beoba

I've been thinking about the people who jumped out of the WTC towers in a tradeoff between painful death by flame and quick death by impact.

Is it considered suicide?

Are these people in xian hell for it, even though they would have died anyway? If no, how is this any different from assisted suicide for terminally ill patients? After all, they are doing the same tradeoff.

winstonjen

Interesting. The site <a href="http://www.peacefulexit.org" target="_blank">www.peacefulexit.org</a>
talks about this, and many other things. What they did by jumping from the WTC was choose between a quick death, rather than a slow, painful one from being burned alive. Also, the survival rate for those that stayed in the towers was under 1%, so I don't really think that anyone can condemn them for jumping.

Amie

I suppose so

I don't believe so

different because the circumstances were different. They must have experienced sudden fear, panic, desperation. Those poor people must have been absolutely terrified...
I certainly can't say what I would have done in their shoes because I can't even begin to imagine how they must have felt at the time.

[ December 04, 2002: Message edited by: Amie ]</p>

beoba

I'm not getting anything from that address, though it might be something on my end..

winstonjen

I've tried it too, it's probably a problem with the site.

Infinity Lover

I don't think those people ended their lives that way because they didn't want to live anymore.

I haven't been to xian hell lately, so I have no idea who's hanging around there lately.

To me, prolonging someone's suffering in such a scenario is just as much playing God, as terminating a life.

Oxymoron

Suicide is wanting to end your life and acting on it. I presume they didn't want to die so I don't think it was suicide: just trading certain death by fire for a tiny chance that maybe they could survive a fall that size (I don't think they were in a good position to estimate their kinetic energy on impact and the trauma that would cause).

I saw a story a couple of weeks back about a guy on an oil rig faced with much the same choice: burn, or jump into the North Sea from hundreds of feet up (the workers had been told never ever to do this under any circumstances). He jumped and survived, but didn't really stop to think about it. Had he done so, he would have been toast.

winstonjen

Why were they told not to jump?

Oxymoron

Hitting the sea from that height, you might as well jump on to concrete. Allegedly.

winstonjen

In other words, the bosses would rather have the employees roast to death.

Sickening.