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What's Going On Here, Golden Gate Bridge Lifeline?
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Does anyone know if these phones have ever actually been used to talk anyone down?
Why make people read between the lines? The sign on the phone ought to read "Oh screw it - go ahead and jump."
haven't these been "out of service" for a few years now?
I've seen this picture for a couple years and I always assumed it was photoshopped.
Is this day 2 of FAILBLOG?
There must have been one time when this phone was out of service and someone took a picture (because it is a little bit funny). But it must have been a while ago because this *exact* picture has been forwarded to me by my dad, who like many dads and moms, feels compelled to forward to me every single thing that gets forwarded to him, and each one of those things has taken approximately 2 years 4 months and 15 days to go all around the world of email to get to *my parents* (they are that far out of the loop), and thus to me.
Also, can you help me with some money problems I'm having in Nigeria?
THE RAILS ARE LESS THAN FOUR FEET HIGH ONE PERSON JUMPS FROM THE BRIDGE ALMOST EVERY WEEK.
AND NO THEY WONT JUST GO SOMEWHERE ELSE -
BUT EVEN IF THEY DO WE HAVE NOT STOPPED DEATH AT THE GOLDEN GATE
TO BE COUNTED AS A DEATH THE BODY HAS TO BE FOUND THE BRIDGE SAYS 1,200 IT IS REALLY MORE LIKE 3,000
AND THE REAL VICTIMS ARE THE FAMILIES LEFT BEHIND THE SCARE NEVER HEALS THE HORROR NEVER GOES AWAY
WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO GET - WHY ARE PEOPLE SO CAVALIER ABOUT THE DEATH ON THE BRIDGE ?
IT IS THE SINGLE MOST DEADLY SPOT ON EARTH YET NO ONE SEEMS TO BE PHASED
IF 3,000 PEOPLE WERE KILLED ON A ONE MILE STRECH OF ROAD ANYWHERE THE ROAD WOULD BE REPAIRED
WHY CANT WE FIND A FIX
OH AN BY THE WAY THE MAJORITY DONT DIE FROM IMPACT THEY DROWN IN THEIR OWN BLOOD WITH THE MAJORITY OF THEIR BONES SHATTERED
Rice-A-Roni - the MOST DEADLY SPOT ON EARTH'S treat?
I LIKE TO WRITE IN ALL CAPS TOO!!!!!
It's not like the bridge just kills random passers-by out of the blue.
The Bridge provides unfettered access to death. Because the rails are so low and access so great death occurs just about every ten days.
The act of suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Most that have survived any suicide attempt once they regain control of their mental capacities never try again.
The access provided by the Bridge Officials is irresponsible and I believe criminal. Ignoring the problem ( TEAMAWSOME ) is almost as criminal.
Think about the 3,000 families that wish they could express themselves I can assure you that ALL CAPS would be the least they would do...
Your response typifies the ignorance surrounding death at the Bridge. Rather than look at this as a very serious problem posing a significant threat to our society you like so many like you ignore with a callous indifference the horror.
I hope you are never confronted with a condition that compels you to the depths of depression and the rails of the Bridge.
Sham on the Bridge Directorate and sham on the people surrounding the Bridge who look but do not see. I draw a clear parallel to those that saw the spoke billowing out of Auschwitz and turned away.
You have an obligation to stop the deaths but you can obviously turn away and ignore that obligation. The cost is in my opinion your morality.
>> I draw a clear parallel to those that saw the spoke billowing out of Auschwitz and turned away.
wait, what?
AUSCHWITZ?! Fucking AUSCHWITZ?!
are you serious?!?!? Congrats, you just lost your argument.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
FYI Godwin doesn't say anything about winning or losing an argument.
All the same, it's a repulsive comparison.
Your outrage seems pretty believable until the reader remembers that you are talking about a bridge.
A Bridge and a Bridge Directorate that has killed 3,000 people.
My outrage is with people like you who are informed and ignore your moral obligation. It is not just a bridge but it has turned into the number one site in the world for death.
No where in the World is there such a terrible place and people like you look at it and look away.
The Bridge kills because people like you permit it to do so...
My outrage is facile I have seen the remnants of the families left behind. I have been with the families who will forever be devastated,ruined.
All because of the callous indifference exhibited by people, like you, who consider it trivial, who refuse to accept responsibility.
People like you who know that one person almost ever ten days goes to the Bridge and dies and do nothing.
People like you who think it is romantic.
Well, let me take you to the Northern Landing when the hazmat boat brings in the shattered remnants of a person who has drowned in their own blood. Let me take you to the autopsy and show you the lungs filled with sea water. Sea water that rushed in as they screamed for help which never comes.
My outrage is clear and if you think it is because of a bridge you need to step back and look at the consequences of your inaction.
My outrage is due to death at the Bridge which can easily be prevented but is ignored by the Officials who are responsible and the citizens surrounding the Worlds most popular destination of death.
My outrage is with you and the people surrounding the Golden Gate who are indifferent and superior but ignorant and morally bankrupt.
If you don't want to drown in your own blood or end up with your lungs filled with seawater then you shouldn't jump off of bridges.
A few weeks ago I walked across the GGB and didn't jump off even once. How do you explain this?
I think the question is how do you explain the 3,000 that have.
People usually do not jump off the Golden Gate Bridge in their right minds. How do you explain a society that provides an unfettered access to death to a significant number of people that are suffering from various forms of mental illness.
Or do you think that it is ok that they jump - sort of the Hitler view of social Darwinism?
Why dont people jump off the Bay Bridge ?
Because we don't want to drown in our own blood or end up with our lungs filled with seawater. It's pretty simple.
I think if we want to protect everyone who isn't in their right minds from doing stupid stuff then the GGB is pretty far down on the list of places that need fixing.
I rest my case
I am sure that you will rest easy - ignorance is bliss.
Hopefully there will be no day when you are confronted with such a choice. But, no mercy will be wasted when you do because you clearly will reap what you sow.
3,000 have died - have you thought of how many have tried?
And I find it interesting that you can't or won't answer why the Bay Bridge has no such problem.
My view - to be honest - is you should return to the berg that spawned you. Clearly you are not a native. Take a class in ethics if indeed there is such a thing where you are from and return to San Francisco when you have something to offer other than your damaged ethical construct.
Sorry, I missed that question.
People don't jump off the Bay Bridge because the views from the Bay Bridge aren't as nice.
For some perspective, the US has 438,000 deaths each year from cigarettes (and 18,000 homicides).
We should require barriers around cigarettes and homocideists.
saw the pic a few months back on /b/
people don't jump off the Bay Bridge because there is no access
get it no access
which is the solution at the Golden Gate
Limit access
so withak you continue to show just how ignorant you are and thank you for allowing the rest of he world to see why we can not find success in ending death at the Golden Gate.
Ignorance and callous indifference and you have it in spades
and as to cigarettes - my thesis regarding the Golden Gate is that the people that jump are not in their right mind - legally they would be unable to sign a contract they have no ability to make a decision
smoking cigarettes is a choice - and there are barriers most notably price
and as to homocides - I am talking about one place about one mile long. With one person dying every ten days it rivals any place in the world for incidence of death.
Contrast it to Oakland - Richmond - and San Francisco's Bayview combined - they don't come near the death rate.
Limit access like the Bay Bridge and death ends
Limit access like the Bay Bridge and death ends
Actually, no. There's no pedestrian/bike access on the Sunshine Skyway in Florida and there have still been 200 suicides there the last 50 years. And I guarantee you the difference is made up via rope, firearm, razorblade, pill...
ARGUING!
JUDGING!
NAME CALLING!
CAPS LOCK!
THIS BLOG NEEDS TO LIMIT ACCESS, JUST LIKE THE BAY BRIDGE!
Golden Gate
The Bay Bridge has no access
this totally belongs on the fail blog.
the fact that this phone isn't working produces just the right amount of disappointment that would push those people over the edge.
That sign should read:
"Only 50 yards to go - and please make it quick so as to limit the inconvenience to others who choose to live. Step lively and don't look down!"
RobinSF
Hopefully for you or one of your loved ones will not one day will be visited by the depression or illness that overwhelms those that do in fact jump.
But if such a horrible thing does happen
I hope for your sake that there will be a solution in place for you at the Golden Gate that will prohibit you from hurling yourself over the ridiculously low rail.
If not well we will see you in hell.
As someone who has wrestled with the demons of depression his whole life and has stood on overpasses and next to train tracks contemplating if I should let the pain continue, I vehemently defend the right for people to off themselves at will. Life is precious and I am past my personal suicidal tendencies but sometimes the pain is just too much. I hope that that low rail is there if on the day I am so riddled with cancer that I can't take any more and I have made my peace with the world.
And before you speak about the pain that others will feel from the act, know that in my opinion, being saddened by loosing a loved one is selfish and pointless. Everyone dies. If you feel you didn't spend your time wisely with someone, it's your own fault. I tell everyone close to me how I feel about them all the time because life is short and you never know when MUNI might plow you down.
You want to spend money on babyproofing a bridge? I think that money should go to mental health services.
Allow me to begin with a well considered "bite me."
People who want to kill themselves are going to kill themselves somehow, someway, somewhere at sometime. You want to make the world safe for anyone who at any point might decide to off themselves? Let's just wrap them in a big fluffy bubble, hide all the pointy objects, stop all the trains, get rid of all the poisons and pass a law preventing people from holding their breath.
Damned fool.
ROBINSF
A more infantile response could not be conjured - really bite me ? But considering your post I am sure that you struggled to find that one...
Go home - take your uninformed bias with you. Death at the Golden Gate - one every ten days is an egregious
problem. The unfettered access to death has claimed over 3,000 people.
Your argument like you is childish. Following the ethics of your comment should we then just leave loaded guns in psychiatric wards ?
No you are the fool and one day your foolishness will rise up and bite you.
Go back to the berg from whence you came and despoil your birthplace with your bile. Take phlavor with you and do the City a favor...
I propose the signs currently on the bridge be replaced with ones that say "WARNING: UNFETTERED ACCESS TO DEATH AHEAD".
And then, I'd have to name my new band "Unfettered Access to Death".
By your reasoning we should also build massive walls around all of the train tracks because suicidal people have taken to diving in front of trains lately. We should also put big safety nets on both sides of those massive walls in the event that someone trying to scale the wall and commit suicide falls off it. Lastly, we should make trains out of sponge and cotton balls so if they do get over the massive wall and past the safety nets that the train won't hurt so much.
If you spent as much time working on getting suicidal people the treatment they need and lost your hard on for the bridge, you might effect some meaningful change.
If someone is suicidal and jumps off the bridge into a net, they are going to crawl out of the net and continue on their way. How many nets do you want to hang off the bridge?
Your argument is invalid.
If someone is going to kill themselves, nothing is going to stop them. It is no sign of normalcy to be well-adjusted to a sick society - tackle the real problems that cause this act instead of trying to dictate to people how to live or end their lives. Everyone has the right to live or die the way they want to.
I like the idea of an 'unfettered access to death' sign.
No one talks about how comforting the bridge is to those born with a darker or sadder view,
Because it is *always* there, we can put off offing ourselves to a later time - when its more convenient, when we've really hit bottom (because this might not be the absolute bottom since how can one be sure), when it's a nicer day or less windy, when the born and raised have pushed us to the absolute limit with their smugliness, etc.
honest to god or whomever you may choose to believe in or not, it's a deterrent as it is without a barrier!
Has anyone mentioned that this is a really old photo? It's been floating around for at least a year, if not longer.
Whether someone has the right to end his/her life is one debate, but saying access is irrelevant is simply untrue:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html?pagewanted=all
Of course access to whatever means is relevant to any suicide; the question is, to what end do we attempt to cut off that access in general society and how?