From the local school…
Dear Parents & Guardians,
Supporting the mental health and well-being of our students is a priority for all of us as a community. It has come to our attention that some of our middle school students have been talking about and/or watching a popular new Netflix series that presents an inaccurate and graphic portrayal of suicidality. The series, based on a book by Jay Asher, entitled 13 Reasons Why, portrays a high school student who commits suicide after leaving audio recordings for her peers to listen to after her death. The purpose of this letter is to make you aware of this series and the concerns of the suicide prevention experts. We encourage you to have conversations with your child if they have watched this series or have heard about it from friends. Having accurate information and talking points will support your conversation with your child. While all students require support with these discussions, students who may already be vulnerable are at greater emotional risk.
In addition, please be advised, mental health professionals are concerned with the graphic depiction of suicide and sexual assault contained within this series.
——- from the attachments…
On the surface, 13 Reasons Why might come across as a show that discusses mental health, however the issues of mental health or illness are never explored in the show. While a varied number of issues were presented in the show (e.g., sexual assault, sexual orientation, sexting, etc.), for Hannah they seemed to generally manifest themselves as shaming and harassment. The overwhelming message seems to be centered on the oft-cited but misleading narrative that bullying ultimately leads to suicide. The storyline espouses that the simple solution to Hannah’s struggle – indeed the cause of most of her strife – was the unkindness, and in some scenarios, the downright cruelty of her friends. While this is an important theme to explore, causal links between bullying and suicide are simplistic and as such, problematic.
Suicide is not a common response to life’s challenges or adversity.
When you die you do not get to make a movie or talk to people any more. Leaving messages from beyond the grave is a dramatization produced in Hollywood and is not possible in real life.
Hannah’s tapes blame others for her suicide. Suicide is never the fault of survivors of suicide loss. There are resources and support groups for suicide loss survivors.
I think is a good illustration of our culture of victimhood that one can now be a “survivor” as a consequence of someone else’s suicide.
What does a clause like “causal links between bullying and suicide are simplistic and as such, problematic” even mean?
I never thought I would be nostalgic for the days when bureaucratic euphemisms, albeit maliciously dishonest, meant something.