sadoeuphemist (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sadoeuphemist) wrote2017-08-18 02:11 pm
sadoeuphemist) wrote2017-08-18 02:11 pm
Blue Whale
I think it might be a cruelty to talk so glibly about this. You know, talking about something that could very well have happened. Talking about something true.
1. On the arm blade cut f57 (blue whale, 4: 20)
2. Wake up at 4:20 and watch scary video
3. Cut lengthwise veins of the arm (not deep) only three cuts
4. Draw a whale on a piece of paper
The game's called the Blue Whale Challenge because whales beach themselves. Mysteriously, inexplicably, alone or in groups. Salt-slick carcasses heaving up on shore, drawing attention to themselves by their sheer mass, the weight of their existence warping the world around them. Who knows what's going on beneath the surface of the sea. Who knows why they did this. Who knows why they had to die.
You count one day at a time. One step at a time. From one to fifty. A psychological build-up. A ritual. You carve in the symbol Day One and you follow the rules and on Day Fifty, you kill yourself.
6. In code
7. scratched f40
8. Write in the status #I'm a Whale
9. Should overcome your fear
It's children playing it, of course. Teens. Adults wouldn't need fifty days to get to the point.
15 .Poke the needle arm
And then there's everything that was going on beneath the surface of the sea.
There's no secret sequence of instructions that'll program a kid to kill themselves. No master of psychology wrote this. It's not even good fiction. You start out by cutting yourself and progress to posting statuses online, watching music videos. There's no design here, no sense of escalation. Just vapid fluff, idle chores, a transparent series of branding exercises.
If anything, you should be grateful it's all so clumsy. Dragging this bullshit out over fifty days might at least give someone else the opportunity to notice something's wrong. Cuts and codes and disrupted schedules. Fifty days to cry out for help.
It's all sites trying to drive traffic, you know. Trying to attract attention. Collating every one of her last words, making some up, commemorating her death in morbid detail. Some of it's sickos online looking for a perverted thrill. Most of it's the media, slavering in open-mouthed credulity over yet another tragedy to sensationalize. Here she is, the very first victim of the Blue Whale Challenge. Here's the malignant root of teen suicide. Here's where it seeps in, here's where it spreads. Here's the name of what you are most afraid of. Here it is, always just out of your reach.
We call him the curator because he's the one who turns us into art.
1. On the arm blade cut f57 (blue whale, 4: 20)
2. Wake up at 4:20 and watch scary video
3. Cut lengthwise veins of the arm (not deep) only three cuts
4. Draw a whale on a piece of paper
The game's called the Blue Whale Challenge because whales beach themselves. Mysteriously, inexplicably, alone or in groups. Salt-slick carcasses heaving up on shore, drawing attention to themselves by their sheer mass, the weight of their existence warping the world around them. Who knows what's going on beneath the surface of the sea. Who knows why they did this. Who knows why they had to die.
5. If you're ready to become a whale you write "yes" on the blade leg, if not, do with their hands whatever you want (doing a lot of cuts and so on)
You count one day at a time. One step at a time. From one to fifty. A psychological build-up. A ritual. You carve in the symbol Day One and you follow the rules and on Day Fifty, you kill yourself.
6. In code
7. scratched f40
8. Write in the status #I'm a Whale
9. Should overcome your fear
It's children playing it, of course. Teens. Adults wouldn't need fifty days to get to the point.
10. Get up at 4:20 and go to the roof
11. It is necessary to scratch out a whale on the hand (or make a drawing on the hand)
12. The whole day watching scary video
13. Listen to music that curator send to you
14. Cut the lip
12. The whole day watching scary video
13. Listen to music that curator send to you
14. Cut the lip
The game has all the qualities of internet creepypasta. Suicide by meme. The list of instructions flickering and obtuse, poorly-translated from the Lithuanian. There's a boogeyman here. Someone's sending these instructions to our kids, someone's doling out the rope, someone's whispering in their ears. The "curator," a sinister corrupting figure always just off-screen. Our kids are being manipulated, or blackmailed, or terrorized, or coerced.
They wouldn't have done this on their own.
They wouldn't have done this on their own.
15 .Poke the needle arm
16. Make yourself hurt
It's all bullshit, of course. Moral panic. Urban legend. Oh sure, there are people playing. Type #f57 on social media, ask for a curator and maybe someone'll get in contact with you. But all it is is some rando online, as likely to hit you up for money as to lead you to your death. Oh sure, sure, there are the dead children, hundreds of them. But you can't seriously think it's some stupid internet game that made them kill themselves, can you? There's a meme, there's an outward sign, there's a thought that they were toying with. Cuts on the arm. A picture of a whale. Some fucking hashtag status. And then there's everything that was going on beneath the surface of the sea.
17. Go to the roof of the largest and stand on the edge
18. Going to the bridge
19. Climb on the crane
20. Check to trust
18. Going to the bridge
19. Climb on the crane
20. Check to trust
There's no secret sequence of instructions that'll program a kid to kill themselves. No master of psychology wrote this. It's not even good fiction. You start out by cutting yourself and progress to posting statuses online, watching music videos. There's no design here, no sense of escalation. Just vapid fluff, idle chores, a transparent series of branding exercises.
If anything, you should be grateful it's all so clumsy. Dragging this bullshit out over fifty days might at least give someone else the opportunity to notice something's wrong. Cuts and codes and disrupted schedules. Fifty days to cry out for help.
21. It is necessary to talk on Skype with a curator
22. Sit down on the roof of the feet
23. Again, the job with the code
24. Secret Mission
25. meet with curator
23. Again, the job with the code
24. Secret Mission
25. meet with curator
Kids have killed themselves. I don't want to minimize that. Rina Palenkova was seventeen years old when she jumped in front of a train. She posted a selfie right before she killed herself. She talked about it online. She went viral.
26. You say the date of death, and you must accept
It's all sites trying to drive traffic, you know. Trying to attract attention. Collating every one of her last words, making some up, commemorating her death in morbid detail. Some of it's sickos online looking for a perverted thrill. Most of it's the media, slavering in open-mouthed credulity over yet another tragedy to sensationalize. Here she is, the very first victim of the Blue Whale Challenge. Here's the malignant root of teen suicide. Here's where it seeps in, here's where it spreads. Here's the name of what you are most afraid of. Here it is, always just out of your reach.
27. 4:20 go to the rails
28. Do not talk with anyone
29. Give an oath that you're a whale
28. Do not talk with anyone
29. Give an oath that you're a whale
From 30-49 you every day you wake up at 4:20, watch videos, listen to music, and every day doing one cut on her hand, talking to a curator.
We jump (hangs up, jump out of the window, you go under a train, negativeside tablets)
We call him the curator because he's the one who turns us into art.