Chester Bennington kills himself

[TSwizzle]

This one surprised me. I've heard him on KROQ quite a few times and he was always very positive and upbeat. he has six kids too, what a mess.

Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington has died aged 41, LA County Coroner says. The coroner said Bennington apparently hanged himself. His body was found at a private home in the county at 09:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Thursday. Bennington was said to be close to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell, who took his own life in May.

BBC

 

[ZiprHead]

When the DJ announced it on the radio yesterday, she said CB was a very good friend of Chris Cornell's and that yesterday was Cornell's birthday.

She then implored her audience to please seek help if thinking about suicide.

 

[prideandfall]

She then implored her audience to please seek help if thinking about suicide.

"don't try and do this alone, seek help.... always use the buddy system when committing suicide so you have someone there to help snap your neck if you drop wrong, otherwise you might botch it and live"
heh

anyways my theory is that he woke up and realized that he's the lead singer of linkin park - that would be enough to drive any sane person to suicide.

 

[rousseau]

This one surprised me. I've heard him on KROQ quite a few times and he was always very positive and upbeat. he has six kids too, what a mess.

Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington has died aged 41, LA County Coroner says. The coroner said Bennington apparently hanged himself. His body was found at a private home in the county at 09:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Thursday. Bennington was said to be close to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell, who took his own life in May.

BBC

Quite easy to be positive and upbeat and still be depressed. We'd term such people a 'functional depressive'.

The fact of the matter is a lot of people are great at putting on a show and getting by fine, while they're self destructing inside.

When the DJ announced it on the radio yesterday, she said CB was a very good friend of Chris Cornell's and that yesterday was Cornell's birthday.

She then implored her audience to please seek help if thinking about suicide.

If only more people would take it seriously when their friends and family showed warning signs, or even attempted to look for them. I've literally told family members I was depressed at one point in my life, and been brushed aside as if I hadn't said anything.

The problem is that, even if ideally we promote sharing of emotion, in practice we don't. Be strong or fuck you, you're no use to me.

 

[ZiprHead]

If only more people would take it seriously when their friends and family showed warning signs, or even attempted to look for them. I've literally told family members I was depressed at one point in my life, and been brushed aside as if I hadn't said anything.

The problem is that, even if ideally we promote sharing of emotion, in practice we don't. Be strong or fuck you, you're no use to me.

Never paid much attention to Linkin Park, didn't like their music. However, from listening to Cornell's lyrics, he was one seriously fucked up dude.

 

[Derec]

She then implored her audience to please seek help if thinking about suicide.

"don't try and do this alone, seek help.... always use the buddy system when committing suicide so you have someone there to help snap your neck if you drop wrong, otherwise you might botch it and live"
heh

anyways my theory is that he woke up and realized that he's the lead singer of linkin park - that would be enough to drive any sane person to suicide.

Oh come on. It's not like they're Nickleback.

 

[Toni]

This one surprised me. I've heard him on KROQ quite a few times and he was always very positive and upbeat. he has six kids too, what a mess.



BBC

Quite easy to be positive and upbeat and still be depressed. We'd term such people a 'functional depressive'.

The fact of the matter is a lot of people are great at putting on a show and getting by fine, while they're self destructing inside.

When the DJ announced it on the radio yesterday, she said CB was a very good friend of Chris Cornell's and that yesterday was Cornell's birthday.

She then implored her audience to please seek help if thinking about suicide.

If only more people would take it seriously when their friends and family showed warning signs, or even attempted to look for them. I've literally told family members I was depressed at one point in my life, and been brushed aside as if I hadn't said anything.

The problem is that, even if ideally we promote sharing of emotion, in practice we don't. Be strong or fuck you, you're no use to me.

Yeah, but the be strong or fuck you is at least sometimes really denial of the fact that people honestly do not know how to help when someone they care about is depressed.

Offered as an explanation, not as an excuse.

And, FWIW, having played endless rounds of "Yes, but.." with more people than I can number who were struggling with depression, it can be really, really hard to talk to or listen to people who are too depressed to be able to recognize, much less reach for the help or ear or sympathy or affection being offered. The not depressed person also has feelings and may not know how to handle his or her own very well. And may well be struggling with his or her own depression....So, it's not just denial or fear or a feeling of helplessness in the face of someone else's hopelessness. It's also fear of being sucked in, fear of saying the wrong thing, of getting sucked in deep when you don't feel equipped to help or when you really just think of it as a passing acquaintance, not a deep friendship/relationship.

That said---it's really genuinely very brave to be able to say out loud that you are depressed. Not everyone has the courage or the self awareness. Or strength. Good for you that you were able to do that.

 

[sharon45]

That said---it's really genuinely very brave to be able to say out loud that you are depressed. Not everyone has the courage or the self awareness. Or strength. Good for you that you were able to do that.

Yet many can still cowardly saturate themselves in the nasty mire, and milk it for pitiless rewards.

 

[Underseer]

Say what you will about Linkin Park (I have a few of their songs in my MP3 collection), but they introduced a fair number of African-American kids to rock 'n roll:

http://afropunk.com/2017/07/linkin-park-black-kids-hard-rock/

 

[Shake]

To me, this is sad whether you were a fan or not. Another person lost to us, another one who thought there was no other solution.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I'm starting to think many artists suffer from mental health problems. But that might just be me.

 

[bilby]

I'm starting to think many artists suffer from mental health problems. But that might just be me.

Many humans suffer from mental health problems; if they are successful artists, then you have probably heard of them, and if they commit suicide, it likely makes the news.

If a chartered accountant kills himself, it's unlikely to even get a column inch in his local newspaper.

 

[sharon45]

Say what you will about Linkin Park (I have a few of their songs in my MP3 collection), but they introduced a fair number of African-American kids to rock 'n roll:

Art has no problems with race, it is available to all.

 

[sharon45]

To me, this is sad whether you were a fan or not. Another person lost to us, another one who thought there was no other solution.

We do not have the privilege of actually knowing what he thought.

 

[rousseau]

Quite easy to be positive and upbeat and still be depressed. We'd term such people a 'functional depressive'.

The fact of the matter is a lot of people are great at putting on a show and getting by fine, while they're self destructing inside.

When the DJ announced it on the radio yesterday, she said CB was a very good friend of Chris Cornell's and that yesterday was Cornell's birthday.

She then implored her audience to please seek help if thinking about suicide.

If only more people would take it seriously when their friends and family showed warning signs, or even attempted to look for them. I've literally told family members I was depressed at one point in my life, and been brushed aside as if I hadn't said anything.

The problem is that, even if ideally we promote sharing of emotion, in practice we don't. Be strong or fuck you, you're no use to me.

Yeah, but the be strong or fuck you is at least sometimes really denial of the fact that people honestly do not know how to help when someone they care about is depressed.

Offered as an explanation, not as an excuse.

And, FWIW, having played endless rounds of "Yes, but.." with more people than I can number who were struggling with depression, it can be really, really hard to talk to or listen to people who are too depressed to be able to recognize, much less reach for the help or ear or sympathy or affection being offered. The not depressed person also has feelings and may not know how to handle his or her own very well. And may well be struggling with his or her own depression....So, it's not just denial or fear or a feeling of helplessness in the face of someone else's hopelessness. It's also fear of being sucked in, fear of saying the wrong thing, of getting sucked in deep when you don't feel equipped to help or when you really just think of it as a passing acquaintance, not a deep friendship/relationship.

That said---it's really genuinely very brave to be able to say out loud that you are depressed. Not everyone has the courage or the self awareness. Or strength. Good for you that you were able to do that.

Sorry for the delayed reply, I saw your post a while back and hadn't gotten around to reading it yet.

I would add that, in my experience as a man, there are very few people who are receptive to opening up about this type of thing. Facebook posts and advertisements about getting rid of male machismo abound, but the essential bias and dynamic is still there. It's akin to platforms for 'taking away the stigma' of mental illness. You can say the words, but the bias still exists. In the same way we don't want to believe that people typically want a 'strong' man, but usually they do. The weakest dudes out there usually end up completely socially outcast and alone, I know a few of them.

And this is why a lot of guys end up holing garbage in their heads for too long until it becomes too much and they end their life. Because they often have no one willing to really listen, where it won't impact the nature of the relationship.

 

[sharon45]

In the same way we don't want to believe that people typically want a 'strong' man, but usually they do. The weakest dudes out there usually end up completely socially outcast and alone, I know a few of them.

Strong and weak are both highly subjective.

 

[Godless Raven]

I didn't know a lot about Chester before this happened. I know a bit of Lincoln Park and I think they are pretty decent. I'm a HUGE fucking fan of Chris Cornell.

I just wanted to say to those who thought Chester seemed like a cheery guy, he'd actually done multiple interviews talking about how music is the only time he's not in a living hell...that living hell being inside his head. How'd he'd been suicidal.

He was badly sexually abused as a young boy, it fucked his head up to the point where he said drugs/alcohol and music were the only thing that prevented him from going to a very dark place.

His last interview:

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pci7xNyCNjk[/YOUTUBE]

I feel bad for the guy.

 

[fast]

I'm starting to think many artists suffer from mental health problems. But that might just be me.

Many humans suffer from mental health problems; if they are successful artists, then you have probably heard of them, and if they commit suicide, it likely makes the news.

If a chartered accountant kills himself, it's unlikely to even get a column inch in his local newspaper.

That was quite persuasive and convincing. It's logical, rational, and a reasonable explanation. There's an air about it: a kind of elevated common sense. That was me being positive.

What bothers me, however, is that it's too nice a fit. Fact is, until I walk through the door of truth, I won't know which story I should buy into. Maybe the success substantially skews the ratio variance between a:b and c:d where a is the number of artists who suffer mental health problems and b is the number of artists; c is the number of non artists who suffer mental health problems and d is the number of non artists. Of course, c is astronomical, but then again so is d, but somehow c could run the risk of being highly overinflated to include mental health problems not relevant to the kind he had in mind when he said what he did.

None of this is to say you're wrong. It's just that if you don't know the details of what would alleviate my concern, then just how much credibility underlies your explanation? Even if you're right, this is a situation where why you are is more important than if you are. I'd be in a mess if some else came along with an equally eloquent yet divergent reason.

 

[another1]

His fans never emailed him a helpline number while they partied to songs like In The End, Waiting For The End, Bleed It Out, Good Goodbye, Nobody Can Save Me, Given Up, Final Masquerade, Nobody's Listening, No Roads Left, In My Remains, I'll Be Gone and Hit The Floor. Nope, they just waited for the end. They appreciate him SO much more now. "Tragically" he has done what he set out to do as an artist. Heck, I may even become a fan, now that he's dead.

Winehouse had a great party song entailing exactly why she would die. Cobain cried for help so entertainingly. Grungy! Like Cornell, who couldn't praise heroin enough, before he went ahead and saved a heroin relapse the trouble of killing him. Cheater. The list goes on and on, and people appreciate these open books more because they are dead. They would be happy to know that, and they DID know that before they croaked. It almost seems kind of vain. I can't decide if I should feel sympathy, respect... or just yawn. Yeah I yawned nvm. Entertainers with material that isn't utterly depressing and boringly foreshadowing are the ones I mourn. Like Robin Williams. I do feel for him. That makes me sad every time I think about it man.

 

[rousseau]

In the same way we don't want to believe that people typically want a 'strong' man, but usually they do. The weakest dudes out there usually end up completely socially outcast and alone, I know a few of them.

Strong and weak are both highly subjective.

I mean weak in a very specific way, which is basically 'lacking the necessary confidence to deal with one's own life'.

In the extreme, when I was in college a few years ago I met a friend who was mildly autistic. Not enough that he would qualify for government support, but enough that he struggled with *everything*. This was a guy who was in serious need of help, but most people around me at the time basically abandoned him at best, or mocked him at worst. I recall talking to him at one point and him explaining that his 'life was hell'.

Basically what I'm saying here is that people are *not* moral actors. If you need help, and someone has no material reason to help you, most won't do it. And if they have a material need for you, and learn you can no longer provide, see you later.