Disclaimer: My opinions are purely based off of the few episodes I have seen and the actual book “Thirteen Reasons Why”

For many, ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ is purely entertainment. The show recently aired on Netflix and is currently blowing up, especially with the younger crowd. I myself read the book a couple years ago and not only was it completely garbage, but offensive and harmful to anyone who has actually been suicidal.

The book portrays suicide as a revenge plot, a perfect way to guilt and get back at people people. The main character, Hannah, uses tapes as a sort of suicide note to torment and blame the people who ‘killed her,’ as she calls it. When you take a step back, it isn’t hard to realize the true purpose of the tapes is not to explain her reasoning for ending her life, like her depression or insecurities caused by what happened to her, but to torment the people who ‘caused’ her suicide. Hannah has this ‘this will show them’ mentality. It paints this sort of situation as purely a call for attention and revenge, which is not the case whatsoever. All is does is perpetuate stereotypes.

This franchise simplifies and glorifies this horrible epidemic for entertainment. As someone who has experience with this sort of thing, my own and people who I care about, I cannot help but doubt the person who wrote this book, Jay Asher, has ever experienced a suicidal thought in his life [although he had a close relative who attempted suicide in high school]. Suicide is a very personal thing, for very obvious reasons. The list of things that cause suicide does not consist of people, but of mental illnesses. The book doesn’t even bother going into Hannah’s mental illness or character really- it just makes her seem dramatic and attention-seeking. And while things covered in the book, like bullying and sexual assault, can contribute to someone’s suicide, in the end no one can force someone to kill themselves. Forcing someone’s heart to stop beating is murder, which was not the case at all, so the fact that others are blamed for Hannah’s death is just plain ridiculous.

Honestly, I am terrified of the effect this whole thing can have. Who’s to say some kid who watches this doesn’t do the same? Someone who is suicidal, or even kids who just want to get back at people who have wronged them, could easily use this show or book as an example, a reason, to commit suicide. I wouldn’t be surprised that in the next couple of years similar cases with tapes left behind pop up in the news. I mean, just a couple of years ago two young girls stabbed their friend 19 times simply because ‘Slender Man’ told them to on CreepyPasta, a website full of horror stories. If a website could do that, just imagine the damage this book, and the show (which has the same idea) on Netflix, a service over 93.8 million people subscribe to, could do.