Immediately after the news of Robin Williams broke, Matt Walsh, a very popular blogger, wrote an article about suicide being a choice. I read the article and while I didn't feel as if he was wrong in a literal sense because suicide
is inflicted on oneself
literally, I left feeling like there was a disconnect and that he was a little cold. Although he said that there is always hope, I still felt as if he was missing something. Well, I wasn't the only one. He has just been thrust into the limelight because of the things he said because people either didn't agree with what he said, didn't agree with how he said it, they felt as if the timing was tacky, or all three. The reason his article rubbed me the wrong way is because he seems to miss the idea that someone suffering from mental anguish isn't in the right frame of mind, therefore, one might ask
is it really that person making the choice? I understood some of his points. His fear is that the media was delivering the message to depressed people that suicide is ok, that it's something that just happens to you. Disney's
"Genie, you're free" message was disturbing to him. I get that. But I feel like he completely disregards the brain as an organ and dismisses the idea that signals can misfire, which seems so ignorant to me. Walsh says that mental illness isn't like cancer and other diseases because no one chooses to die from cancer, but I disagree in the sense that no one chooses to struggle with bipolar and depression as well. Most people aren't diagnosed with cancer and choose
only to pray, ignoring the advice of doctors to undergo surgery or chemo, but they will combine both prayer with medical treatment. Mental illness should be treated the same way. He did not state this in the first article, but he did in the second. It wasn't just his articles, but the things he tweeted seemed insensitive. He seemed to be mocking chemical imbalances as if they were "an excuse".
Here is the first article if you choose to read it yourself:
http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/08/12/robin-williams-didnt-die-disease-died-choice/
Yesterday he posted a "retraction" without seeming to retract anything at all.
http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/08/13/depression-isnt-choice-suicide-response-critics/
He clarified things but I felt as if he was more defensive and really didn't seem to grasp that he had broken one huge rule as a writer: YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR MESSAGE. He even made claims that people "must not have read the whole thing." Well I responded to that on Facebook because it pissed me off:
How arrogant are you to assume that someone who disagrees with you just didn't read what you wrote? You either made a mistake and said something that is in the opinion of others, stupid, or you didn't write it very well if that's not what you meant. He claims to have been tearing up and emotional while writing the first post. If this is true, then he needs to work on his craft because many people didn't feel it.
Matt Walsh has a tendency to minimalize and simplify complex issues and this makes him appear to me to be either arrogant or just stupid. I read his blog and agree with some of the things he says. I even admire the fact that he tells it as he sees it because this is not easy to do. I know how this feels and I don't have NEAR the following that he has. I can only imagine how hard it is, unless he is like many people who sell-out and say things just for a reaction and in that case, it isn't hard at all. But in the end, anyone who pronounces himself as a writer, a blogger and a
"professional sayer of truths" is probably going to make me uncomfortable. Really, Matt Walsh? You're a professional sayer of truths? You don't say. Says who? God? Your wife? Your dog?
Rather than focus on what he said about Robin Williams, I am mainly writing this to get one message across....there is a lot to the truth and there is a lot that we as human beings do not understand. Unless you have been holding a gun in your hand and had it up to your head, no, you don't know. Unless you have been in
any situation, you don't really know. Matt Walsh is so offended that people said he doesn't understand, so my question is
"Have you ever had a gun up to your head, Matt Walsh?" No. He hasn't. Neither have I, but at least I don't try to pretend that I know how that feels. Many readers felt like he tried to compare his own trials to a man so sick and low that he is about to hang himself. No one can measure suffering he says, and how dare us for saying we know about his own suffering....ok, well if this is true and you can't measure it, then can you see how you made others feel by assuming to know about suicide? You're right, Matt. You can't compare it. Don't try. Just don't.
There are 4 mistakes you can make as a blogger assuming you are not an attention-whore nor a sensationalistic drop in the pan looking for 15 minutes and here is where he screwed up....
- Don't be mad at others when you didn't say it right. If I say something, I have to take responsibility and if I have a huge backlash for it, well, then I either said it wrong or many think that I am wrong. Don't bitch and moan about it.
- Don't retract your statements without retracting a thing. He really should have stopped. I read the second article and he still didn't seem to get it. If you are going to bother going into more detail the second time, why didn't you the first? Because you had no idea that you were being a tool. That's why. You backpedaled on a stationary bike.
- Don't isolate your readers by accusing them of "not reading it". I mean, what are you, five years old? Come on, now.
- Agree to disagree. If you are only wanting readers who will agree with you and help you sleep at night, well, so be it. That seems pompous to me and it's not why I write. If you are a writer, an artist, a person who writes not only to share your thoughts with the rest of the world, your goal is also to learn from others.....not to be right. How can you grow when you already have all of the answers? I surely don't. And I appreciate what I can learn from my readers.
Lastly, here is my main issue with people who can't listen to anyone else...they scare the crap out of me. I also don't have a lot of respect for them. In my opinion, they are afraid of themselves and therefore, they have to claim over and over that they are standing on firm ground. If your ground is so firm, then why can't you listen to others? Don't you trust your faith and yourself enough to not be swayed? Extremists or people who reside on one side of the spectrum, to me, seem like they're one flick away from being catapulted to the other side of the spectrum. If your goal is to help others, how are you going to help them while being so far removed? You will never win your battles being so far one way because you isolate those who you want to win over. You can't even beat them in an argument because you have no idea what issues they will bring up. Why? Because you don't listen. I have a grandmother who was "Christian" to an extreme that was disturbing to me even as a child. She is now a Jew. I guess you could say that left an impression on me.
We should never assume to know what God is thinking. It really seems like a bad idea. Love thy neighbor, do not judge and everything in moderation...even your views.
