The 'You people care about Robin Williams more than Gaza' comments

[PsychicTaco115]

What pisses me off is that people are pulling that card not even TWO DAYS after the man fucking killed himself

Just have a little respect, is that too hard?

 

[small]

Think about it this way.

when you think about Gaza, how many of you can actually say you remember a single person or their name you saw on the news? its an event rather than individual suffering which makes it hard for the average person to get their head around, meanwhile how many hours have a lot of us sat down and watched Robin Williams, gotten to know him, seen his skill and talent. its only human nature to have more empathy for someone you are more familiar with.

 

[Uriel_Hayabusa]

If someone's work touched or inspired you then I'd say that it's perfectly okay to be sad over their death, and much like the topic-creator I have little patience for people who seem all too eager to dictate how much other people should care about a particular issue, and the ''there's worse things happening!'' argument is trite and contributes nothing.

Telling someone they can't be sad because other people have it worse is like telling someone they can't be happy because other people have it better.

 

[Genocidicles]

I can honestly say that I do not give a monkey's fart about what's going on in the Middle East. It doesn't effect me in the slightest.

Robin Williams made some of my favourite childhood movies. I wouldn't say I'm upset or anything, but his death effects me more than this never ending bullshit going on in the Middle East.

 

[Dango]

I guarantee you anyone who says that does not have the slightest emotional investment in what's happening in Gaza.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

It's called the Monkey Sphere, ladies and gents:
http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

The gist of it is that we're designed to feel more strongly about things happening in our "tribe". We saw Robin Williams as a person more than the thousands of people dying in Gaza, therefore we feel worse about his death than theirs. It doesn't make us bad people, it means our brains are working as intended.

I was actually going to link to that in my OP but I didn't because I posted it off my phone. I think the monkey sphere perfectly fits the situation.

 

[Olas]

It's not like Gaza isn't being talked about, it's being talked about a lot.

Also: here's a hard fact of life, some people are more important to the world than others, and their deaths will be talked about more. That doesn't mean they're better, but they had a larger influence and will be talked about more.

If people are going to complain, they should complain about people who get lots of attention without doing anything worthwhile to earn it.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Whats happening in Gaza is tragic, but it is removed from most of our lives except in that we hear about it daily. Feeling sadness for Robin Williams' passing does not mean no one cares about whats going on over in Gaza. It just means that people have more connection with Mr. Williams than they do with an area of the world that we don't live in, and were it not on the news, no one would really care about much.
I don't like hearing about people dying for any reason, but people I don't know or have a connection with dying means less to me than someone who felt like a big part of my life. I don't care what others think of me because of that comment because its true. I cried when Ultimate Warrior passed suddenly, when Owen Hart died in a ring accident, when Macho Man died. I didn't know them but they really touched my life. Gaza is so far removed from my life that while I am sorry so much life is being lost, and neither side is in the right IMO, it doesn't really have much bearing on my life. Whereas now when I pop in a Williams movie I'll forever feel the loss of a great human being who was a gamer like us and a master of comedy.
I refuse to be shamed into not feeling anything over his death.
By that right, no one should cry watching the Jurassic Bark episode because in the real world people are dying horribly every moment from various fucked up things.
This kind of shaming is just self-righteous bullshit and should be ignored and the people doing it have no understanding of human connections and emotions.

EDIT: One other thing I'd like to add, how does it help the people dying in Gaza to retweet, share or otherwise repost news stories of whats going on in Gaza? What good does it do? We who are not directly involved over there cannot stop the fighting. Internet activism doesn't do a damn thing. If anyone feels so strongly about the situation, go over there and do something about it but stop trying to make others feel bad because they are honoring Robin Williams.

 

[Saltyk]

It's pretty damn simple why people care about the death of celebrities, especially universally beloved celebrities like Robin Williams.

If a family member or friend of yours died that would be tragic, right? Of course, to me, their death would have very little impact. Simply put, I didn't know them. I can feel empathy for you and them, but I personally won't be upset. I don't know them.

But I know Robin Williams. I grew up watching his movies, interviews, and stand up routines. He has made me laugh, smile, and even moved me for my entire life. My parents know him and remember him from shows that I am too young for. He touched the lives of millions of people.

That's the difference here. It affects more people as more people knew him.

What's happening in Gaza (honestly, I'm way more concerned with ISIS as they are 100 times worse than whichever group you hate in that situation) is bad, but not nearly as personal. Very few people in the West personally know people there. It's much more distant.

Besides, no one said I can't be concerned about more than one thing at a time.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Robin Williams was a part of my childhood and a part of my overall mental well-being, so I care about what happened to him. Gaza is a place I've never been to/want to go to, full of people I don't know, don't care about (in brutal honesty) and the conflict is probably inspired by somebodies belief in one persons imaginary friend being better than the other.

And there's not a whole lot of good dialogue and caring will do for them. Am I fit and able to do something to help them, no, so I don't let it bother me. Sucks to be them, but it also sucks to be a lot of other people in lot's of different places in the world.

 

[Fox12]

Hey, maybe I care about both.

Some of us can feel empathetic about more than one thing at a time. Stick that at 'em, and see how they take it.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

War sickens me and war over religion doubly sickens me. The behavior of the people fighting these wars disgusts me. I can never imagine myself picking up an automatic weapon to kill someone who believes in a different imaginationland than I do, or sending an order to throw missiles at another country. It's unfathomable and I can't put in a context I can wrap my brain around. However, I have had suicidal thoughts when I was younger and went through a severe depression. I also love comedy. That's why Robin Williams matters more to me.

Yet, I can't really do anything about either matter, so there's a significant amount of apathy for both news stories. I'll just try to enjoy my own life and the people I love for as long as I possibly can.

 

[Something Amyss]

you know what? yeah we probably DO feel worse over Robin Williams than we do Gaza....

and why wouldn't we? the guy was obviously incredibly talented and full of life....he was in many of some of our childhood movies, he was an icon and being such I'm sure we in some way felt a certain connection...so when he dies yes we felt it more than Gaza

whats going on in Gaza is sad yes...but its abstract to most of us, just another thing happening in one of "thosr" countries that we feel no control over

there is preasure to feel a "certain" way or the "right" way over things and I think its unfair...especially to children

...that said we shouldn't be jerks about it, thats a very important disinction

More to the point, it's easier to care about a person than people. People are amorphous, maybe even theoretical, but a person? You know a person. Or you know about a person.

 

[the December King]

The reason why Robin Williams death is so tragic is that a man who spent his entire life providing joy and happiness to others was himself truly miserable. That to me is incredibly tragic. He gave the world something which he could not give to himself

Well put, shootthebandit!

It was exactly what I needed to hear about his passing to break this strange lethargy in my soul, this weird removal from the full tragedy of it, and really allow me to grasp what has been lost in his passing. Through tear blurred eyes, I see it clearly now. I needed that.

...

Now, to lighten the mood, I'm now going to watch Luxury Comedy Season 2.

 

[NemotheElvenPanda]

I've yet to have people chew me out for saying I'll miss Robin Williams, while anything I could possibly say about Gaza could land me in the middle of a flame war with people breathing down my neck no matter how impartial I try to be. Aside from a few assholes who don't understand depression or just trying to get a rise out of people, people who say that they'll miss him or not won't get personally attacked. It's a less tenacious and fired topic that most people can relate to if they ever saw a movie.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Well, if you want to get technical, then I guess Gaza IS more "important," but if you want to get into a pissing match over what's more "important" then, ultimately, you're just going to lose out to...well, entropy.

Best to recognize that everyone experiences things differently and even the smallest concern is of note if it's happening to you, simply because it's happening to you and you're the one experiencing it.

 

[RedDeadFred]

We feel for Robin because we've watched him for years and even if it was just his persona we assigned a personality to him. It's kind of like losing a friend(though much less harsh

This would be exactly my reasoning as well. As insensitive as this sounds, the people in Gaza are on the other side of the planet and I have never met any of them. It's sad that it is happening but honestly, it's probably not going to stop for a very long time.

Robin Williams brought me a lot of joy with his various roles. He made me laugh a lot, and he actually made me shed a few tears (Dead Poets Society). He had a much bigger impact on me emotionally than anyone dying in various catastrophes. Sorry, it's sad but true. Feeling sad about his death isn't something that people can simply turn off either so to be honest, the people asking these questions seem more like the jerks in the situation.

 

[Erttheking]

Tell those people that over 100,000 people die per day and then ask them when they plan on getting upset over them.