Hacker News Reader

Comment by _visgean | Hacker News Reader

> There are many reports of the spotted water hemlock’s use as a suicide tool among the Iroquois nation; the most commonly cited occasion is upon the discovery of marital infidelity. There are plenty of other ways to take your own life; the spotted water hemlock is specifically chosen because it causes the most horrible, painful death possible.

why would they go for the most painful death possible?

View on HN

People didn't always do certain things (like committing suicide) the easy way, they often did them in the most dramatic way possible. This was generally true up until around the Industrial Revolution.

To make the person who wronged you feel extra guilty and disgraced in the eyes of the community.

In the news quite recently a woman doused herself with gasoline and lit it in protest over wholesale Gaza slaughter. She does not seem to have slowed the process.

Probably the best-known example of self-immolation as protest took place a full 10 years before the government it was protesting collapsed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%9...

As Thích Nhất Hạnh said, it should not be seen as a suicide but as a way to draw the world's attention to the situation in Vietnam. The distinction is crucial. Cannot remember where I read it.

They could be forced into taking it. Or they may choose the painful death to erase the shame of the infidelity, similar to how seppuku was sometimes done.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com