Podbit · Modern Wisdom
Lisbon had one of Europe's worst heroin crises. Then Portugal legalised drugs and redirected all enforcement money into rehabilitation and housing. Crime collapsed. Addiction fell. Then politics moved the money elsewhere, and the problem started creeping back. Chesterton's Fence: you forget why you were spending that money.
Where this was said
At 1:51:39 · chapter starts 1:43:27
The chapter opens with Jimmy discussing what it means to have a platform and a moral responsibility to use it. The hardest and most beautiful part of his current show involves addressing suicide directly — stating the terrible truth that suicide doesn't work. You want to get rid of pain, but all you can ever do is redistribute it to the people who loved you. Jimmy describes knowing there's always a non-zero number of people in any audience who need to hear that. Chris adds a brutal supporting statistic: approximately 90% of men who died by suicide had previously sought professional mental health help, suggesting that the 'just talk to someone' prescription is insufficient on its own. The Rilke line follows: feel everything, beauty and terror. No feeling is final. These chapters of the show are possible, Jimmy argues, because comedy has expanded the conversational Overton window far enough to hold them. [1] — Jimmy Carr "Suicide is an attempt to end personal pain. But it doesn't end pain — it redistributes it to everyone who loved you. Jimmy Carr tells this …" 1:48:00
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Suicide is an attempt to end personal pain. But it doesn't end pain — it redistributes it to everyone who loved you. Jimmy Carr tells this to live audiences because there's always a non-zero number of people in the room who need to hear it.
Chris Williamson cites data suggesting 90% of men who died by suicide had previously sought help from a mental health practitioner, challenging the 'just talk to someone' prescription.
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