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The Netflix Series “13 Reasons Why” Linked to a Spike in Suicide Rates
A study supported by the National Institute of Mental Health observed a near 30% increase in suicide rates amongst teenagers in the month following the release of “13 Reasons Why” on Netflix.
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry recently published a study titled Association Between the Release of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and Suicide Rates in the United States: An Interrupted Times Series Analysis and its conclusion is quite telling:
The release of 13 Reasons Why was associated with a significant increase in monthly suicide rates among U.S. youth aged 10 to 17 years. Caution regarding the exposure of children and adolescents to the series is warranted.
According to the study, 13 Reasons Why was associated with a 28.9% increase in suicide rates amongst young people directly following its release in April 2017. The number of deaths by suicide recorded during this month was greater than the number seen in any single month during the five-year period examined by the researchers.
These results confirm prior concerns regarding the show. Indeed, immediately after its release, various mental health specialists and organizations warned against the insidious effects of the show on its viewership. The main problem: Graphic depiction of suicide combined the glorification of the person committing it.
“Mental health experts describe the show as worrisome and point to how its relatable characters and graphic depiction of suicide can pose a health risk for young people already struggling with mental health issues.”
– CNN, ’13 Reasons Why’ tied to rise in suicide searches online
Shortly after the show’s premiere, a study revealed that 13 Reasons Why was linked to a rise in suicide-related web searches, notably “How to commit suicide”.
“After the premiere of “13 Reasons Why,” the search phrase “how to commit suicide” rose 26% above what would normally have been expected for that time; “suicide prevention” went up 23%; and “suicide hotline number” climbed 21%, based on the paper’s data. “The time for rhetorical debate is over,” said John Ayers, research professor at San Diego State University and lead author of the paper. “While ’13 Reasons Why’ has certainly caused the conversation to begin — it’s raised awareness, and we do see a variety of suicide-related searches increasing — our worst fears were confirmed,” he said. “That is, thousands of people, thousands more, are searching online about ways to kill themselves.”
– Ibid.
13 Reasons Why (It’s Bad)
The series revolves around a 17-year-old high school student and his deceased friend who killed herself due to gossip, sexual assault at her high school and a lack of support from her friends and her school. The dead protagonist left a box of cassette tapes detailing the thirteen reasons why she ended her.
Despite its dark and disturbing premise, everything about this series is geared towards teens and pre-teens. To add some extra “teen” appeal, Netflix even got Selena Gomez to act as the executive producer … although she just got out of rehab for an “undisclosed mental health problem” … and although she just released a video where she engaged in self-harm.
Under the deceptive premise of “addressing mental health issues”, the show actually glamorizes suicide. The main character’s suicide is steeped in mystery which leads to fascination. By exposing the evil at her school, she also becomes a hero whose suicide became an effective way of getting back at the people who wronged her.
It is easy to see how exposing a young person with mental health issues to a show that depicts a teenager who committed suicide as some sort of post-death-vigilante-hero could lead to suicide ideation … and actual suicide. Through dozens of hours of carefully crafted drama, the show creates an immersive experience that focuses on specific dark ideas, thoughts, and emotions.
In short, is all part of an obvious mass media agenda to debase, corrupt and demoralize the population – especially young people. And Netflix is part of it. Big time.
The Netflix Agenda
In the past years, I’ve analyzed several Netflix series because, simply put, the streaming service is now at the forefront of popular culture. As cable television is becoming a relic of the past – especially to young people – Netflix is currently enjoying a position of near-monopoly in television content.
To consolidate its position of power in the industry, Netflix constantly invests massive amounts of dollars for the creation of original content. How massive? $12 billion in 2018 and $15 billion in 2019 massive.
Despite these massive numbers dedicated to content creation, the shows that are selected to be “Netflix originals” are carefully curated. There is no variety of opinions, viewpoints, or perspectives on there. Quite to the contrary, everything that is sponsored by Netflix is fully and consistently in line with the agenda of the global elite.
As seen in previous articles, Netflix series clearly push specific agendas such as gender blurring (Bill Nye Saves the World), the glorification of Satanism as “female empowerment” (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and the normalization of trauma-based mind control (Stranger Things, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch).
However, 13 Reasons Why is probably the most insidious of them all and the show might just be directly linked to the actual death of actual teenagers.
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