Prager Judges a Woman in Pain

Dennis Prager has too much time on his hands (“Jumpers and Yellers: Moral Fiber Spent,” Commentary, Sept. 10). This time his voice on all things moral takes flight upon the sufferings of the Seattle woman who, sin of sins, impeded the flow of freeway traffic while attempting suicide. It doesn’t take much time at all for Prager to leap behind a podium and start sermonizing, does it?

“She determined that it was important for the world to take notice of her pain”; he imputes this motive to the unfortunate woman. More to the point, Prager thinks we need to take notice of his wounded sensibilities, no matter how specious the occasion. Is he any better than this forlorn specimen, holding up ambulances with her “self-centered” behavior? I, for one, would prefer being in a traffic jam than to have my mental life slowed by the musings of a man whose devout moralizing could link this woman’s moment of public shame with reflections on Andrea Yates and AIDS research funding.

David Was

Tarzana

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Prager advises compassion for victims--but only when they manifest their victimhood quietly, behind the scenes: no public suicides or noisy AIDS protests for him. Like the other media-created arbiters of morality, Prager’s stock in trade is dispensing easy, sterile judgments from a lofty perch; being confronted with genuine pain, in a very messy real world, makes him very uncomfortable.

By judging the victims, Prager can disclaim any real connection with them or any responsibility for alleviating their pain. It’s a successful device, but not, to my mind, a particularly moral one.

Bonnie Sloane

Los Angeles

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Prager expressed the identical idea that I did. The public has its own problems, and individuals who parade their private problems in public show their selfishness. Still, I wouldn’t have encouraged the woman in Seattle to jump.

Robert S. Rodgers

Culver City

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If the woman on the bridge had had a heart attack while driving across the street, I doubt that Prager would even think there was an issue to raise. So it goes with mental illness, which includes not only psychosis, but disorders such as major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder--conditions that allow a person to appear normal on the surface.

Persons who commit suicide or make serious attempts to do so are clinically depressed until proven otherwise, no exceptions. To label someone suicidal as immature and selfish is to perpetuate the notion that depression is due to some lack of moral fiber. That is not the case. Depression can be treated medically and should be.

Shelley C. Hill MD

Panorama City