Heads up here, some of these will be responses to posts I've found stating crap like "13 reasons why I hate 13 reasons why" and the like. Little shout out to this girl, no matter your stance as a survivor or not, you can't speak for every other survivor. Also, if you had paid better attention you might have seen that half of your statements are untrue. This isn't going to be one of those "fun" listicles I usually make filled with pretty pictures. Today we are going to visit something a little darker. As the show 13 Reasons Why is hot in the media and news right now, I only see it fitting to present my own stance on the whole debate on whether or not it is helpful or not. And I think it is. Here's why:

1. It's Real

This show doesn't hold back, it doesn't sugar coat suicide like society likes to. Suicide is a real issue, and no matter how much people don't want to address it, it will continue to be a problem unless we can take some hints and start helping each other instead of pretending the problem doesn't exist. Stop turning people into a statistic!

2. It Sheds Some Proper Light

I see a lot of comments saying that 13 Reasons "oversimplifies" the reasons Hannah wanted to kill herself. Bullying is a real problem, so parents and peers, stop pretending it's not. And it is not only bullying she endures for years, but also multiple accounts of those close to her betraying her, and later rape. These are again, very real things that a lot of people pass off as nothing or shift the blame to the victim. Opens your eyes a little bit huh? Maybe when your child comes home from school complaining about a bully you'll actually do something about it instead of just telling them to stand up for themselves or try to make friends with the bully.

3. It's Encouraging

Hear me fully out. Through the characters of Clay and Tony, we see regret, true pain in friends left behind by Hannah. Friends who wish they had done more, wish they had done anything at all. Wish they hadn't just stood by and watch her walk away. We see parents who were mostly unresponsive toward their daughter, now in anguish every time her name is brought up. It encourages deeper friendships, closer bonding, it encourages people to take more action when they see someone they care about in trouble.

4. It Brings Out People's Real Faces

A good chunk of the people in the reasons list act like saints, like they've done nothing wrong or even that they're "sorry such a tragedy could occur". They don't care about her (save for maybe two), they only care about saving their own skins. We see each person act out their public face, and then their private real self. Along with that, another comment I see (surprisingly) from viewers is that Hannah is an attention seeker. Really? Sorry (not sorry) Really!? That is literally the excuse most of the students responsible for tormenting Hannah say about her. People don't kill themselves for attention. They do it because they are in pain and this is the only way they see at the moment that they can escape their pain. I guess the show reveals some of the true faces of its viewers too.

5. It Separates Depression From The Equation

Let's face it, this show opens a truth most people don't want to hear. Depression is not the only cause of suicide. Something a lot of people comment is that the show doesn't dive deep enough into the mental health aspect that leads to suicide. Well, let's clarify something here; yes, depression is a legitimate mental illness, and often, if not treated properly will aid in leading to suicide. But clinical depression is different from being depressed. A person can be depressed about different things without having depression. And there are more reasons that just depression that can make a person want to end it all. For some, there are more outer influences than inner influences that lead to the decision. Most people believe that suicide is only the result of depression, but this series shows that it is not.

6. Hannah Calls Out Her Attackers

Yes, I admit the blame game is apparent here, and in the end it was Hanna's choice to slit her wrists, but she rightly calls out every single person that helped her to that decision. Again, when viewers point this out, they play their own blame game. The blame the victim game. Most victims are shamed or blamed when they try to seek help, most don't even bother mentioning an event because they think no one will believe them or try to help them. Even if only in the safety of a recording, Hannah is about to name her most serious offender, her rapist. And new that in the end the tapes would either be released or that one of the better members of the group would take them to the cops for proof of the assault, which Clay manages to expand upon. She might not have been around for it, but she was able to lay out all the pieces for proper justice. She never needed to know for sure that it happened because trusted her openly friend in the matter to make it a reality.

7. It Does Warn Its Viewers

The people making this show obviously know that there are a lot of people out there that can identify with Hannah on each of the different reasons. When it comes to the reasons that can be more harmful or as raging viewers like to say, " triggers", at the beginning of the episode the "Graphic Content" warning label is clearly shown. Most raging viewers conveniently leave this detail out during their rants. The viewers have been warned, it is their own decision if they want to continue on or skip an episode. The show doesn't force anyone to sit through anything they're not comfortable with. You as a viewer can turn off the show at any point, so stop blaming the show.

8. The Writers Did Actually Consult Specialists

The following is a snippet from Brian Yorkey's Open Letter about the series.

"We enlisted a group of medical and psychological experts to help us accurately portray these events, and to ensure we were being truthful to the 'how' and 'why' these kinds of things happen; and to show them in some measure of rigorous detail. We wanted to be sure we were serving these issues well, not being gratuitous, not being violent for the sake of being violent — but rather portraying these events in a way that would make their impact unmistakable, and hopefully further the dialogue around these issues in our culture."

9. It Chose A Brilliant Way To Broadcast

One very sad quote I found in an angry article is this, "At the end of the day, the show uses teen suicide as entertainment." I think this is incorrect. The show uses the media, a form of entertainment, to reach out to a more broad audience. They use classic media eye catching and attentions grabbing elements to keep the viewer's attention and hopefully make a lasting impact for the better.

10. Its Not Just Your Average PSA

This goes out to one viewer in particular who I hope actually takes time to read through this article and doesn't just pass it by because they have already passed poor judgement on the series without even giving it a chance. For years and years, schools private and public have all held mandatory presentations or lectures for their entire student bodies on the importance of life and repeated over and over the phrase "Suicide should never be an option!" Yes, this is true, but eventually students hear it over and over to the point where it becomes something just said, it doesn't leave any real impact. It doesn't draw their attention any more so they just sit and play on their phones during the talk. However, in the way that 13 Reasons presents itself, in the form of a Netflix original TV program, it draws kids' and adults' attention without boring them through monotone speech or overly peppy speakers trying to drill facts and statistics into you're brain. It does it very honestly by taking you through the life of Hannah Baker leading up to the act, then the act itself. It gives the viewer something real to see, not just numbers, but names.

11. It Not Only Sends A Message To Those Suffering, But Also To Those Causing The Hurt

This story isn't about Hannah Baker telling us about her "silly problems" as most people call them in show and out of show, but it instead tries to help us see through her eyes how hurtful things can be. From actually committing an act of harm to simply doing nothing to help that person after they have been harmed. One lovely quote I found, "It tries to teach us that people need to be kind. And yet many people seem unable to pick up the magnitude of this lesson."

12. "Everyone is just so nice until they drive you to kill yourself!"

This is a quote from Clay Jenson, the main character we follow as he listens to the tapes Hannah has left behind. Most people misinterpret this quote and replace it's real meaning. What most people think he is saying is that the word is great until you meet just the right crappy people, then you wake up and everything goes down the drain from there. innocence lost essentially. But what I believe the real interpretation to be is this; very bad people are very good at wearing very pretty mask. They draw you in with flattery before they tear you apart from the inside out. They get you to open up only to use everything you care about against you. It's truly sad, but sadly true.

13. Not A Single Character Is Stereotyped

I know this seems off track from all previous comments, but it's still a point in favor of the show as a cinematic experience. And I'm certainly not the only one to notice this either. You don't see any stereotypically "sassy" black girls, instead you see two beautiful young women who are upstanding students in teachers' eyes and leaders for their peers on the cheerleading team. We see a bright young black man leading as head of student council. We see an Asian student not being grilled by his mother about his grades, but encouraging him in his sports career, upset that he isn't yet captain of the school's basketball team. We see a girl worried about showing her true sexuality not to save her own face, but to save her dads from ridicule a lot of homophobic people like to blab, saying that all gay parents raise gay children. That is untrue just in the same way that not all straight parents end up raising straight children.

And that is all for this article. Please leave comments on your personal views. Remember, these are all my own views I have posted, I am not forcing them down your throats or forcing you to change, but don't expect me to change either. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and while I am upset with some of others' opinions on this particular matter, I leave the choice of change of view up to them, and up to you.