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--- So unexpected... (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=4657)
Posted by Transmute Jun on 11-08-2014 at 23:19:
So unexpected...
https://news.yahoo.com/actor-robin-williams-found-dead-apparent-suicide-sheriff-230233692.html
Just not sure what to say...
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Posted by Redbird on 11-08-2014 at 23:25:
Yeah I just saw this myself. Sad news for sure. Apparently he was struggling with depression for some tome.....
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Playing darts with the Condor's feather shuriken...
Posted by ElectricWhite on 11-08-2014 at 23:36:
So many with comedic talent are cursed with depression. It seems that, the greater the talent, the more powerful the demon is.
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“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Ray Bradbury
Posted by ChrisW on 11-08-2014 at 23:49:
I'd been clinging to hope that this was a hoax. 
Most of the funniest people I've known have issues with depression. Ironically, others are published horror writers.
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Eagle Whisperer
Posted by Springie on 12-08-2014 at 00:21:
Some of the people at the gym were talking about this...so sad...I was hoping it wasn't true, too...RIP...
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Posted by Kritter on 12-08-2014 at 00:49:
This is so sad. He was one of my favorite comedians. He had so much going for him. Guess you never really know what demons people wrestle with. 
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No matter how much cats fight there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
Posted by KT1972 on 15-08-2014 at 12:26:
A great loss indeed, my condolences to his family. may he Rest in Peace.
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Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope. - HELEN KELLER
Posted by ChrisW on 15-08-2014 at 19:13:
Apparently his wife is saying that he had the early stages of Parkinsons ...
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Eagle Whisperer
Posted by ElectricWhite on 15-08-2014 at 19:26:
That's what has been going around. Some have also speculated that he might have been afraid he eventually wouldn't be able to work, since so much of his comedy was physical and he'd begin losing control of his muscles -- even his normal range of facial expressions would decrease greatly. And, around noon, a couple of friends of his family said that he was also sure he'd become a burden to everyone.
It's a shame nobody was able to show him that it didn't have to be that way...
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“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Ray Bradbury
Posted by amethyst on 15-08-2014 at 19:59:
We have all watched how this diseases has affected many celebrities, Muhammed Ali makes rare appearances, Michael J Fox has learned how to work it into his roles and identity as an actor.
However, Robin Williams has conquered much with drug addiction and alcoholism, fought depression, I wonder if this was just that one to many, if his identity was so wrapped up in his comedy that was both verbal and physical, that this was just the one thing that he couldn't fight.
Many sources have been reporting the visit he made to Christpoher Reeve going into surgery after his accident. When we think of Christopher Reeve we don't think of the charming, good looking, actor, we think of the man who spent the last decade or so of his life a quadriplegic in a wheel chair. But Reeve still had his mind. This disease could have stolen that from Williams.
While I wish he had not made the decision that he did, I think he would rather us not remember him as a man who could not be himself in the last years of his life.
We should not condone suicide (though I'll admit to being in favor of euthanasia in the right circumstances), we should do our best to understand where people are when they get that desperate, it is the only way to learn how to help others, and it helps us with the grieving processes.
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Perspective Alters Reality
Posted by ElectricWhite on 15-08-2014 at 20:33:
While Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali are examples of how it's possible to live with Parkinson's, they aren't the be-all and end-all of the progress in the treatment of the disease. For example, there's a law professor at the University of Louisville who has lived with the disease for just over 12 years now. Once they found the right combination of newer medications to use, the progression of the disease has slowed to the point of seeming to have stopped. Outside of walking slower than he once did, it's hard to tell he's suffered any detrimental effects of Parkinson's.
While it's impossible to say if the same treatment would have worked in Robin Williams' case, I don't believe anybody should have entirely written off his future.
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“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Ray Bradbury
Posted by amethyst on 15-08-2014 at 21:25:
EW, I was just trying to understand where he might have been, and that is where my thought process led me. Medicine is making huge advantages in nearly every field, and I'm sure hep could have afforded the best.
I wonder if his latest stint into rehab was triggered by the diagnosis or by the symptoms that lead to the diagnosis. I wonder if the diagnosis was a red-hearing thrown out by his wife to side track people from reveling into even more personal areas. I wonder if it would be best for the press to stop bringing it up very other day.
I do know that watching some disintegrate physically or mentally is one the hardest things we do as people. And that my experiences watching that may have left me more sympathetic to the choices he made, even as I disagree with them.
What we should all do is stop judging him, stop judging each other and see how we can help others more.
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Perspective Alters Reality
Posted by ChrisW on 15-08-2014 at 22:24:
Yeah it's the judging that gets tiresome. People don't know what's going on in someone else's head. Telling someone that being rich and famous should mean they can't be depressed is just cruel as it makes everything worse, and is really more about the speaker's jealousy than anything.
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Eagle Whisperer
Posted by ElectricWhite on 15-08-2014 at 22:59:
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I've got no problem with that, Ame, and I apologize if I came across as being critical about that. I've seen so many give up way too soon and many others come close. And I can understand not wanting to be a burden...but if I'd chosen to end it when I became disabled, my oldest grand-nephew would probably have ended up in jail or dead, since he would have gone back into the "care" of one of his biological parents, who only thought of him as a Welfare check.
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“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Ray Bradbury
Posted by ChrisW on 16-08-2014 at 01:40:
*HUGS* EW ... I'm glad you didn't, I happen to enjoy getting to know you ...
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Eagle Whisperer
Posted by ElectricWhite on 16-08-2014 at 23:00:
Thanks, CW.
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“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Ray Bradbury
Posted by JohngPR on 18-08-2014 at 03:13:
These two pieces have been really great.
Why the funniest people are sometimes the saddest.
and
Norm MacDonald remembering Robin Williams
The last sentence in the first piece really got me.
He's been in so many movies I enjoyed. He'll definitely be missed.
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Hang in there, Gatchaman
Posted by rachel on 18-08-2014 at 16:56:
In past, I(not only me, almost every Koreans around me) did not show no sympathy to those who commit suicide.
Korean media used to report suicide rate of Japanese in ridicule tone. These days Korea has the highest suicide rate in the world, 1of 280 people commit suicide.
Media says 80% of Korean had considered suicide.
When the news of Robbin's death had been released, I found no one who criticized him. It was apparently different atmosphere comparing to the past case. People talked about his movies and thanked him to give us pleasant cinema times, wishing that he would be in heaven resting in peace. Me, too. No one can judge somebody else. Many religions say suicide is the most unforgivable crime, but I think the God would respect their decisions.
Posted by ElectricWhite on 18-08-2014 at 17:06:
In my religious tradition, we are taught not to judge those who have committed suicide because they could have realized their mistake at the last moment, when it was too late for them to stop what they had done.
But it would seem especially wrong to judge Robin Williams harshly, considering all he did (and we're finding out how many more things he did without publicity each day.)
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“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Ray Bradbury
Posted by ChrisW on 18-08-2014 at 18:27:
rachel, I hope that in Korea, his death can be used to start a proper discussion of depression, mood disorders, and suicide.
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Eagle Whisperer
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