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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Topic: RIP: Robin Williams
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 08-12-2014 12:58 PM
The Letterman show, as it exists on CBS, may have a lot of things pre-packaged. However, everything that went on in that episode happened live, including the bit at the Guild 50th Street theater. I know they didn't plan on having the Futaba controlled Late Night Crash Cam not work.
The Letterman show started taping a few minutes shy of 5:30pm. By the time Robin Williams' interview segment was underway the mid afternoon showing of Dead Poets Society was indeed letting out. I don't know if NYC theaters still do it, but back then they had hardly any space between shows (In this case the next showing of Dead Poets Society was starting at 6:00pm). The brief space between shows made it pretty easy to sit through a movie twice without having to leave and buy another ticket. Back to the comedy bit, I got a big laugh out of the couple leaving the Dead Poets screening telling the camera Harrison Ford and Sean Connery were awesome. People wouldn't understand that reference today, but Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was playing a few blocks away the Loews Astor Plaza theater. It's possible those people were planted in the theater and they timed everything just right. Nevertheless, the bit took place live.
quote: Steve Matz
Just goes to show you that all the Money,success,etc. in the World and all the materialist things you possess won't make you neccessaryly Happy. Look at Howard Hughes. Had everything in the World but piece of Mind and Happiness;became an utter recluse and died a Lonely Man.
Materialism wasn't Robin Williams' problem, nor did it let him escape his demons. He suffered from both depression and substance abuse addiction. Fatherhood made him sober for a good 20 years, but then the demons creeped back into his life.
Depression is a medical condition. It is not something that goes away by consciously trying to change one's attitude in the hopes of snapping out of it. Most people just survive with it, untreated. If they're lucky they won't have a very severe form of it and have a better shot at just coping with it. Others are in far more desperate need of help. Many people suffering from depression, bipolar disorder or other mental issues will turn to "self medication" via drugs and alcohol.
The United States spends a huge amount of money fighting violent crime. Yet it really goes on the cheap when it comes to fighting mental illness. This country has 3 times the number of suicides than it has homicides. I'm not sure if the majority of homeless people in this country are mentally ill, but I know a lot of them are.
If you have a mental problem, like depression, you're pretty much on your own. Most health insurance policies have laughably bad coverage for mental issues. It costs a shit load of money to see a therapist. Celebrities might be able to afford it. But regular people have a much harder time footing the bill. That gets us back to the whole "living with it" thing or turning to self medication methods of coping.
Right now there's a lot of talk about legalizing marijuana, in part to cut down our nation's massive prison population. I'm fine with states doing that. Unfortunately the United States at some point has to come to grips with its historical problems of addiction. The people who want all sorts of drugs made legal really need to look up just how screwed up and addicted American society was back in the late 1800's. There were valid reasons why things like drug laws and prohibition on alcohol were enacted.
Depending on the year suicide sometimes cracks the top 10 causes of death list here in the United States. The news doesn't report on suicides unless it is a famous figure like Robin Williams involved. Last week here in Lawton a business woman in her early 50's, known by many here, suddenly died. The local news did not go into specifics, making me think she died of a heart attack or something like that. I later learned she parked her car in the garage and let it run until she went asleep for good.
Suicide has a social stigma. Some news agencies may think they'll do more harm than good by reporting it. Unfortunately the lack of coverage has much of this country not realizing suicide and depression is a far bigger problem than they know.
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 08-12-2014 01:07 PM
quote: Richard Hamilton
It sucks that he died, but I won't lose any seep tonight, unless the tv stations keep the story alive for the rest of the week.
What's different about this occasion is Robin Williams was still relatively young and still making good entertainment. It's not the same as if he'd been retired for the past 30 years and half the world thought he was already dead.
At least this time most people who liked Williams were real fans and supporters. It's not like when Michael Jackson died -- the day before he died, most people seemed to think he was a child molesting, pompous-acting, crotch grabbing, money-wasting, drug using, hyperbaric-chamber-sleeping, monkey-pet-having, goofy weirdo diva. Then he died, all the bad stuff was swept away and everyone was instantly an uber-fan and he was the greatest entertainer who ever lived!!!!
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 08-13-2014 10:25 AM
The wife of one of my closest friends has a very severe form of bipolar disorder. If she is not on a spectrum of medication her doctor keeps adjusting she can go into a manic phase and get little if any sleep at all for several days. Days and nights would be spent on house cleaning marathons, cooking, running errands in the middle of the night and all sorts of other stuff. She would just go and go and go until she crashed. Near the end of the manic phase when her brain is almost cooking itself she would be hallucinating and doing illogical and dangerous things, like putting some non-food objects in the oven and setting it to cook. When she finally crashed she would sleep for long periods and be lethargic when awake. The cycle would go up and down like this without medication.
My friend's wife wasn't like this 10 years ago. She still had bipolar disorder, but the condition was more manageable, even without medication. She was an office manager at a chiropractic clinic doing all sorts of tedious book keeping stuff. When her disorder worsened she was no longer able to concentrate hard enough to do task oriented work. She had to quit. My friend & her had to fight for 3 years to get her on disability.
I'm only bringing up that personal case because there are lots of people who ignorantly think mental health problems like depression and bipolar disorder are excuses to be weak, lazy, do self-destructive things, etc. They act like the person suffering from the condition can merely re-adjust his attitude and snap out of it. If only it were that easy.
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 08-13-2014 11:50 PM
Agreed. I think a lot of people who actually go through with committing suicide are in so much pain they're willing to do anything to make it stop, even if it means death. Some people find themselves in situations they don't see any way to survive.
Some people do act out and use a suicide attempt, or what amounts to a mock suicide attempt as a cry for help -or more selfishly as a manipulative plea for attention. Some of those attempts accidentally succeed, with the crying for help person dying. Obviously, Robin Williams was not in that camp. Unfortunately he really felt like he had to kill himself. He went through with it in a manner where there would be little if any chance for anyone to intervene.
One of my friends in high school killed himself on a September evening after school. He walked a few hundred yards into the woods out of sight from the Lyman Park base housing neighborhood in Quantico, VA. He hanged himself from a tree. I had just started my Junior year. I wasn't a total nerd, but had only a few of what I felt were real friends -friends you could be "uncool" around. He was one of them. It took a long time to get over the hurt and even anger about my friend's death. I learned he tried killing himself before using pills and went through some therapy for it. It wasn't until I went through some really painful life experiences that I felt like I could relate to why he ended it all.
A couple of media personalities made complete ignorant asses of themselves when throwing in their 2¢ about Robin Williams' death. One called him a coward for ending it, but promptly apologized and the apology sounded genuine. Another one turned it into a political football, attaching suicide and depression to a certain political party and ideology -showing he knows as little about mental health issues as he does in how the birth control pill works.
It's just this kind of crap that keeps the stigma alive in having anything less than perfect mental health. Suicide would probably make the top 10 causes of death list more often if it wasn't deliberately kept so hush hush. Suicide is obviously under-reported. Some suicides are ruled accidents either by mistake or for deliberate reasons, like protecting a person's reputation or making sure a life insurance policy pays off.
If anything good can come from Robin Williams' death it would be society getting a lot more serious about treating mental health issues. I'm not very optimistic that's going to happen since well known people have been killing themselves for a very long time. I remember when Freddie Prinze killed himself. He was a talented comedian and the star of the hit TV series Chico and the Man. He shot himself in the head. I was just a little kid at the time, but I remember it being all over the news. The 1970's didn't stop its "LET'S GET HIGH" culture over that.
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