The Blue Whale and the Normalization of Suicide

Suicide attempts in Iran, particularly among young people and adolescents, are on an upward trend. Few deny this reality, but when it comes to finding the root causes of this harm, there is deflection. Is the Blue Whale to blame, or is it generational confusion and social and economic disappointment?

Five voluntary deaths in one day in south Tehran, self-immolation of two women in Ahvaz and Sanandaj, and the simultaneous suicide of two female students in Isfahan. These examples only occurred in the last week of October 2017 and made their way to the media: a handful of examples from a mountain of cases…

Those who have reached a dead end try everything from drinking battery acid, pesticide, Vitex, ant poison, rat poison and rice pills to rope, subway rails and jumping from heights. No one knows what goes through their minds and what their reasons are. There are no official statistics on the number of suicides, nor are the possible motivations and reasons listed anywhere.

No up-to-date and verified statistics exist in this field because suicide in Iran continues to be kept secret for customary and religious reasons. Many families declare the voluntary death of their loved ones to be caused by sudden illness, improper medication use, or accident. Only in recent years, and especially due to the prevalence of suicide in public, has this taboo been broken. Media and social networks also play a role in overcoming the concealment of suicide news.

Now the news of the simultaneous suicide of two Isfahan female students and their farewell voice message, rather than sparking an expert or public discussion about the reasons for suicide, has turned into a debate over confirming or denying the suicide model pattern—the “Blue Whale” game.

The girls were 15 and 16 years old and threw themselves off a bridge. One died and the other is hospitalized with severe injuries. Mahdi Moassem Bighi, the police chief of Isfahan, explicitly stated that before the free fall from the bridge, the two recorded a voice message saying they were doing this because of the “Blue Whale” online game.

However, the prosecutor’s office and Isfahan’s cyber police emphasize further investigations and evidence; as if acknowledging the role of the “Blue Whale” would cast a shadow on their authority and supervisory responsibilities. Colonel Mostafa Mortazavi, head of Isfahan’s cyber police, says that until a thorough investigation and sufficient documentation are obtained, one cannot definitively state that the cause of these girls’ suicide was the “Blue Whale” game.

Meanwhile, the communications minister has called for greater parental control over how children use cyberspace. Mohammad Azari Jahromi says: “The government should be a promoter of parental monitoring tools for children’s use of cyberspace, as well as a promoter of proper ways for children and adolescents to use this space and help produce content and services suitable for these ages.”

The communications minister previously said in an Instagram post that this game has been removed from many software stores and negotiations will be held to prevent the spread of violence through social media. Hossein Asadbeigi, head of the Social Emergency Organization, had also warned about the publication of news and images related to the “Blue Whale.”

But how can the “Blue Whale” captivate people’s souls to commit suicide?

The Killer Whale

The “Blue Whale” game or challenge, created in 2013 by 21-year-old Russian youth Philip Budkin, encourages adolescents to harm themselves by going through 50 dangerous stages. The game’s climax is in the 50th stage, suicide, and Philip Budkin was arrested and convicted for this reason. The Russian newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” writes that signs of more than 130 suicides in Russia being linked to the “Blue Whale” were observed in a six-month period.

Many who follow this game have tattooed or painted a “Blue Whale” on their hands or posted this image on their Instagram or profiles.

Due to the enthusiasm of young Europeans for this game, British and French government authorities issued formal warnings to families. In Spain, two girls aged 15 and 16 lost their lives by jumping from a height onto a moving vehicle.

Facebook, on the eve of World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10), announced that it was working with partner organizations in suicide prevention to collect phrases, hashtags, and group names related to online challenges encouraging self-harm. Facebook removes such content from its social network.

Philip Budkin said his goal in creating this game was to encourage “worthless” people to end their lives.

Suicide in the Mirror of Statistics

NAJA, cyber police, the Isfahan prosecutor’s office, the Communications Ministry, and many media outlets, rather than addressing the foundations and factors of suicide, are seeking to close the “Blue Whale’s” path of entry and erase the face of the problem. Isn’t highlighting the cause of suicide in Isfahan girls’ deaths a normalization of suicide and a marginalization of the main issue?

Available statistics can somewhat clarify the face of the problem.

The suicide rate in Iran is reported at 3 to 5 people per 100,000, and its age and geographical composition can be examined. In global statistics, the suicide rate for people over 70 is three times that of young people aged 15-24, but in Iran, this ratio is reversed: young people commit suicide 70 percent more than the elderly.

From 1980 to 2012 and according to information from Iran’s Statistical Center yearbook, 41,079 people attempted suicide. Of this number, 27,168 people died, of which 20,416 were men and 6,752 were women.

In the same statistical yearbook, it is stated that the suicide rate in Ilam province is 71 people per 100,000: sixteen times higher than the national rate.

However, Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization reported 38,691 deaths in the same time period. The difference between law enforcement and legal medicine statistics is 11,523 people: a stark difference…

A Void of Trust and Joy

Hasan Mousavichilak, chairman of the Iranian Association of Social Workers and director general of the Performance Management Office of the Welfare Organization, said two years ago in a session on “Suicide and Public Opinion in Iranian Society”: “The characteristics of our society in this regard are not encouraging. In our country, social satisfaction, joy, and trust are low, and high sadness and psychological disorder in a society shows that the society is not joyful. In such circumstances, it is natural that we have social consequences, and suicide is one of these consequences.”

He reminded that no single factor can lead to suicide in individuals, but rather psychological issues, social relationships, and skills for resisting and combating problems are among the most important: “From the perspective of social relationships, we have greatly distanced ourselves from each other, and the problem starts from the fact that people don’t talk to each other.”

This welfare official, warning of social indifference and a void of psychological support in this area, said that media sometimes causes learning and attracts attention: “Some suicide is learned; in February 1994, in one region of the country, 45 suicides with rice pills occurred within a month, and the reason was that learning had occurred.”

Generational Crises

Saeid Mayidfar, a sociologist, attributes the direct causes of suicide in Iran to “weakened bonds in society” and summarizes indirect causes as unemployment, inflation, economic problems, family problems, and so on.

Mayidfar considers suicide in public places as a person’s reaction to society and a form of protest against prevailing conditions. He also introduces the challenge to the institution of the family and the disappearance of solid traditional foundations as very influential factors in increasing suicide in Iran: “The Iranian family today is in crisis and does not have the solidity of the past. Social institutions such as neighborhoods, kinship groups, or neighborhood relationships no longer come to the family’s aid, and past interactions have disappeared.”

Most sociologists and psychologists list the conflict between tradition and modernity, weakened social bonds, identity rupture, unemployment, and family problems as the main reasons for suicide attempts in the country.

A Whale in a Sea of Harms

Hassan Hashemi Ghazi-Zadeh, the health minister, in the spring of 2016 and after the publication of successive suicide news in the media, held an urgent session consisting of policymakers and responsible experts and called for investigating the rising suicide statistics in Iran.

Among other things, he said in this session: “When people talk about social joy, some think it means holding concerts and the issue goes in a political direction, but depression statistics in the country are high, and more than 12 percent of people suffer from depression and need treatment.”

The newspaper “Jam-e Jam” writes in connection with the suicide of two Isfahan girls and the discussion of online games: “Not just the Blue Whale, but harms both small and large have long broken the realm of adolescence and youth and become part of life, harms that are mentioned in official education reports with these words: risky behaviors, delinquency, moral deviations, psychological disorders, emerging harms and tendency to smoking, drug use, suicide, violence, and…”

Curiously, a Twitter user named Omid wrote: “Our whole life is level 50 of the Blue Whale. Every day we think about ending this cursed life…”

Source: DW