Many liberal and Democrat fans have celebrated the death of My Chemical Romance drummer Bob Bryar due to his controversial statements tied to his right wing political beliefs. Bryar made several controversial tweets over the last decade, including insulting Ariana Grande after the bombing outside her concert years back.
rollinsblonde posted on Reddit in response to the celebrations, “Reposting from my post from the perspective of a mental health professional:
In the last 24 hours, I have been pretty disgusted by the discourse amongst My Chemical Romance fans in regard to Bob’s death. Seeing a lot of celebrations, particularly in pointing out his behavior over the last decade or so (his interactions with fans, his erratic posts, racism, bigotry). This is not a post to excuse the abhorrence.
I work in the mental health field, at a higher level of care. Meaning I see people at the very worst. What we witnessed with Bob was the presence and progression of serious mental health symptoms, bipolar or psychotic in nature. I did not know Bob, I never met him, but from a clinical standpoint, that is what it presented as.
I think MCR fans and people drawn to the emo genre see mental health as being sad and anxious and wanting to die. And while it absolutely can be those things, there are symptoms that are far, far worse. Erratic behavior. Bizarre delusions or thinking patterns. Persecution complexes and thought processes. Irritability. Inability to take ownership of their behavior, so on and so forth.
There is no mention of the bigoted and hateful behavior because that itself is not a mental health symptom per se, and certainly not an excuse for the behavior.
However, what we know about symptoms and presentation of severe and persistent mental illness is that it pushes people and support system away. It is very isolating. What we also have come to learn over the last few years is that isolation has pushed people into the far-right ideologies in looking for a sense of community and belonging. This does not excuse his words and actions, but rather pathologies and provides clarity into them.
Bob is a polarizing and complicated figure. At the end of the day, his bigoted thoughts and actions deserved criticism, rightfully so. However, celebrating a man’s death and likely suicide while watching him mentally decline for 15 years in real time is a new level of low for MCR fans, who cry about mental health and the ableism that surrounds mental health – only when it is depression and suicidal ideation.
If his death was a suicide, which everything is pointing to that it likely was, it is important to remember not to assign blame to any one factor or piece of speculation. Suicide is a complex death and decision that often snowballs and is never just one thing, although one thing can be what is the breaking point.
No one deserves to be so sick that they are “beyond help.” No one deserves to take their own life. No one deserves to die alone. No one deserves to die and not have anyone notice for almost an entire month. That is not conditional.
I hope Bob is able to rest, free of the demons that haunted him. I’m sorry it ended this way. I’ll hold the memories of him, loving this band as a teenager during the years he was a part of it, fondly and I thank him for that.”
