Suicide and Television

The whole world was shocked by the tragedy that took place last Sunday. An American teenager, Charles Bishop, committed a suicide by slamming his plane into a Bank of America skyscraper in Florida. The young man was only 15 years old. In the note that was found in his pocket, Bishop expressed his sympathy with those who carried out the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11.

The police and FBI agents interrogated Bishop’s relatives on Sunday. For the time being, the investigators are checking the information stored on the boy’s home computer. They hope they will find something there that will help them to understand the motives of the action.

The police said that the young man did not show any signs of kind strange behaviour. There was also no information on whether he used any drugs or had psychological problems.

The police are sure that Bishop acted alone and was not connected with any of the well-known terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda. This could be the end of the story, but we would like to draw your attention to one more thing. Adolescent suicide has already become a usual thing; it is not surprising to anyone now, no matter how cynical it sounds. The fact that we mentioned is how Charles Bishop decided to get even with life. He did not shoot himself, did not hang himself, whatever, - he chose the most eccentric way among all possible ones. We should thank CNN and other TV companies, which keep showing the records of the events of September 11, when the WTO twin towers tumbled down. This is about is an issue of how television exerts influence on the psychology of a human being.

Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov