[dingaling]

That must have been difficult to write, but it was also difficult to read. I don't think he needed to lash-out at the adults who didn't understand his illness; how was a director in a weekly TV show meant to diagnose and accommodate depression when he's handling dozens of people to a tight schedule?

Its the same in any context of work, unfortunately. You're just a cog and if the cog jams, add more oil or replace it. That's probably not something a teenager would have understood, hence his frustrated efforts to find answers from adults he held in regard, and I don't know what the solution is. But sniping isn't it.

I am glad that Mr Wheaton is in a better condition and hopefully this essay will help others, but it seemed unnecessarily cruel in places.

[mercer]

Surely we can do much better as a society than to defend a system where people are treated as 'cogs', especially when it concerns an industry that is particularly known for abuse of young people?

I've had plenty of jobs where I wasn't just a 'cog', and where my boss treated me like a proper human. I also try to do the same when others work for me. And as far as I can tell this is a perfectly workable approach.

And while I do understand it's easy to adjust to whatever system you find yourself part of, however complicit it makes you, actively defending it as 'just the way it is' and calling its critics 'cruel' just baffles me.

(err, not 'you' as in you. Just people. It's happened to me, so I'm no saint.)

[moron4hire]

I generally interpret "sniping" as "taking specific, precise shots, meant to inflict maximum damage". So it's hard to interpret Will's comments as sniping when there is no specific, precise target. He doesn't name names, or even productions. He just relates some general scenarios.

And in those events, I don't really see where he tries to lay blame on these unnamed directors and publicists. I see him matter-of-factly describing situations. But the most positive way we could interpret these scenarios--they were themselves overworked that they couldn't see Will's problems--is no place for a child to be.

No, it may not have been Rick Berman's job to make sure Will Wheaton was ok (though, as a producer, that is very, very debatable). But that almost certainly means Will just had no business being in the set of Star Trek (much less debatable for any TNG fan). As a child, you're not really in control of your reality.

[blumomo]

> I am glad that Mr Wheaton is in a better condition and hopefully this essay will help others, but it seemed unnecessarily cruel in places.

You're confusing the description of the subject with the subject that is being described:

It's not the essay that is cruel. Cruel is what the essay reflects: the western live in a society where the last dollar is squeezed out of many people in that society.

> He is doing the best he can, and if you all could stop seeing him as a way to put money into your pockets, maybe you could see that he’s suffering and needs help.

This is cruel.

[p3llin0r3]

I feel like you're being a little easy on this people.

These were not ignorant children is that were making decisions that they didn't understand the consequences to.

These were adult men who had an opportunity to care about someone ( a child ) and instead decided to harass them into complying with their wishes in order to make money.

The buck stops somewhere. Regretting being a piece of shit is worthless. You were still a piece of shit.