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Meghan McCain tries to help suicidal man, gets mocked for it
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Meghan McCain on the campaign trail with her father John McCain and her mother Cindy
(McCain Blogette)
Meghan McCain, daughter of former presidential candidate John McCain, got involved in a Twitter controversy today, when a man sent her a note that suggested he was suicidal. McCain then tried to find help for the man. The whole situation was then mocked on Wonkette.com, a blog dedicated to political gossip.
The situation unfolded via Twitter while McCain was on a roadtrip in her home state of Arizona. When someone sent her a tweet with the message "please pray for me. SeriousLy please I want death. End it for. Me please. I hate http://myloc.me/enq5," McCain became alarmed. The website link in the tweet was to a map indicating that the person was in Seattle, WA. McCain then posted a note to her own twitter account asking for help: "Twitter I need your help, I don't know if this is real or not but this person @rolson141 just implied they want to kill themselves, I just read this just now. Who can I alert, what should I do? Like I said, I just read this just now, I am freaked out by this twitter message"
She and her publicist ended up contacting the police in Seattle and continued to talk to the man over Twitter. The whole situation was disturbing to McCain, as she continued to share over Twitter: "please pray for him everyone, I am shaking. I don't know the situation but when someone tweets me "they want death", I am going to do something about it."
Perhaps the most upsetting thing about the story is how Wonkette chose to cover it. Instead of noting that she was trying to help someone who was depressed and in danger, they made fun of her. "Behold her nervous illiterate twitters," wrote Ken Layne, a Wonkette writer, "about somebody she doesn’t know who may or may not exist, on the Internet, and perhaps at minimum exists on the other side of the country, typing some sadsack stuff about wanting to die. Teen-agers are hyper-emotional, Meghan, sort of like you..." Certainly, McCain had no idea if the person on the other end of the tweet was really depressed or just seeking attention, but she was legitimately trying to help someone. That deserves respect, not taunting. Yet Layne continued to make fun of her, accusing her of being a second-rate "Bat Man" and of going "progressively more nuts while reading the random twitters of other people."
The person who sent the note to McCain posted some follow-up notes after his communications with her. "[T]here was no prank. Just a person who is confused and lost but lucky to see that people care. I am seeking outpatient trtmnt" he told one person who suggested he had of made it up. "I am fine will be seeking more in depth help later. So embarrassed and sad. I will be fine. Never realized even strangers cared. my friend is taking me to see someone about therapy and medication...again thank you so much..."
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among people 15-24, behind only accidents and homicides. It is the second leading cause of death among college students. On average, a suicide occurs every 17 minutes. When someone is asking for help, it should be taken seriously, not called out for mockery. Making fun of people who try sincerely to help a suicidal person only encourages other people not to help. It also tells people who are asking for help that no one will believe so they should just not bother.
There are plenty of things to tease Meghan McCain about, and she knows she is fair game. And there are probably times when jokes about suicide are actually funny. It wasn't funny this time. Wonkette, grow up.
Source: Wonkette
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Suicide.org
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