Two days ago, a 33-year-old man by the name of Jodon Romero committed suicide after stealing a car at gunpoint and leading police on a high speed chase through Phoenix, Arizona. FOX News Channel broadcast the suicide on live television, as filmed by a news helicopter owned and operated by KSAZ-TV, the FOX affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona, although KSAZ itself did not televise the suicide live.
Joking about suicide is no laughing matter. I have an autism spectrum disorder known as Asperger's Syndrome, and I was a very violent person in my childhood, in fact, when I was nine years old, I spent two weeks in a mental institution in Terre Haute, Indiana because the elementary school I attended in Westville, Illinois couldn't put up with my behavorial problems. I've had suicidal thoughts so many times in my life that I've lost count, but I've never actually attempted to commit suicide.
I've become a much more normal person since then, obviously.
When someone jokes about suicide, I usually get offended. I'll even admit that I've made jokes about suicide a couple of times, and nobody thought that I was funny.