People, for some reason, are very taken with tales of the macabre. And the recent spate of un-natural deaths involving a particular body of water recently, I daresay, is more closely followed than say, the progress of barrier-free access at HDB estates, or allowing strays to be adopted by HDB dwellers.
Maybe it's because incidences of suicides don't often make it into the news (or haven't you noticed?).
A senior newsman once told me the media typically refrains from running stories about suicide. This is perhaps more true for television than other forms. And the reason behind this, he said, is that the number of cases of similar incidents tend to spike after such a story is reported.
And it only takes one case to start the ball rolling.
Any doubts I may have had have been banished after the recent reportage, which seemingly, innocuously, started off as a missing persons story involving a mother and son pair. But that unfortunately took on an unhappy ending that led to even more unhappy endings.
And so, by now, the site has gained the unenviable reputation as, according to Mother, "a dirty place".
Once the ball gets rolling, it tends to just gain momentum, which inevitably forces authorities to try to head off the snowballing effect.
So did anyone notice then, a series of events and stories about the importance of mental health encouraging more concern for those who might be inclined to end it all?
