Man Laid Off & Commits Suicide

This isn't the city with elders running around with 800k salaries, is it? If so, I'm with you.

If not, then it's sad, but particularly unusual?

Actually, that's the city of Bell.

Costa Mesa is south of there. However, Fnord is correct in noting that city employees have been vilified as greedy and worthless. That's been going on for a couple of years now throughout the LA Basin.

Yeah, it's a bit unusual. Most folks think about suicide when they lose a job, but very few actually do it.
 
He killed himself because of what we are ALL going through!

It is not normal to kill yourself only because you lose your job! People are killing themselve or going out and killing others because they are feeling an intense build-up of stress.

There is a reason for that stress build-up. We are evolved through millions of years as small-group primates. That is, we only feel secure in and feel compassion for a small number of people. Language-based ideologies made it possible for us to bond into much larger groups beginning about 40,000 years ago.

The move was not entirely successful, however. Always, human nature finally broke up these ideolgocal systems into smaller sect-led groups and the splintering of the ideology resulted in social problems and the breakdown, ultimately, of government. You may have noticed how the civilizations of history have risen and fallen in cycles.

The problem is that all our ideolgoies are now hopelessly divided, so much so it is increasingly difficult to get cooperation on needed world solutions. Even the so-called "united front against Kaddafi" was voted on in the UN Security Council in which all of Islam itself is without veto power. The vote was US-led Western. We really do not even have the Arab League behind us.

We need cooperation on nuclear disarmament, global carbon emissions, saving species, and birth control limitations on population growth.

About a decade ago, a scientist wrote a treatise on "The End of History" because it was thought that the end of the Soviet system heralded the final chapter of the long "stuggle of the human race for democracy" and that it was about to be achieved world wide! Well, it isn't, can't and won't. The idealism or over-idealism has faded to realism. The majority of people now accept that our civilization is in decline.

The upshot of all this is that the stress level is rising and will continue to rise until we slip into the next phase.

I am working on what that might be and envite others to join in . . .
 
Because jumping off the roof was the only possible way in which he could have committed suicide?
No, but it's common knowledge that when you hinder people from committing suicide in "obvious", "easy" ways, suicide rates go down. The idea that suicidal people will find a way, regardless of what deterrents you put up, is a myth.
 
Actually, I have to assume that homicide should have been on his mind. Of course, the problem is that so many people do not logically calculate who is responsible for the removal,firing and if they homicide they just kill randomly - totally stupid. If you are going to go, clearly id your targets based on their responsibility for the decision. Shooting the typist or receptionist is idiotic and makes you look like any other nutjob shooter. Get the guilty......
 
> I think that the members of the Costa Mesa City Council should be collectively indicted for murder. Their names can be found on the Costa Mesa website.

I'm baffled by this. Is it intended to be hyperbole or are you serious?

The man who jumped is the one who is responsible for his death, in exactly the same way he would have been had he jumped after breaking up with his girlfriend. Surely you wouldn't be calling for her indictment in that situation. People are responsible for their own actions.
 
I'm baffled by this. Is it intended to be hyperbole or are you serious?

The man who jumped is the one who is responsible for his death, in exactly the same way he would have been had he jumped after breaking up with his girlfriend. Surely you wouldn't be calling for her indictment in that situation. People are responsible for their own actions.

What he said, if the reports on the case accurate.
 
Homicide, maybe...
However, I have been laid off (from high-paying jobs) more than once, and suicide never crossed my mind.
Nor do I know of anyone else in the same situation who harbored such thoughts.

Indeed. Every time I've lost a job, my first thought is "better get to the jobcentre."
 
In America your job is your lifeline to health care (if your lucky) and when you loose that you loose your health care. If you have medical conditions and or debts, they can often preclude you getting a new job. When unemployment is high and jobs scarce, suicide can seem an attractive option.
 
Why would suicide go through your head? I'm curious?

Failure, money worries, that sort of thing.

I've learned to stop being such of a worry-wart about money -- any problem that can be fixed with a money cannon pointed at people to make them go away isn't really a problem.

I recall a concentration camp survivor talking about how people worried about their debts all out of proportion -- he said compared to what he went through, debt was not something to worry and fret about, so he had no problems taking out a house loan or whatever. Debt isn't a real problem. Governments rounding you up and killing you is a real problem.

Hell is other people. Most leave when the money canon is pointed at them.
 
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Indeed. Every time I've lost a job, my first thought is "better get to the jobcentre."

Really? My first thought in that situation is "hell with it, I'm going to get laid tonight and worry about another job tomorrow."
 
> Link to Story <

A City of Costa Mesa (California) worker lept from the roof of City Hall minutes after receiving his pink slip. The employee - who had been at home with a broken ankle and who was not supposed to work today - was called in about 2:30 p.m. to receive his layoff notice.

I think that the members of the Costa Mesa City Council should be collectively indicted for murder. Their names can be found on the Costa Mesa website.

Did he break his ankle jumping off the roof on a previous occasion?

Also, IANAL, but doesn't a charge of murder require a motive, a.k.a. "malice aforethought"?
 
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More Developments

The part where the Mayor was out partying while his staff did his dirty work reveals his especially cold-hearted attitude towards the people he once called his "family".

The mayor and the city council should resign to make room for leaders who actually care about the people that work for them.

The link says nothing about the mayor being "out partying". Did you make that up?
 

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