There's a Suicide Epidemic in Trump Country. Maybe it's time to listen to one another.

Cops are generally big supporters of Trump.
Nationwide, 188 officers died by suicide last year. That's twice the number who have died in the line of duty. This was before the George Floyd protests.
Veterans are generally big supporters of Trump.
In 2017, 6,139 veterans took their own lives. The suicide rate for veterans was 1.5 times the rate of non-veteran adults.
Farmers are generally big supporters of Trump.
Farmers’ suicide rates are nearly four times higher than that of the general population.

Trump Country in general has a higher suicide rate.

Counties where more people died of so-called deaths of despair — from alcohol or drug abuse and suicide — voted more heavily for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, new research shows.

A county-by-county analysis of death rates, causes of death and voting patterns shows that the death rate was nearly 8 percent higher between 2000 and 2015 in counties where Trump won the majority.
...
"It's commonly argued that President Trump won by receiving more votes from people who have been left behind economically — especially older, less-educated, and less-urban, white voters," Goldman said in a statement.

"Based on our data, we can also say that changes in life expectancy were an independent factor in voting choices.”

leading cause of death .png

Americans are suffering and in pain everywhere, and it's gotten much worse since Covid-19 struck. Suicides were going up at an alarming rate in 2019, but the lockdowns and economic collapse pushed the state of mental health for young people in America to unprecedented levels.

One question posed by researchers was whether someone has “seriously considered suicide in the past 30 days”— not fleetingly considered it as a momentary fantasy nor thought about it ever in their lifetime, but seriously considered suicide at least once in the past 30 days. The results are staggering.

For Americans between 18-24 years old, 25.5 percent — just over 1 out of every 4 young Americans — said they had. For the much larger group of Americans ages 25-44, the percentage was somewhat lower but still extremely alarming: 16 percent.
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The alarming CDC data extends far beyond serious suicidal desires. It also found that “40.9% of respondents reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition, including symptoms of anxiety disorder or depressive disorder (30.9%), symptoms of a trauma- and stressor-related disorder (TSRD) related to the pandemic (26.3%), and having started or increased substance use to cope with stress or emotions related to COVID-19 (13.3%).” For the youngest part of the adult population, ages 18-24, significantly more than half (62.9 percent) reported suffering from depressive or anxiety disorders.

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These numbers are beyond sobering.
They describe a sick society on the verge of collapse.
Say what you will about suicide, it remains the most powerful critique of society that one can make.

It isn't just suicides. Deaths of Despair, drug overdoses and alcohol, was at epidemic levels in places like West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

A suicide occurs in the United States roughly once every 12 minutes. Suicides claim two-and-a-half times as many lives in this country as do homicides, and nearly 50-times the number of Americans killed by the police.

If you watch MSNBC or CNN, the cause of this is simple: Republicans are racists.
It's not that they've seen their livelihoods crushed by globalization. It's not that they've been deliberately misinformed by Fox News, and misled by the GOP.
It's not that they have good reasons to be scared and angry and grasping at anything that sounds like a return to sanity and stability.
Nope! It's because Republicans are racists and that is that.
There's no need to trouble yourself with listening to whatever they have to say.

If you watch Fox news, the cause of this is simple: Far-left Democrats hate America and are causing anarchy in order to set up a socialist dictatorship.
It's not that they've seen their livelihoods crushed by globalization. It's not that they've been deliberately misinformed by MSNBC and CNN, and misled by the Democrats.
It's not that young people have good reasons to be scared and angry and are grasping at anything that will shake up the system, a system that views them like a predator views it's prey.
Nope! It's because they hate America and want free stuff.
There's no need to trouble yourself with listening to whatever they have to say.

Men kill themselves around four-and-a-half times the rate that women do.
White men are two-and-half times more likely to kill themselves than black men.
Because 70% of suicides in the U.S. are white men, there's been an amazing level of unsympathetic victim-blaming in the media that would get people fired if the victims were a different demographic. One example is this:

Graham looks almost exclusively at the resiliency factors that contribute to optimism among African Americans. But it is equally, and perhaps more important to examine the lack of resilience among white Americans...
A mentality that sees whiteness under siege and therefore, is unable to adapt to the inevitable changes we are facing, is literally killing white people. As Metzl suggests, “what’s needed is a language to promote different ways of being white.”

White men are killing themselves because they are weak and racist.
Or how about this:

Besides the changing status of white men with no college degree, there’s a problem with how we view masculinity in general. It stands in the way of those who are in trouble, getting the help they need and in fact, it isn’t healthy for men or society as a whole, either. In most cases, men are suffering from an eroded sense of self and identity.

They are trying to fit into a role that’s no longer supported by the real world. One way to overcome this, is to update our definition of masculinity for the 21st century. Another would be to build a more gender neutral society, where everyone is looked upon on an individual basis, despite their gender. Regardless of the path we take, men and society as a whole, must become less rigid regarding It's outlook on masculinity and somehow adopt a more pluralistic view.

White men are killing themselves because they are sexist.

Gee, isn't it great to not have to give a damn about people dying, when they are a certain demographic? What can you do? They're "being too rigid" and "lacking resilience" so let's move on.
Except that victim blaming is just another sign of a sickness in society. It isn't tolerated when the victim is a different demographic, nor should it be. But some myths are still tolerated in the U.S.

So why aren't we getting the full story behind the epidemic of suicides? There are a number of factors, chief among them is the fact that reporting the truth about who's committing suicide would require acknowledging that the contemporary narrative—in which men in general and white men in particular are a universally privileged class and have no legitimate problems—is false.
...
Acknowledging one group's problems should in no way keep us from acknowledging those of any other group. But denying that those problems exist is, once again, a deadly mistake.

The suicide rate is considerably higher with the poor than the wealthy. Plus, the rise in suicides comes at the exact same time as the destruction of the working class.

But let's blame the victims for being racist and sexist instead. It's not like they had any real problems.

It's almost like the politicians and the media want us fighting each other over meaningless symbolic actions (like tearing down statues or posing in kente-cloth), while the ruling elite robs us blind.

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Pricknick's picture

It's almost like the politicians and the media want us fighting each other over meaningless symbolic actions (like tearing down statues or posing in kente-cloth), while the ruling elite robs us blind.

The politicians and the media are siamese twins firmly attached to the asses of the ruling elite.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Raggedy Ann's picture

@Pricknick

It's almost like the politicians and the media want us fighting each other over meaningless symbolic actions (like tearing down statues or posing in kente-cloth), while the ruling elite robs us blind.

There’s no “almost” to it. It IS the intention!

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Cassiodorus's picture

of the Anne Case and Angus Deaton book Depths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism? They seem to be onto a lot of your data as well. One of the things that Case and Deaton also note is that a lot of the suicides are by people without Bachelor's degrees. More ammunition for those who support College for All.

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"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

mimi's picture

because, if you do look at them, you might just get suicidal thoughts. I want to stay alive.

So, looking at individual's life stories might get you all the info you need without getting in the "Suidical Seduction Distraction".

Sigh. gjohnist, what gives you the strength to look at all these data, write an essay with is 'information dripping' about it (kudos for real)... and still be alive? It's a killer. How do you do it?

As for me - I will survive, damnit.
[video:https://youtu.be/Sh3EUvi9b4Y]

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@mimi
I struggled with untreated depression when I was younger. So I have an insight into the situation.
Which is why I get pissed off when some asshole says something about "being weak" or projecting their own biases.
If someone is gotten to the point of being ready to take their own life, then they are far beyond your petty shit. He or she is looking at the whole picture now and finding it wanting.

[edit]
That doesn't sound exactly right. I strongly discourage suicide (obviously!).
I'm just speaking about against those who take the subject so lightly that they can just chalk it up to "privilege".

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mimi's picture

@gjohnsit
Thank God. For Your Strength.

It took me a long time to understand that the so-called dyslexia my son showed the symptoms of as a young child, but that wasn't one (and I knew it but couldn't make therapist to understand that multilingualism in small kids can causes them to become dyslexicc look-alikes). Til today I feel I have caused him harm to have put him through three (if not four) languages, following his father's professional moves around. Too personal to get into that in public.

Later on, the PTSD some people diagonsed him with, after he went through the Iraq war and militrary duties in Korea, he felt the diagnosis was a huge insult on him. He behaved like a traumatized look-alike because of his experiences (betrayal) in the Iraq war, but had all the right reasons to feel that way. It pisses him off til today to be cateogirized as PTSD-ler, some 40, or 17 years later. And it pisses me off the same way.

I wished I hadn't asked my question and feel I have caused you to give an answer you might not have given otherwise in public. I respect you all the more for it.

Thank You for all the data and analysis you provided.

And stay alive, let's dance or sing or eat together. Seems to help some folks ... I mean the ones, who survived the "some folks", Obama said about he and his clan "had tortured".

Those memories now piss me off and I have to do something else. Bye.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@gjohnsit

Take a bravo! from someone else who has spent her life struggling with depression.

This is exactly right:

If someone is gotten to the point of being ready to take their own life, then they are far beyond your petty shit. He or she is looking at the whole picture now and finding it wanting.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

A mentality that sees whiteness under siege and therefore, is unable to adapt to the inevitable changes we are facing, is literally killing white people.

Another example of social Darwinism, directed this time at suicides. Very similar to the ideas put forth in the historical novel The Signature of All Things, which I took apart last week. If you feel like killing yourself it's because you're not adaptive, or "fit." You are "unable to adapt to the inevitable changes. It's not like there could be anything wrong with your society, or anything. How could anything inevitable be wrong? You're what's wrong: you and your inability to get with the program. There, you just proved it by blowing your brains out in despair.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
We could actually listen to what these working class people have to say (i.e. their jobs got shipped overseas, their neighborhoods are being neglected, etc.)
Or we can use IdPol to turn the victims into the "oppressors" and blame them for their own problems, thus we don't have to change anything for the ruling elite.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@gjohnsit

They can throw around the terms "liberal" and "progressive" and try to serve me up some left wing buzzwords with a side of warmed-over liberal guilt, but their left-wing impersonation is unconvincing.

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1 user has voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

From what I understand, suicide rates for British males has also been going up. I believe also a growing problem among French farmers.

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@MrWebster
self-immolation.jpg

That's why TPTB have to get out in front of this.
They can't afford to have an American Mohamed Bouazizi.
And yet, it might be unavoidable.

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At the "more and better democrats" place there was a diary encouraging democrats to reach out to WWC voters. The reaction was pretty much fuck em', they're all hick racists anyway and too stupid to persuade. Thing is, they used to be the backbone of the democratic party. FDR democrats.

Now, the party that brought you NAFTA (that destroyed whole communities) and were accomplices to most of the republican legislation (that hurt families)from Clinton onward now has it's own collection of boogymen to blame. WWC, the left, Bernie Bros, the victims of the economy brought about by bipartisan trade and anti worker legislation.

One party lies to you and says they're going to make things great again, bring back jobs. The other tells you the truth. You don't need any help, and we don't need you. As a matter of fact you're doing great as it is and you should check your privilege before complaining. Heck, you cost HRC the election, you should all commit suicide.

While a great deal has been written about economic mobility being stagnant in the US, it applies to all of us lower classes. There is no magic elevator for the WWC to escape it and leave everyone else behind. Mostly we're stuck where we are.

I guess as long as there is someone to blame when an election is lost, everything is ok.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@Snode
generations of lies promoting false expectations plays in this. Don't know how we could get to that data, though.

Also, I think that we may have different mixtures of different root causes among the three groups mentioned, so working out "a solution to the suicide epidemic" might entail addressing numerous disparate causes and drivers.

You suggest listening to one another. That's maybe a good start, but only a start, to understanding the causes and drivers of the despair. Understanding them is only the irst step, however, I know of at least one that requires unlearning of life-long cultural imprints and replacing them with something else without seeming to be coddling or patronizing the afflicted.

I suspect that, to some extent, most feel, among other things, a sense of betrayal, and that is a monster problem because most of the people in question have been betrayed, often in multiple ways.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Unabashed Liberal's picture

Reference,

A county-by-county analysis of death rates, causes of death and voting patterns shows that the death rate was nearly 8 percent higher between 2000 and 2015 in counties where Trump won the majority.

It was 15 percent higher in counties that swung more heavily Republican than in 2008, a team at Columbia University said Wednesday.

For cryin' out loud, Orangeman ran against NAFTA. These experts are clueless, if it took a 'study' for them to comprehend the root cause of many (if not most) "deaths of despair," especially, among males in the Rust Belt/former industrial states, and parts of the South.

Also,

Then, on March 29, 1996, Congress enacted P.L. 104-121, the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996, which contained new, more restrictive provisions affecting DA&A (Drug Addiction and Alcohol) cases.

Beginning on the day of enactment (under section 105), SSA ceased to award SSI payments and DI benefits to new DA&A applicants.

This is one of several reasons that I'm particularly disgusted by Democratic Leaders--showcasing one of the major players in the passage of this legislation, aside from Cilnton and Gingrich--JOHN KASICH.

I'll be posting (later) about Kasich's attempts to 'means test' Medicare (1990's) while he served as both Ranking Member and Chair of the House Budget Committee (during Clinton's and Gingrich's reigns).

Thanks for bringing posting on this topic. It receives far too little attention, IMO.

Mollie

"The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation."
~~Matt Taibbi, The American Press Is Destroying Itself, June 12, 2020

"I know, I know. All passion; no street smarts."
~~Captain West, 1992 Rob Reiner/Aaron Sorkin Movie, A Few Good Men

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
~~Will Rogers, Actor & Social Commentator (1856-1950)

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.