Thread: RIP: David Carradine

It's not unspecified - I've seen it reported in several places that the other end of the cord was tied around his old fellow. Seems pretty clear - naked, cord going from his neck to his *hem hem*, I'd call it auto-erotic asphyxiation.

Still, it's a loss when a vintage actor such as Carradine dies, regardless of how. My thoughts go out to his family.

Originally Posted by icedog

I hope he had a "happy ending".

So disrespectful to the dead, but soooooo funny.

Originally Posted by Blade Wielder

Both choices are pretty grim, but at least if they called it a suicide, people would know that you were in control in your final moments.

I think that's a debatable point at best. I have, quite unfortunately, been a first hand witness to the suicide attempt of a family member. (unsuccessful attempt, thank God)

Saying that a person committing suicide for any reason is "in control in their final moments" is just not realistic. People who are in control of themselves and their lives don't intentionally kill themselves. Just doesn't work that way. People who kill themselves are deeply mentally ill, and have lost all sense of control in their lives. It's frequently a final, and futile, attempt to gain control. (exception: traditional ritual suicide in the name of samurai honor, or suicide to avoid a slow painful death from a terminal disease is a completely separate issue)

Personally, if one of my family members were to die in such a horrific fashion, and it were to make it into the media, I'd much prefer that the papers honestly reported that they died trying a little too hard to get their freak on, than report that they couldn't handle life anymore and deliberately took their own life.

I haven't seen the updates, but if the previously unspecified part of his anatomy was said "hem hem" appendage there's not much doubt left in my mind.

Come on guys, give a guy the benefit of the doubt. There can be all manner of explanations for being discovered naked in a wardrobe with a rope around his hem-hem. He might have woken up that morning, reached for his skipping rope, and started his morning exercises for the day before getting in the shower. But the hotel room might have been smaller than he was used to and he could have tripped, got tangled up, fell forwards into the wardrobe whose doors he had left open the night before, and banged his head on the brass rail, knocking himself unconscious and dying from asphixiation.

You know, like a bit Frank Spencer.

I agree with V. From my limited knowledge, I think that someone who commits suicide has no control whatsoever. If you are in control, you can turn your life around or at least try to.

As for it making the news...
It's not fun for the next of kin to read the sordid details in the paper.
But otoh I think it is easier to cope with the idea of an accident than of a deliberate act of suicide.

It's like if someone plummets to his death. If it was a rock climbing accident, then that person died doing what he had a passion for, and he accepted the risks. Noone has to feel bad about the accident itself. If it was suicide, then the person was probably feeling pretty miserable, and the next of kin is maybe forever wondering 'if only I had talked to him instead of canceling that diner...' or whatever there is that could have been different.

I said that in most cases, a person who commits suicide is mentally unbalanced. Not always, though. There are plenty of people for whom life is agony, and the decision to end that agony by ending their lives is one they can easily rationalize. It's not performed due to mental illness, but after suffering through a torturous existence. I'd classify the people who kill themselves over breakups, credit card debt or social awkwardness the mentally disturbed ones. These are the kinds of things that can be overcome in time, but instead they choose a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

In any case, my point was that the person committing suicide (whatever their reasons) is making a choice to do so (rational or otherwise), where death due to auto-erotic asphyxiation is you, alone, trying to get your freak on and messing it up so bad you kill yourself.

I see what you're saying.

What I'm saying, is that if a person makes a life altering (or life ending) choice while not in a rational state of mind, it's not a choice. It's an effect of their irrational mind and more often not, decisions made by the irrational turn out to be the wrong decision. That's the definition of irrational: not based on rational thought or reasoning.

Big decision + irrational thought process = wrong conclusion.

As far as people committing suicide as an alternative to a torturous existence, I did say that suicide as an alternative to a slow painful death from a terminal illness was a whole separate discussion.

However, if the "torturous existence" is on a mental and emotional level, then we're just playing a game with semantics.

I've seen suicide referred to as a permanent solution to a temporary problem and more cynically as the ultimate F U. Whether due to mental instability or terminal illness I always feel sad when I hear of someone going that way. I can say from personal experience that the departed's troubles are over. It is those who are left behind who have to deal with the memory.

For some reason it brings to mind this quote from Raymond Chandler's novel The Big Sleep,"What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on the top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell".

Sorry to hear the guy went out like that. Dad and I were unintentionally starting a ritual of watching him host "Wild West Tech" every weekend morning while splitting a pot of coffee.

You guys are looking at this the wrong way, this is by far the most impressive way for a 72 year old man to go. How many 72 year old men do you know that can even maintain an erection much less have a sense of sexual exploration. I only wish I had such an entertaining story to tell about my grandfathers' deaths.