During this past week's discussions in class, I was very interested to learn about Emile Durkheim's idea of the four types of suicide, especially the fatalistic category. Learning about the various reasons why people commit suicide and what is possibly going through their minds when they do it is intriguing to me, even if it is a very morbid and depressing interest.
Fatalistic suicide happens when there is too much regulation in a society. There are extreme structured limitations and society itself is not allowing you to move forward within it. People who commit suicide under these conditions know that they will forever be stuck in this one aspect of their life so they simply give up. A common example of this is people who are in prison serving life sentences or who are on death row. They have no chance of getting out, so they find some way to commit suicide, even if it has to be done in extreme or grotesque ways. You see this example in cop TV shows, like Law & Order, all the time. A police officer will go into an inmate's cell and find them dead, so clearly this still happens in today's society, even though Durkheim was writing about fatalistic suicide a hundred years ago.
As I was writing this and trying to think of a few other unique examples, Hotel California by the Eagles starts playing, and a light bulb goes on in my head, because I ironically had just looked up what the lyrics in this song are supposed to mean the other day, and I feel that it is a perfect example of fatalistic suicide. It basically tells a story of the pitfalls, such as greed and self-destruction, of the Hollywood music industry and how people become engrossed in it. Now the song doesn't go as far as suicide, but we can take it that far, especially with all of the somewhat recent accounts of celebrities who have committed suicide, mostly by drug overdose or drug addiction. They can become so entwined in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood that they can't find a way out. If something in their career goes wrong, they can easily turn to drugs because those drugs are so accessible to people with a lot of money, and the may think that's the way out, but it isn't. I think the last stanza in Hotel California sums up this idea really well, especially the last sentence. An actor or musician can go into the business thinking that they will be able to get out of it at any time, but they soon find out that that's not the way it works in Hollywood, for the most part.
"Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
'We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave!'"
(Lyrics from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eagles/hotelcalifornia.html)
Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the first example that comes to my mind because his death was so public and advertised. Now they still haven't released an official cause of death, but it was known that he was addicted to heroin and it was found at the scene of his death. It could have been an accidental overdose, but even if it was, he still spiraled down far enough that he couldn't get back up.
The concept from the past two weeks of class that struck me as the most interesting was Alexis de Tocqueville's idea of materialism. In my understanding of the reading and class discussion on materialism, it's a horrible cycle of giving into physical pleasures and something which "'disposes men to believe that nothing but matter exists'." The bold aspect of this concept is that Tocqueville attributed the rise of materialism to democracy rather than to capitalism, as Marx would have done, and materialism can be somewhat prevented by religion, according to Tocqueville.
I enjoyed reading about Tocqueville's views on materialism because it is such a prevalent issue in our world today. People are always wanting the newest and most advanced technology, and many people base their identity on how much stuff they own. They call themselves "rich" because they have a giant house filled with a ton of belongings they don't really need. I can't say that I'm not materialistic myself, because that would be a lie, but I do know that the situation is getting way out of hand and unless we change our materialistic ways, future generations won't even know what it's like to live with only the necessitites. However, there was one aspect of the reading on materialism that I didn't quite agree with, and that's the idea that materialism can be kept at bay by the introduction of religion. I know many religious individuals who are sucked in by the prospect of having nice things or always having the best technology, so maybe that's just one part that doesn't hold true today. Materialism can lead to to selfishness and only considering yourself and your own feelings in the decisions you make, which is a road I would not like to travel down.
I really like this quote by George Carlin, a comedian and social critic, because it is probably the truest statement for materialism. Contrary to what many people believe, having a lot of nice things doesn't really make you happy. It may elevate your mood for a little while, but the effects wear off. Related to the quote, the sandwiches do no good if they are simply taped to your body, just like all of the unnecessary stuff your buying doesn't do you any good either.
