wrote:

*When* we all die (which will hopefully be a long way off), we ought to bear

in mind all the things that are likely to kill us, and work against them.

If we're doing it with regard to our diet (prevent heart disease, stroke,

and cancer), then we ought to place suicide as a greater worry than murder

(especially if your spouse has not previously been abusive and you have a

secure partnership). There are relatively few dangers in walking down a

dark alley at night, since most of the assaults are being conducted inside

the poverty stricken homes around you, yet we all tend to be afraid of

" stranger-danger. " We never have " stop suicide " campaigns with as much

fervour as anti-crime campaigns when murder (by a stranger) strikes a small

town. So long as we perceive ourselves as having control over our own death

or injury, we tend not to think of it as a risk factor; it's only 'those

other weirdos' who worry us, even though we're much more likely to do

ourselves harm through suicide or accident...

Best of mornings,