DW_a_mom wrote:
Ethically, I don’t think it matters. The school was a toxic environment and had no apparent interest in changing.
Legally, it’s a civil case that will be looking for a preponderance of evidence, and can allow fault to lie with the school if it is deemed to have a been a contributing factor. I don’t think they will have to prove it was “the” factor.
Legally is one thing, but I actually think the ethics are strongly in my favor here, the school can absolutely have been a racist hellhole, and still not have actually been the cause of the suicide. This is actually one of my personal bugaboos, suicide is such a complex topic that often doesn't make "sense" as suicidal people are not making a rational decision, so attempting to point to what caused it without dispositive proof such as a note is not only a fool's errand, but also often incredibly inflammatory, especially when bullying is potentially involved, as that subject is so triggering for people that it often sets off a sort of rage spiral in the people engaging in the speculation. To name a few high profile examples, I remember when that young man threw himself off a bridge after his roommate surreptitiously recorded him having sex, and the internet was on fire with people wanting the roommate locked up, without any evidence that the tape was the actual cause of the suicide and the rage when there was no legal way to accomplish that, the people who still blame Courtney Love for Kurt Cobain's suicide, or in my own case, my suspicion that a bad public breakup was what caused Tony Bourdain to hang himself a few years back. In none of those cases is there any way to prove what the actual catalyst was, and it might have been something completely different than what people, including me, might think, and so I find it to be a bit irresponsible to speak so certainly about it when a high profile suicide happens.
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“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson
Last edited by Dox47 on 12 Nov 2021, 2:55 am, edited 1 time in total.