Daily Times

Whereas many are still skeptical about the game of suicide, Blue Whale, there have been multiple instances reported in India and even in Peshawar about the trend of suicide or attempted suicide after playing this game.

The game involves players being encouraged to harm themselves by using common household items such as blades and knives; the players are also challenged to watch graphic videos in isolation loudly which eventually has psychological effects on the players. The person playing the game becomes susceptible to suicide or attempted suicide, and there is also a risk of kid’s playing the game.

Interesting to note is the name of this horrific game — Blue Whale. Many of you might know that whales around the world beach themselves en-masse; this is also called “cetacean stranding.” This mostly happens in the dark of the night therefore no known footage is available to understand if a pod or group of whales all come together to the beach to die or not. Scientists have noted that the whales are highly socially cohesive animals.

They live, hunt and sometimes die in their pods or groups. Thus, the theory about whale beaching goes that if one of the whales somehow gets stranded whilst following a dolphin or porpoise, he will sonar contact others that would probably be nearby. The sonar contact delivers to them the distress signal, other pod members come to the stranded animal’s rescue and if they cant save the stranded animal they also beach themselves and die together. Australia is one of the hot spots where whale beaching phenomena can be observed.

The Ministry of Information Technology should not wait to ensure that the websites, groups or IP addresses from where this game is downloaded are blocked in Pakistan

The Blue Whale game, when once an individual play and eventually fulfills the ultimate challenge of committing suicide or attempts to kill himself, he will probably be followed by other kith and kin that are close to the dead. This may include siblings, close friends or relatives.

It is commonly noted that the effects of family member suicide on other family members include extreme guilt, feeling of personal failure, confusion and severe distress. In moments of weakness, either more suicide or attempts to commit suicide are likely to occur.

The Blue Whale founder Philipp Budeikin is serving time in jail these days however in his opinion the weakest soles that are biological wastes commit suicide. Those that are not weak socially and behave normal in families and friends are less susceptible to falling for the challenges of this game.

Pakistan has a very unsensitive society. We can easily ignore our family members if they begin showing signs of isolation. We attribute these signs to some short-term problems which may sort out themselves out. We also ignore our siblings and children that are known to be introverts and never check on them.

What we forget is that our society is inundated by opportunists that are on the hunt for isolated soles that are abandoned by their family members or have become distant. Some abandoned soles normally end up becoming a threat to society or become a threat to themselves. The Blue Whale game is available by various names and is not downloadable from any website, making it difficult to track.

The government of Pakistan in the past had banned YouTube for a very long time. Whereas,the benefits of YouTube for the society may equal in proportion to the disadvantages of its use; the Blue Whale game or the other names under which it is available has is of no benefit to society. The Ministry of Information Technology should not wait to ensure that the websites, groups or IP addresses from where this game is downloaded are blocked in Pakistan.

The author is an Assistant Professor. He can be reached at m.khalid.shaikh@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, September 26^th 2017.