It’s YOUR fault he killed himself

Rep. Don Young, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was invited to speak to students at a Wasilla, Alaska high school yesterday. After one hour, Wasilla Principal Amy Spargo abruptly ended the meeting.

Just five days before, Wasilla High School students lost a classmate to suicide. But the 81-year old Congressman who has served since 1973 saw fit to blame his audience for their classmate’s death.

A teacher, Carla Swick, asked Rep. Young to tell students what his office is doing to combat Alaska’s high rates of suicide and domestic violence. Alaska Dispatch News reports “Young started talking about suicide, mentioning the role played by alcohol and depression, several witnesses said.”

This was an insensitive, asshole move on the part of Young. His comments do not show him to be compassionate on the subject of suicide. But then I’ve found that politicians on the Right are empathy deficient, so this is no surprise. I do wonder why he was invited to speak in the first place though.

But then, witnesses say, Young said suicide shows a lack of support from friends and family.

That comment stunned students and staff still mourning the loss of a student who died Thursday, staffers say.

“When I heard ‘a lack of support from family’ and I heard ‘a lack of support from friends,’ I felt the oxygen go out of the room, but I gasped as well,” Spargo said. “It just isn’t true in these situations. It’s just such a hurtful thing to say.”

Both Spargo and Swick say a friend of the victim, moved by emotion, shouted at Young, “He had friends. He had support.”

“The kid said, ‘It’s depression — you know, a mental illness,’ ” Spargo recalled. As she remembers, Young replied, “ ‘Well, what, do you just go to the doctor and get diagnosed with suicide?’ ”

“We really spend a lot of time at our school talking about how we treat each other,” Principal Spargo said. “We just don’t talk to people that way.”

Spurge also says Rep. Young chastised her for the student who shouted at him. “That boy needs to learn some respect,” she says she was told.

Oh, poor Rep. Young. He got yelled at. He shouldn’t say such disrespectful, ignorant shit in the first place if he doesn’t want to be criticized. Of course, like many politicians, Young views himself as an authority figure, and those should never be questioned. A lot of politicians (and Americans in general) are authoritarian minded, and don’t handle criticism. Too fucking bad. You get to speak your mind and other people get to criticize you for it. You’re not off-limits from criticism just because you hold public office. In fact, bc of the power you wield, you have made yourself open to a great deal more criticism than the average citizen of this country. If you can’t deal with that, you should step down.

Wasilla junior Zachary Grier “was excited to see Young in person,” ADN reports, after watching his debate with his Democratic opponent, Forrest Dunbar, “and reading media coverage of the event, which included Dunbar’s contention that Young told him not to touch him and saying, ‘The last guy who touched me ended up on the ground dead,’ after the younger man brushed his arm.”

Grier asked Rep. Young about same-sex marriage. “I asked why is it so bad in your eyes?” Grier said.

As Spargo described it, Young answered, “You can’t have marriage with two men. What do you get with two bulls?”

Witnesses say Young then said something about a lot of “bullshazzle” or some word resembling the more familiar obscenity.

Point the first–you can have a marriage between two men. It’s a thing. It’s been happening for over a decade in the United States, and has yet to cause the downfall of civilization.

Point the second–same-sex marriage isn’t just for gay men. Lesbians are also getting married. Like so many homophobes, he doesn’t give any consideration to women. They’re just not that important to him. Homophobia and sexism FTW (where’s the third social ill? Don’t they come in threes).

Point the third–What’s with the comparison of human beings to animals? I’m a conscious agent…a human being with rights. One of those rights is the right to enter into relationships with others as I see fit. Another of those rights is equal protection under the law.  I’m a full citizen of this country and I should have the right to marry another consenting adult if I choose.  Your religious views should have no influence on my decision to get married. Nor should your views influence others’ marriages. Likewise, as an atheist, my non-belief should have no effect on your marriage (and doesn’t).

(via The New Civil Rights Movement)

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It’s YOUR fault he killed himself
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