tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9791835.post7566982781323139634..comments2023-09-17T11:37:16.105-04:00Comments on Random Ramblings from Everyone's Favorite Brite!: Help Save 1-800-SUICIDEbrite69http://www.blogger.com/profile/18051491273509131714noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9791835.post-89048201594830683632008-08-22T13:35:00.000-04:002008-08-22T13:35:00.000-04:00800-SUICIDE was subcontracted for years under the ...800-SUICIDE was subcontracted for years under the exact government grant that he's now railing against. There's a sordid history of scare-mongering with this dude that is deeply offensive to me. Now it's "you can't trust the government about privacy." <BR/><BR/>Back in 2006, he used the "the government is anti-gay" scare-mongering approach. Metafilter folks did a lot of good digging, including finding info directly from one of the workers who answers calls from 800-SUICIDE:<BR/>http://g-blog.net/user/Anamorphosis/entry/31801<BR/><BR/>His pandering to all these hot-button groups is getting tricker and tricker -- he also recently has gotten in pretty heavy with the Right-to-Lifers, accusing the gov't hotline of sending pregnancy-related calls to "abortion businesses." Even the folks on the <B>Catholic.com</B> forum saw through that pretty quickly:<BR/>http://forums.catholic.com/showpost.php?p=3389274&postcount=14<BR/><BR/>Yes, one should be aware of and actively involved with the workings of one's government, and approach (particularly "official") information with a critical eye. It's not <I> the </I> government -- it's <I>your</I> government. OK. What about Mr. 800-SUICIDE? Does he earn your intellectual trust, or does he play on your fear? <BR/><BR/>Let's take a look at what the future holds for 800-SUICIDE, according to their official documents, submitted to the FCC. 800-SUICIDE was the original national network of crisis centers that answered suicidal calls, based on some awesome routing that, yes, Reese did without government help. <3 .<BR/> <BR/>But it looks as if Reese's plans for 800-SUICIDE have changed:<BR/>"KBHC has previously informed the [Federal Communications] Commission, KBHC has entered into service agreements with Heartbeat International, Care Net, and the Option Line to obtain telephony service for all of its lines, including the three temporarily reassigned suicide prevention hotlines. As a demonstration of its financial strength, <B>KBHC has prepaid Option Line for 12-months of service for all of its numbers</B>." Option Line is a pro-life, faith-based hotline and has no reference to suicide on their site outside the realm of abortion. I don't know what role Option Line will have in any individual call, but I don't see how 800-SUICIDE would be free from undue bias and influence of the big Evangelical machine. <BR/><BR/>Someone contemplating suicide with the strength to reach out and call and ask for help shouldn't have to contend with bias of any type. <BR/><BR/>That letter and all the public commentary is available here: <BR/>http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/websql/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.hts?ws_mode=retrieve_list&id_proceeding=07-271&start=1&end=20&first_time=N"<BR/><BR/>Do your research, support shit you care about -- even here if after all that you still trust this guy, but don't be a pawn.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com