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Untreated depression is the number one cause for suicide.

Why didn't you look it up?

as do millions of people who just STFU and carry on with life.

And then there's the million people/year that do something else about it? Given the choices, I think I'd prefer as many people of stature as possible come forward, talk about their issues, help others, etc. Seems a little better than the alternative, doesn't it?

Prick

US: 1-800-273-8255 is a 24/7 suicide prevention hotline, which also advises people dealing with a suicidal loved one or friend.

http://www.suicide.org/interna...

For US active duty military and veterans:
Veteran's Crisis Line:
1800-273-8255
Press 1
or text 838255

confidential chat available at: www.veteranscrisisline.net

Specifically for support of trans* people, http://www.translifeline.org/ has a US hotline number +18775658860 and a Canadian toll-free number +18773306366.

For LGBT teenagers and young adults, http://www.thetrevorproject.or.... They also have a hotline number, 866-488-7386.

If you're a friend or bystander, these are relevant.
Suicide threats on social media:
http://www.suicidepreventionli...
If you're in the US this is a guide to reaching emergency services outside your own area: http://firstaid.about.com/od/c...
Immediate steps you can take: http://www.helpguide.org/artic...

Hmmmmm. Are you disagreeing with me? Because there is not one thing you wrote that argues against my point.

People who do a lot of bullying can put a lot of effort into it. Insane? Hardly. It gives them more popularity, improves their mood when they're suffering by pushing the suffering on someone else, gives them the joy of controlling their environment (the bullied), and there is very little chance they'll receive much punishment for it if any. It's quite rational behavior. Awful maybe, but hardly insane.

Also, if you're bullied and you don't get enough support from family or good friends to believe things will ever get better, losing hope is a rational response when there isn't enough evidence to suggest any is coming.

If you add gender into your results the picture tends to look a LOT different. Women tend to be more inclined to suicide by overdoses and other "less violent" methods while men are much more likely to use firearms and such. http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html is the only link I bothered to look up but I've seen some other more detailed info.

You do know the suicide rate is high in Finland (in particular, above the Arctic circle) mainly due to the long periods darkness 6 months out of every year, right?

The Finland rate is 17.6 per 100k people. 10 points higher for men.
The US rate is 11.8 per 100k, and again 8 points higher for men.
Canada 11.3. Canada has a significant population above the Arctic Circle.
Figures from Here

Alaska Suicide rate is the highest in the nation, at over 27. Per here.

However, One study found that the average annual suicide rate among Alaska Natives was 40.4 per 100,000 people, compared with 17.7 per 100,000 people in the non-Native population. But if you subtract out 20-something Alaskan Native Males, (155.3 per 100,000) even the native rate is not that much higher than the rest of the population's rate.
Rates in Canadian Aboriginal populations are much similarly higher, at 56.3 per 100,000 for males, and 11.8 per 100,000 for females (of all ages)

That 17.7 percent for non-native Alaskans looks surprisingly like the Finnish number.

But on the other hand the this seems as likely to be a Racial/Cultural issue when you take everything into account, Alaska, Canada, and even Finland because northern finland has some related population groups.

"Suicide is the action of selfish people"

No, http://www.suicide.org/suicide-is-not-a-selfish-act.html

1 out of every 1000 people will die from terrorist attacks? Thats just not true, but lets go with an extremely generous estimate of 1 out of every 10,000. As a UK male there is a 1.8 in 10,000 chance you will kill yourself. You're absolutely right, the threat of terrorism is just silly to handle with random spot-checks.

If you want to improve peoples lives with them big terrorism places aren't where you want them, you want them to prevent domestic, run-of-the-mill crimes in subway tunnels or something. Even then its still stupid, but at least you're fighting a real problem that way. "Oh no! Our big ass bomb didn't make it all the way inside the stadium!" probably isn't going to stop the boogey-man from blowing it up from the outside if he actually exists.

Foxconn has about half a million employees.

The USA has a suicide rate of about 10-14 per 100k: http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html

If you have 500000 employees, one shouldn't be so surprised if 50 of them kill themselves every year.

This leads us to two issues. One, the machines have to be more cost-effective than an exploited work-force. And even then, what can be automated here can be automated there where the workforce that runs the machines are cheaper (read: exploited).

And then the workforce that runs the machines can be automated to the point where intensive labor isn't required. From here, it's turtles all the way down.

Yes - I'm sure the suicides and the expose on working conditions at the company by China Business News were just aberrations of an overzealous imagination. Meanwhile, Foxconn hired a New York public relations firm because they just want to get their name out there.

In the US, suicides per 100,000k is 10/year. The national average for China is 25/100k/yr. Foxconn - which employs ~900,000 people - had twelve suicides in a six month period. Let's assume that trend continues and call it 25 in a year. That works out to 2.78/100k/yr.

This rate is drastically lower than both the Chinese national suicide rate; and the lower US suicide rate. (Sources: http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/ http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html). When you have a company with the population of a small nation, it's easy for appearances to be deceiving. I'm not saying it's a haven of happy workers -- only that conditions may not be as bad as we're assuming. AS far as the report by China Business News -- I would trust that to be about as unbiased as any news source in the US. Again, I'm not claiming that there are no issues - only that we're only being shown a very small window into things.

First, you'd need Chinese rates rather than Canadian ones, as there are non-trivial cultural differences in play.

Second, you'd need rates for the specific demographics that are employed at the factory, and not just ones for the population as a whole. In the US, the elderly have a higher rate than the population as a whole, but the elderly are less likely to be employed in a factory.

And in China, suicide is the leading cause of death for young adults (15–34 years of age).

Last, as I understand it, they've had 9 suicides at the factory, not just 9 suicides by people employed by the factory. The article isn't clear on whether Foxconn paid benefits for any suicide by an employee or just ones that happen on Foxconn property, but if it's the latter it's certainly a motivator.

What you fail to understand is that all lived in free dormitories at the factory, and all died at the dormitory during their free time.

First, you'd need Chinese rates rather than Canadian ones, as there are non-trivial cultural differences in play.

Second, you'd need rates for the specific demographics that are employed at the factory, and not just ones for the population as a whole. In the US, the elderly have a higher rate than the population as a whole, but the elderly are less likely to be employed in a factory.

Last, as I understand it, they've had 9 suicides at the factory, not just 9 suicides by people employed by the factory. The article isn't clear on whether Foxconn paid benefits for any suicide by an employee or just ones that happen on Foxconn property, but if it's the latter it's certainly a motivator.