It is said that most
suicidal people are undecided about living or
dying, meaning that one state doesn't appear to have
any significant advantage over the other. Suicide
can seem to be the only way out of problems, the
ultimate solution and what is suicide but an
exit? Individual suicides preceded by such
thoughts are fairly common events that affect all
socio-economic groups but mass suicides are
typically thought of as rare and affecting only
brainwashed dupes belonging to strange cults. In
fact, mass suicides are much more common than most
would expect and when the scope and chronology is
extended to encompass entire societies then the
prevalence of mass suicides is nothing short of a
pandemic of global proportions.
CULTURAL
MASS SUICIDE
The basic requirement for a mass
suicide would be three or more people killing themselves
together with a common element or interest and all or most of
the members going along with the suicide willingly at the same
time. Mass suicide comes in multiple forms, it can be
politically driven, by dictators for instance. It could be
argued that regardless of the motives behind World War II the
practical outcome of that horrific conflict was to nearly drive
the German people to mass suicide / extinction and the Russians
were a close second. So war is often another form of mass
suicide and one with millions of eager participants thus making
it the largest form expressed.
Mass suicide can also be seen in
the case of archaic cultures around the globe, just like the
languages that go with them, dying off by the thousands. These
cultures have been suddenly exposed to radically foreign
influences and the whole panoply of Americanized cultural
expectations brought to them from Hollywood via TV, movies and
radio. This quickly generates cultural perversions and
self-destructive demands; instead of farming, fishing or
handmade crafts they want movie star fame, fast food, gold-tone
watches and big screen TVs. But whether it's a sudden death or a
slow die off, it really only matters for the newspaper headlines
because the end result is still a mass suicide.
Common elements of
cultural suicide:
-
Abrupt
chronological shift in technology
combined with...
-
A tenuous but carefully
balanced subsistence lifestyle.
Culture can be
thought of as a pathogen and isolated peoples
have low or no built-up immunity to the disease
and just like influenza against the North
American natives, even one instance of contact is
enough to infect indigenous culture and wreak
havoc because all the old myths and faith based
ideas of tradition are instantly thrown into
confusion and disarray. The end result when
disparate populations collide is sadly the same
evolutionary story, the specialists fail while
the generalists succeed.
Natives
Pollution, loss of
motivation, other problems are present on Indian
reservations just as they are everywhere else but
those people have been weakened by the disease of
culture and rendered unable to deal with them.
The problems rapidly accumulate and they go under.
Amazonian Indians have been exposed to outside
alien cultures for anywhere from a few years to
centuries but although they have had time to
adapt they're faced with the inescapable reality
of assimilation which means the destruction of
their outmoded culture while simultaneously being
squeezed by development and government imposed
reservations. This dire situation presents few
options; the Guarani and southern Brazil Kaiowa
tribes are known for their recent mass suicides.
'Survival International' claims that "between
1985 and 1999 there has been 319 suicides among
the Guarani [Kaiowa]." The primary
cause is believed to be lack of land, or perhaps
more accurately the loss of it.
Loss or confusion of
identity, lack of purpose and awareness of
redundancy be it economic or cultural all
significantly erode the personal desire to
continue living.
At the northern end
of the Americas in Canada, many Inuit tribes are
so plagued by apathy and alcoholism over loss of
purpose that whole tribes check in for detox at a
time! Despite a generally helpful and financially
supportive Canadian government policy (today
anyway) the end result is essentially the same as
in Brazil - a slow motion mass-suicide. Often these 'first
nation' indigenous cultures are so profoundly
different from their modern surroundings that they are
forced into constant agonizing cultural friction
as they can't escape the TV and the radio
but are compelled to adhere to traditional ways.
In Navajo culture it's considered taboo to take
any interest in the lives of certain animals such
as snakes or frogs. Animals should be left alone
with serious consequences to the interlopers
themselves or even relatives generations later.
School is difficult for Navajo, for instance they
shouldn't look at picture of a frog, read about
frogs, and certainly never dissect one in biology
class. The entire western tradition of critical
thought is anathema to the Navajos. They are not
to ask why, but rather learn through quiet
introspection and observance. Family is
significantly different from what the Navajo see
on television or experience from westernized
people. Cousins are called sisters and brothers
and great uncles are grandfathers to the Navajo;
no one is ever an orphan. How can ones as
disparate as the Navajo and Western cultures ever
meet or understand each other? They can't, it's a
zero sum game - one will lose.
It's true some
tribes have succeeded to an extent but always by
adopting elements of western culture such as the
English language and gambling casinos. But often
the only true element of culture remaining is the
language and as the tribal population dwindles
and outside influences take over, the language
itself is doomed. And this is true everywhere,
but even the tribes that manage to hold together
face a language extinction. Language is so
intricately associated with culture that its loss is
essentially another form of cultural mass-suicide.
Japan
Japan is known for
its centuries of suicide in tradition. From hara-kiri
ceremonial self-disemboweling to kamikaze
warriors flying their aircraft into American
warships during World War II. During that same
war on the island of Saipan hundreds of trapped
Japanese committed mass suicide rather than
surrender to the invading American forces. Today
the Japanese have found another, more insidious
way to kill themselves but this method is not
limited to a single person or group but rather
the entire culture collectively. Japan's
population is aging rapidly while birth rates are
constantly about the lowest in the world, now
estimated at 1.2 per couple. Keep in mind 2.2
children per two persons is needed to maintain a
stable population size. This rate is one third of
what it was before 1950. Government efforts to
rectify this seemingly inexorable slide into
extinction, such as paying new mothers cash
benefits, have only met with failure. High costs
financially, socially and in time and effort
required for raising children consistently top
the list of reasons for abstaining from
reproduction. Many
Japanese wives remain virgins
because of a male dominated cultural that disconnects love, sex
and reproduction.
Germany
Another World War
Two military and cultural (war) loser, Germany
faces a situation nearly as dire as Japan's. The
German government is slowly coming to the same
realization as their erstwhile Axis partner but
such efforts to promote families have failed too.
The German government has had better fortune
promoting non-Germanic immigration to bolster the
tax and labor base but at the oft ignored cost of
exacerbating the impending national extinction.
Note that according to the US Census Bureau,
Europe as a whole has a higher death rate than
birth rate.
South
Pacific
Proving that there's
more than one way to commit collective suicide,
witness the bizarre case of the Pacific Islanders
eating themselves to death. The International
Obesity Taskforce claims that Pacific islanders
are now the most obese group of people on the
planet. Three quarters of Nauru and Samoan adults
are obese while all the diseases and damaging
effects of obesity are equally prevalent. In
Nauru for instance over half of adults have
diabetes. This is a consequence of westernization
culture inculcation and the concomitant change in
lifestyle and diet. After twenty thousand years
of stable subsistence lifestyles and a basic diet
of fish and coconuts now they have Kentucky Fried
Chicken and McDonalds fast food. They call the
weekly flight from Auckland New Zealand to the
Cook Islands the 'Kentucky Fried Chicken Express'
because the passengers like to haul back large
tubs of the fast food! Many of these people just
can't get enough of salty, fatty foods to an
extent that goes beyond personal addiction but a
cultural epidemic likely due to their genetic
adaptation to a specific diet now thrown into
chaos thanks to the prevalence of western food.
It now appears that fatty foods have caused more deaths than
thirty years of French and American nuclear
testing in the Pacific.
Russia
Russians
are well known for the ability to consume vast quantities of
alcohol far in excess of what would be considered tolerable
levels for others. Today, with the demise of the Soviet empire
and a loss of the basic level of social and economic
stability provided by that regimes socialist government policies
coupled with a massive loss of national wealth in the transition
period as national assets were privatized and redistributed to a
dozen or so criminal 'oligarchs', Russians have collectively
descended into an especially bleak and uncertain period of their
history.
Alcohol
consumption, already deeply ingrained into Russian culture as an
acceptable escape from daily troubles, has taken on new
significance as convenient means of achieving that final escape
decades premature; the average male Russian life-span now stands
at only 59 years. Extreme alcoholism is a specifically male
affliction, outnumbering female drinkers by five to one. The average
Russian downs a fifth of vodka every
other day, and that doesn't even include other alcoholic drinks!
This societal impact from the loss of productive citizens
through alcoholism and related death and illness is made worse
by a simultaneous decline in birth rates. The rapid decline in
Russian population over the past decade is considered the
greatest peace time loss of any industrialized nation.
CULT
MASS SUICIDE
Jim Jones, David
Koresh and the most recent Heavens Gate mass
suicides have all made the headlines and both
shocked and intrigued the public even though they
represent a small portion of the entire cult
population.
Religion or
Cult?
Religions and cults
are both based on a theology or some element of
fantasy that requires suspension of reason and
critical analysis on the part of the individual.
All religions control the mind because they
demand faith in their own belief system over that
of others. A religion is a cult that has earned
legitimacy through longevity; they both start out
the same way. The other difference between a
religion and a cult is that in a cult you can't
leave without repercussions. By this definition
the church of Jehovah's Witness', the ones that
knock on your door and hand out Watchtower
magazines, are a cult because they practice a
severe social outcast policy against members that
leave the 'church'. Keep in mind Jim Jones was a
minister of the Disciples of Christ, a large
mainstream Christian denomination, and David Koresh was Seventh Day Adventist through the
Branch Davidians, a weapon stockpiling,
apocalyptic sect.
Common elements of
cult suicides:
-
Charismatic,
convinced leader who demands total faith
and obedience.
-
Faithful
following believing in a future heavenly
reward and often an impending, Earthly
doom.
Cult members can
come from widely disparate socio-economic
backgrounds and include rich as well as poor who
are willing to make enormous personal sacrifices
for reaching a faith based goal promised by the
charismatic leader. It helps to have an
impressionable and highly loyal personality at
the same time. While individual suicide is
usually linked to long term depression, group
suicide is quite different in that the people are
motivated and completely convinced of both the
righteousness of their theology and attainability
of the goal(s). The group psychological dynamic
actually enhances cohesion amidst times of
trouble and stress. Group psychology is a
self defense mechanism, it's what makes fish
school, birds flock, crowds riot and even follow
the leader against reason and sanity.
The most dangerous
cults abuse the faith of their followers to such
an extreme that it endangers all of their lives.
The leaders of these groups take advantage of
group psychology to generate an erroneous sense
of us versus a very hostile them outside.
Impending apocalypses are a favorite and created
the deadly end for both the Heavens Gate and
David Koresh's followers. It should be noted
there is no shortage of gullible and exploitable
faithful conveniently lacking in logical
skepticism, for we all know a sucker is born
every minute. The limiting factor on
dangerous cults is the number of charismatic
psychopaths out there to lead the churches.
Three famous
examples
The Heavens Gate mass
suicide occurred in a hilltop mansion near San
Diego California in 1997. They believed an alien
spaceship was hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet
and killed themselves in order to reach it. The
victims were self-drugged and then suffocated by
other members in a series of suicides over a
period of three days. 39 died, most were in their
40s and came from a wide range of backgrounds.
Vernon Howell better
known as David Koresh claimed to be a
reincarnation of Jesus in sinful form, took over
the Branch Davidian sect, moved into their Mount
Carmel compound near Waco Texas and changed the
name to Ranch Apocalypse while tightening his
mental and physical control over the followers.
Koresh had the Bible memorized and used it like a
blunt instrument to bludgeon both his faithful
flock and convince others of his divine authority.
Amid accusations of drugs, abuse and weapons
violations the federal government moved to raid
the church in February 1993. The fiery conclusion
killing about 80 people is a well known story but
what's not so well known is that the surviving
Brach Davidians still remain attached to their
faith.
 If David Koresh
had some bizarre notions and practices the Reverend Jim Jones
was completely over the top - he didn't claim to be a
reincarnated Messiah, he was God! His depraved rise to power is
too long to rehash here suffice to say he founded churches all
over America during the sixties while using his enthusiasm,
charisma and community action to create a remarkably mainstream
organization he called The Peoples Temple of The Disciples of
Christ. The liberal political establishment loved him and the
votes he could generate. Later during the seventies Jim Jones
reached even higher levels of public influence including the
NAACP, California politics and even dining with the Carter
family. But as his fame grew so did his megalomania and paranoia
to such a fantastic extent that by 1978 he found himself in
'Jonestown' Guyana South America ordering his remaining flock to
drink cyanide poison beneath a sign reading 'Those who do not
remember the past are condemned to repeat it' killing 913 people
including 270 children. Jim Jones' followers were composed of
two groups, low income blacks (largest group) and idealistic
affluent whites.
 The
remnants of Jones' church remain convinced of the righteousness
of their cause.
While most cults are
a product of wayward theology, Jim Jones was more
a product of wayward ideology - a direct
outgrowth of the radical sixties. Nonetheless
it's remarkable how completely irrational these
groups and their language appears to outsiders
and conversely how reasonable it appears to the
followers. Within the artificial world that cults
create, logic and reason are out the door and
indeed the utter speciousness of the faith is
used by the leader(s) to keep the followers off
balance, to bring them into a state of mindless
obedience devoid of the one true defense -
independent, critical thought.
CONCLUSIONS
Other species commit
mass suicide but only homo sapiens appear to have
any choice in the matter. The arctic rodents
called Lemmings are known for supposed periodic
mass suicides by collectively swimming into the
sea and drowning. This is probably caused by environmental
pressures usually from over population, which
shouldn't be too surprising since the female
produces several broods every year of about five
baby lemmings each time!
Much like lemmings, the underlying elements seems to be a
collective awareness of unsustainability. So one
possible reason could be that in order for a few
to survive, most everyone else must go. Trim the
numbers to a level that can survive, reflexive
group psychology again. Whatever the reason, mass
suicides are more common during periods of social
turmoil and collective mental and physical ill-health.
Survival is very
much a psychological issue to homo sapiens
because instead of reflexively acting like in the
animal world we can reason and plan ahead. It's
undoubtedly a two edged sword because as much as
we can reason to stay alive we can reason to go
and die. Even a cursory awareness of the
universal monotony, the astounding absurd
simplicity of the mechanical universe we inhabit
is enough to drive any thinker to an early grave.
Why else is entertainment such a consistently
profitable and popular industry? Anything to keep
our minds from thinking and distracted from the
inevitable. And indeed many individual suicides
are directly linked to that nihilistic sentiment,
that everything is so confused and unhealthy that
suicide is the only means of escape, the only
solution.
Furthermore I would
speculate that the evolution of sentience has an
upper limit and we are pushing it even as I write
this. Smart people think a lot and the ones that
think a lot start to wrestle with issues like
'should we survive at all and what for?' The
worst answer is no answer and the best is a
tautology based on surviving to survive.
Eventually suicide becomes rational and as social
and environmental crisis escalate, even desirable
for its own sake. It's easier to manufacture a
fantasy world of pleasure waiting after death
than it is to deal with the pain and problems of
a modern world of ever increasing complexity.
Perhaps this could explain why we have yet to
find any evidence of advanced life outside of our
planet Earth - they get too smart and kill
themselves.
So, what am I
saying? There is a very real and distinct
advantage to not being too smart that is built
into the rules of the game all biological life
must adhere to. The most prolific life on earth
is also the least sentient - single celled
organisms that are more robotic and machinelike
than anything yet built by mankind. The ones that
will survive the mass suicides are the ones that
either have developed an immunity to the suicide
diseases or else are too stupid to question or
reason on any significant level.
Whether this is
truly the case or not, and I hope it isn't,
suicides both individual and collective are only
going to increase as frenetic technological
changes tear apart tradition and destabilize
cultures throughout the world. 04.02
Nihilism ensues
from anomie, the old order crumbles to dust and a
new one is born from the pain and suffering of
the transition.
Rarely is this
recognized as it happens.
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