I just posted my Tuesday poem "An Anonymous Suicide Baiting Death"
1-15-13
By Kathie Yount,
suicide baiting prevention activist
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mooncricketfilms/4363792831/in/photostream/page2/
News
The police officers reach Dylan's door. It is locked and they can't get in. In his last moments, Dylan's only contact with the world comes in the form of shouts from those strangers. "Jump! ... Idiot! ... Just do it! ... Stupid motherfucker!"
Dylan sees a mass of tormentors. But not all of those strangers are cruel. Most are scared and concerned and sympathetic. They communicate as much in their tweets. But Dylan doesn't know this. All he hears are the taunts and the laughter, that most primal and vulgar sort of human communication. If more spectators had told him "Don't do it!" he might have been saved.
Photos courtesy of Kathie Yount
“I believe he wanted somebody to help him,” says Dylan’s mother, KathieYount. “He was looking in the crowd.”
Photos courtesy of Kathie Yount
Related Content
More About
Or it might not have changed a thing.
He looks down at the faces. Maybe he sees the crowd getting bigger. Maybe he understands they are all watching him, waiting.
A crowd has gathered around the breakdancers. It's a little past 2 p.m. on a sunny day in the city. Market Street is bustling. There are families taking pictures in front of the cable car turnaround, couples holding hands as they stroll down the sidewalk, teenagers on metal chairs by the BART station eating Carl's Jr. burgers, and bystanders watching a camera crew film a commercial.
A boombox fills the air with hip-hop. The dancers are turfing, that free-flowing Oakland-born style of gliding footwork, popping and locking. Storytelling through movement. The spectators bob their heads and tap their toes. One teenage boy records the performance with his iPhone.
During a break in the action, a man emerges from the crowd and approaches the dancers. He's barefoot. He asks if they can spare a cigarette. He speaks in a soft, almost shy voice. A homeless guy, they assume. Someone plucks out a cigarette and hands it to him. The man borrows a lighter and takes a deep drag. He is calm and looks harmless. The dancers go about their business.
The man finishes the cigarette. He flicks the butt away. Then he peels off his T-shirt and jeans, and drops them beside a vendor's table. He draws little attention as he undresses. It is an unspectacular sight in a city like this, where eyes are trained to look away and ears are plugged by buds. The dancers turn on the music. The crowd grows.
In nothing but blue boxer shorts, the man walks away, disappearing among the passing faces.
31 comments
1 Like
Just as Beto Lopez found himself saved by a timely gust of wind, so
Dylan Yount found himself damned by a particular configuration of a
crowd of people. Our lives hang by such absurdly narrow threads, it's
amazing more people don't go mad through the sheer arbitrariness of it
all. Perhaps if he'd come out just a few minutes later the composition of the passers-by would have been different. Perhaps not.
For those of you interested in knowing how you can prevent a suicide baiting, you can visit a new FB page "Support Suicide Baiting Prevention Awareness" at
I just posted "Social Psychology"
By Kathie Yount,
suicide baiting prevention activist
at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mooncricketfilms/4363792831/in/photostream/page2/
These are the sort of posers who have displaced the truly cool people of SF, they are heartless scum whose parents really should have sought out abortions. May they all be shown as much compassion as they demonstrated here,.
1 Like
Another absolutely amazing piece, "Suicide Baiting Victim," is posted at The invisible gardener. Like Albert Samaha, another author effectively links past and present information together to show how suicide baiting can be prevented. It is posted at http://exploringphilosophy.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/suicide-baiting-victim/
1 Like
Shortly after Dylan's death, I blogged about the scene at "Suicide Prevention News and Comment" (see "One Man’s Death Offers Insight into Humanity and Suicide" at http://suicidepreventioncommunity.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/one-mans-death-offers-insight-into-humanity-and-suicide/), reminding readers that suicide affects "a very precious human being … He (or she) has a family and friends and loved ones who deserve our respect and our compassion and our understanding and our support." Anyone who is affected by the suicide of a loved one, friend, or colleague can find helpful information and resources through the Suicide Grief Support Quick Reference at http://sg.sg/griefreference.
1 Like
R.I.P., Dylan. You lived, and you touched others in a good way. In your heartfelt interactions with others, even in the smallest ways, you impacted their lives; thus, they live, changed for the better - even in the smallest ways - because you lived. And, in this way, you live on.
Also, my condolences to all who knew Dylan, and who will miss him. Remember him in ways that help you, help his memory, and help others.
1 Like
California Penal Code Section 401 states, "Every person who deliberately aids, or advises, or encourages another to commit suicide, is guilty of a felony." There should be many videos from the scene. Find them, identify people who screamed "Jump!" and lock them up. Please!
1 Like
Really good piece. Thanks for this, empathy is always a public service. Props to the graphic designer, too.
4 Like
I'm here, listening...I'm so proud of you Kathy for your strength and courage. It's a very sad world we live in, the day people no longer value the life of another human being. Thank you for keeping that love alive for future generations.
1 Like
Extreme version of neo-yuppie torpor... 'cosmic boredom' or existential nausea.
His childhood nurturing sounds eerily like Adam Lanza's..
4 Like
@randolph.fleming You didn't know Dylan and you have no idea what you're talking about. Talking out of your ass, and it stinks. How dare you pass judgment so callously? Where's you're humanity?
1 Like
@randolph.fleming @mathomas2 For those wanting to read the blog post I wrote about witnessing Dylan's suicide:
I included a link to it in an earlier comment, but SF Weekly apparently doesn't allow people to post URLs. You can find the post at my blog. Just Google "AnimalRighter" and when you get there type "Dylan" into the Search box.
Happy New Year!
@mathomas2 " Just the facts ma'am..Just the facts." ( Jack Webb / Dragnet ) As a former Navy Hospital Corpsman , part of my job description was to give aid and support to people in times of crisis.. You've seen this whole event through the lense of your own ' class bias / consciousness'.. Where's your humanity when you ' bid up ' the rents on studio apartments , here in the city , when you're actually working in Mountain View ?! No prize on this round , Lance...
1 Like
I am Kathie Yount, mother of Dylan Yount. Would you please have the decency to quit posting on this page?
@vylliki @randolph.fleming This page is one big 'Mutual Admiration Society' for Gen-X , twenty nothing trainspotters and Tenderloin nonprofit navel gazers...Oh , and you're all 'adopted'!
5 Like
@randolph.fleming Considering your response, you appear to be mentally ill, and I did not realize that before.
You truly need to get whatever mental health treatment is available to you. I do, honestly and with my whole heart, hope that you get the help you need.
Suicide is serious. Death is serious. So is mental illness. With all sincerity, I wish you the best. Peace.
3 Like
@randolph.fleming So you were a Navy corpsman big deal, I did three tours in Iraq. Your Navy service doesn't keep you from coming across like a real scumbag.
1 Like
@randolph.fleming you really don't know anything about anything because the person you are talking to, mathomas2, does a lot to serve humanity, but just not in the way of war and death. I know there are trolls like you out there that just comment on articles just to stir up other commenters, but please just shut up before you twist the daggers in already a deep wound.
3 Like
@randolph.fleming @mathomas2 I was there, at Forever 21, when Dylan died (%%s). I heard the people taunting him to jump and laughing as he lay on the ground in a pool of his own blood.
I have spoken with his mother and became friends with one of his close friends from work. Several people who personally knew Dylan, and many who witnessed his suicide, commented on my blog post.
So what if you're a former Navy Hospital Corpsman? You didn't know Dylan. I know people who did. What "facts" do you have to support your judgments in this case? NONE. All you have are suppositions and accusations that I've supposedly "seen this whole event through the lense (sic) of (my) own 'class bias / consciousness.'" You don't even know me. So don't tell me how I'm seeing this.
Your comment remains distasteful, disrespectful and misinformed. And the fact that you think this is about winning a "prize in this round" seems self-centered. This isn't a contest and this isn't about you. This is about a man's life, and death, and showing some respect for him and those who cared about him.
1 Like
Judging from your heartless speculation I would imagine that you would have been one of the one's yelling for him to jump.
2 Like
Wow. This is an amazing, and heartbreaking, story. I wish it hadn't needed to have been written, but appreciate the care and effort that went into it.
2012 - People & Places
Browse Voice Nation
-
Voice Places
Find everything you're looking for in your city
-
Happy Hour App
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
-
Daily Deals
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
-
Best Of...
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city
Join
Log In
- Profile
- Newsletters
- Mobile
- Logout
-
Publishing:
ONOFF
