Anthony Bourdain dead at 61

[bendk]

CNNs Anthony Bourdain dead at 61

From the article:

Anthony Bourdain, the chef and gifted storyteller who took TV viewers around the world to explore culture, cuisine and the human condition for nearly two decades, has died. He was 61.

CNN confirmed Bourdain's death on Friday and said the cause of death was suicide.

Bourdain's death happened days after fashion designer Kate Spade hanged herself in an apparent suicide Tuesday at her Manhattan apartment.

Suicide is a growing problem in the United States. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a survey Thursday showing suicide rates increased by 25% across the United States over nearly two decades ending in 2016. Twenty-five states experienced a rise in suicides by more than 30%, the government report finds


I liked Bourdain's show. He seemed like he had a lot going for him.
Any thoughts about the increasing suicide rates?

[njhorror]

I liked his show as well. I'd be surprised if substance abusive didn't play a role in this.

Rising suicide rate? I'm guessing substance abuse.

Calm, measured samurai-esque suicides don't bother me, but most are committed during unbearable agony by people who aren't thinking clearly and are very upsetting to me. I think of suicide every day, and I'm sure many other Ligotti readers do. Not being alive is better than being alive, but the idea of the torture behind the act is quite horrifying.

[Zaharoff]

Suicide has risen sharply in the US in the past few years.
I never think drug abuse, I usually suspect emotional pain.
Being struck down with a painful, incurable disease would be reason for me.
Most suicides in the States are accomplished with guns.

U.S. Suicide Rates Rise By More Than 30 Percent In Half Of States Since 1999 : Shots - Health News : NPR

[njhorror]

Substance abuse is often used to self medicate emotional pain. I meant that substance abuse seems to "grease the wheels" so to speak. At least in the suicides that I've known. The majority were either drunk or high on drugs when they did it, and had a history of substance abuse beforehand. I believe that alcohol and drugs numb the psyche to the point that suicide becomes reasonable, whereas if they weren't high they wouldn't have done it.

[marioneta]

A friend said that he remembers when Bourdain walked the streets of New York selling old, used paperbacks to support his habit. He definitely carried some baggage from those early days, but he made himself a chef to get out of the streets. Yet one always carries a bit of the street, you never really leave it. It haunts you. Bourdain was a haunted man. I liked his show and his death is very sad. We are all haunted by our own ghosts.

[Bleak&Icy]

The world is now a crummier, shabbier, more dismal place without Anthony Bourdain. I will miss him.

[bendk]

I am going to venture a guess that the rising suicide rate - and this should map onto other countries if correct - is a result of the internet. People can access more information about the world they actually live in as opposed to the one that has been presented to them from a variety of sources that have vested interests in doing so.


As to Bourdain's specific suicide, he did mention that he loved his job but that it made his marriage impossible, so perhaps he was lonely. Also, if you travel the world long enough, you are bound to see some horrific- perhaps indelible- things that could haunt you. I haven't read a method yet, but I would guess it's probably hanging.

I really enjoyed the episode where he visited Francis Ford Coppola in Italy.

[Ibrahim]

Quote Originally Posted by bendk

I am going to venture a guess that the rising suicide rate - and this should map onto other countries if correct - is a result of the internet. People can access more information about the world they actually live in as opposed to the one that has been presented to them from a variety of sources that have vested interests in doing so. As to Bourdain's specific suicide, he did mention that he loved his job but that it made his marriage impossible, so perhaps he was lonely. Also, if you travel the world long enough, you are bound to see some horrific- perhaps indelible- things that could haunt you. I haven't read a method yet, but I would guess it's probably hanging. I really enjoyed the episode where he visited Francis Ford Coppola in Italy.

Apart from gleaning information about the world we "actually" live in ( and i think it's doubtful many people use the internet to gain some kind of objective picture- there is too much that speaks against that idea ), the internet provides access to advice about effective suicide methods and such.

I think that suicide no longer holding the terror of damnation is part of it. It stopped being an entrance to an infinite world of pain and became an infinite escape from a world of pain.