richardt@orstcs.UUCP (richardt) (09/16/85)
Okay, folks, being a gamer and a friend of many people who use, and many who do not use, drugs, Here's my $.02. I agree that drugs and a potential suicide are a bad combination, as are D & D games and a potential suicide. For that matter, the movie "The Wall" (Pink Floyd, if anyone doesn't know) can make someone who is not suicidal but merely a good empath feel that "gee, I wonder what it feels like to hit a concrete floor after a two story fall?" The basic problem is not with drugs, Pink Floyd, or D & D. The problems are with people who are (1) irresponsible in the first place, and (2) who are potentially suicidal anyway. I have known too many (emotional) healers who happened to br responsible drug users, or happened to like Pink Floyd music and movies, or who happened to play D & D to say that any of these will (unassisted) cause a suicide. The catch: All of the above are (in some cases *VERY* real) fantasy trips which are complex enough that a person can become involved with the fantasy and lose touch with reality. What we should encourage is empathy and responsibility and understanding, rather than discouraging anything. I've dealt with enough potential suicides and healers to know that none of these will make a person commit suicide unless they are already leaning in that direction anyway. Also: a comment on fantasy trips and suicide. In a large number of cases, a directed fantasy trip is just what is needed to bring a person *back* from the edge. Unfortunately, drugs (unless you're a Don Juan type) are far too often an undirected fantasy trip. In a potential suicide, drugs simply extend the person's own internal fantasies, which are at that time pointing towards suicide. Thus, an instance of drug usage may push a person over the edge. Responsible drug usage won't, however. BTW, hypnosis is in many cases a highly effective method of directing a fantasy trip which I have had a reasonable amount of success with. orstcs!richardt "The Apparition" Richard Threadgill 104 S 20th <-- SnailMail address soon to be changed Philomath Or 97370 "All of them are in tune, the ones who really love you, walk together outside the wall Some hand in hand, Some gathered together in bands; The bleeding hearts, and the artists Make their stand And when they've given you their all, Some stagger and fall After all, it's not easy, Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall" -Pink Floyd, "The "Wall"
colonel@sunybcs.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) (10/09/85)
["At last! My new gorilla-detector machine! They can't fool me now!"] > I agree that drugs and a potential suicide are a bad combination, as are > D & D games and a potential suicide. But surely a natural combination? If your reality is intolerable, fantasy makes an attractive alternative. Especially if you don't control your real life, D&D lets you make your own decisions and stand or fall by them.