#suicidie

[nemfrog]

"L'Heure d'abstinthe." The absinthe hour. Grande mythologie tintamarresque. 1881. Illustrated by G. Lafosse.

A satirical comment on "absinthism," a condition brought on by drinking absinthe that allegedly led to gross depravity.

Internet Archive

[constellations-soc]

[The] most significant reason for the abrupt rise in suicide [in countries that were part of the Soviet Union] after 1991-2 was the state of social anomie triggered by the collapse of the Soviet regime. 'In the case of economic disasters, indeed, something like a declassification occurs which suddenly casts certain individuals into a lower state than their previous ones. […] Time is required for the public conscience to reclassify men and things. So long as the social forces thus freed have not regained equilibrium, their respective values are unknown and so all regulation is lacking for a time. The limits are unknown between the possible and the impossible, what is just and what is unjust, legitimate claims and hopes and those which are immoderate.' This passage, written by Emile Durkheim in 1897 to define situations of anomie, can still shed light on the events in the Soviet Union after 1991. The collapse of the regime prompted enormous changes within a very short period of time, the transition from a totalitarian state to a democratic system, and from a centrally planned economy to one that was market based. The network of state services, which, since 1920, had provided full employment, controlled prices, basic education and free health care, disintegrated leading to a doubling of the unemployment rate and massive poverty. After having been isolated for centuries from the rest of the world, Russia was invaded by mass media from the West and values that, until then, had been condemned, like individualism, economic success and an entrepreneurial spirit, spread rapidly. This meant that many citizens of the former Soviet Union countries not only felt poor and insecure but also disoriented, confused and homeless.

Barbagli, Marzio (2015) Farewell to the World: A History of Suicide, Cambridge: Polity Press, p186

[anachaini]

[trans-girl-nausicaa]

cool things: wanting to die, having adhd