Splinters in Others' Eyes, Beam Maybe in my Own

A college student, Abraham Biggs, committed suicide last Wednesday by taking a drug overdose in front of his live webcam while some of his viewers were cheering him on. It was even discussed about whether he might or might not be taking a big enough dose to get the job done.

Others did try to talk him out of it, then some OMGs and OMFGs when it became clear it really was no joke after all. By the time the cops finally got there, also caught on cam, it was already too late. Twelve hours later when they arrived. Count 'em, twelve.

He was 19 years old, attending Broward College in Florida. When the police arrived, he was already dead on his bed, the webcast still running live and people were still watching. Did I mention, twelve hours after his online manifesto of intent around 3 a.m.?

His family is pissed that no one acted any sooner to save him, neither the viewers nor the site that hosted his webcast which had by the way also been notified of the happenings hours earlier by those not so busy still wisecracking on his site.

Only after the police showed up did they finally stop the feed. "So that's 12 hours of watching," the dead kid's sister said. "They got hits, they got viewers, and nothing happened for hours."

I watched the video, an officer enters the bedroom where he is lying in bed, his face turned away from the camera, and then starts to examine him as the camera lens is covered up.

An autopsy concluded he died from a combination of opiates and prescription drugs prescribed for his bipolar disorder. One voyeur who watched the whole thing unfold said that after swallowing some pills, the guy went to sleep and appeared to be breathing for awhile while everyone else on the site continued cracking jokes.

A lawyer there in Florida said there is probably nothing that can be done legally against those who watched and did nothing, nor against the site hosting his feed as for being held liable. Even though so many watched, and even though the host site had been notified of the goings on, all hands most likely clean.

Really? I mean, I understand sick shenanigans and how some viewers might in the beginning have thought it nothing more than a ghoulish prank, but to watch a guy die and twelve hours pass and doing nothing?

And not that the company hosting the webcast controls whatever behavior of their users' live uploads, but shouldn't they be at least held to account for ignoring those that did bring to their attention the goings on given even the slightest possibility of this being, as it turned out to be, the real deal?

I personally think there's plenty of guilt to dole out all around. Not that the end result might not have ultimately been the same, it very well could have been too late anyway. Nobody can know.

But clearly there was a pretty gaping window of opportunity there when things could maybe have turned out differently if only someone had paid attention just on the off-chance it might be bona fide the possibility of a legitimate dying guy on cam. Pisses me off.

I read his suicide note, too, he had posted that beforehand. Very sad the whole story. Then I have to wonder, also, while I'm judgementally pointing fingers at everyone else, if I had read that note ahead of time would I have taken any sort of action? Probably not, actually.

And if I had been watching the live stream of him chugging the pills, even after several hours, would I have done anything then? Again, most unlikely, to be honest.

Of course, I had no part in this whatsoever, but just self-analyzing here, I'm as likely as not in deserving a bad conscience as those I deem to be pricks. I figure, though, this is one of those things I would imagine hard to truly believe to conceivably be actually happening on one's own watch.

Either way, tragic story, and I do think those lackadaisical watchers suck, as do those unconcerned hosting folks suck. As the case may be, all things considered, so might I have sucked as well had I been there at the time. Not a pleasant thought, but possibly truth.