When there's a tragedy there's also "those people"

[Vault101]

You've probably heard of the recent shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut. Senseless tragedies like these are unfortunately a recurring thing in our society, and I imagine we are drawn to thease more than other tradgedies (like natural disasters) because of their unexplainable nature...you can understand WHY a hurricane or bush fire ravages towns and comuntiys, but you can't explain or understand someone who takes a gun and massacres young people and children.

The fact is, we as humans are incapable of caring for every awful thing that happens..and thats ONLY what we know about.We can;t really fathom what we don;t see/hear about on the news. This is natural obviously as I think we'd all explode if we felt for everyone who died like it was a loved one.http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

and yeah, this isn't a new thing.If we see s terrible tragedy on the news we'll stop for a second and go "huh..thats terrible" and then likley forget about it the next second.As is human nature.

To my main point, when a tragedy happens and its discussed you'll get "those people"

[quote/]Shit happens.
Nary a fuck is given.
Life goes on.[/quote]

[quote/]Oh my god 28 people that i had no relation to died!

I mean it's not as if millions die everyday.

Those poor, helpless people! Oh the humanity!

*sob*[/quote]

and I know what your thinking, especially if you are the one of the people I quoted

[b/]geez Vault101, youre being a self rightious, passive agressive twat! its not like YOU actually care anymore than I do, your like one of those people who use feigned concern as a kind of moral masturbation [i/]"oh look how awosme I am I care so much about this tragedy[/i]" yeah I don;t care, why should I? it doesnt affect me and this shit happens all the time[/b]

and right you are mabye, I probably don't "care" anymore than the next person, but my problem here is not for the lack of fucks given.Your not obligated to care nor should you be.

But its the attitude of "those people" that pisses me off to no end.See you didn't have to care, yet you went and you had to make a point about how little you cared.Why? what did you contribute to the discussion? was it to get a rise out of people? well ok, congrats you succeeded

is it because you SO fucking proud of yourself that all thease silly people are being "emotional" over somthing that doesn't affect them and using it to circle jerk themselves in a mass of moral vindication? you're too cool for that though right? so you gotta tell us how fucking edgy and cool you are and remind us all that PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT EVERYONE..DIDN'T YOU KNOW THAT!!??

yeah, we did know that actually, its not a fucking new concept.My point is its pointless dickish behaviour and calling it out doesnt not nessicaryly make me one of those "self rightious crusaders" and on the oterhsiide "those people" arent always the "edgy people who see the truth"

so anyway. am I over-reacting? what do you think?

 

[manic_depressive13]

So you don't care that people feel that way as long as they don't say it aloud? That's a bit arbitrary. I'm glad that people like that exist if only because they annoy you.

 

[JoJo]

I follow the general rule of thumb that if someone posts something along the lines of "I don't care" in a thread then in fact they do have some stance on the issue or are trying to show off something, as no-one on the Escapist posts in every thread, even the most prolific posters don't. Those many threads you don't post in are the actual issues you don't care about.

In the specific case of a "I don't care" post in a thread about a tragedy, I mark them up as either an attempt to provoke a reaction or a pose to look cynical and edgy. If someone seriously didn't care then they would just pass over the thread like they do with so many others.

 

[Stasisesque]

As long as they don't say things of the sort to the people directly affected, it doesn't bother me what they think or say. In fact, I often find those people refreshing - not because I agree with them or support them, but because it hammers home the fact that I do care, even if I have no idea how to express myself.

Whenever there's a tragedy of Friday's sort, I know deep down that I am sympathetic, but it's sometimes difficult to get those feelings to the surface. Often I'll feel guilty for not caring enough, then these types come along and I realise I do.

Though I do agree with one part of their views - I'm more annoyed by the people who make it a contest to see who cares the most.

 

[Phasmal]

Eh, I don't really pay attention to the `Look at me not caring!` people.
They either want attention or they think that nobody actually cares but they are the only one brave and edgy enough to actually say it.

Other people's tragedy is not about them, so it's best to just ignore it.

 

[cobra_ky]

I prefer people who are honest over people who pretend to care.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that the people who don't really care (this includes myself) post those things just to oppose to the people who act like they really care.

The truth is, most of us don't -really- care, but we think we're supposed to.

except they aren't being honest. they're pretending not to care when really they're champing at the bit to demonstrate what a cold, emotionless badass they are. they're giddy about the opportunity to exploit a tragedy for their own self-aggrandizement at the expense of people who are capable of actual empathy.

If you think someone is being insincere about it, then go ahead and call them out if you can prove it. But let's dispense with all this "i don't care" nonsense. the people who actually don't care wouldn't have bothered commenting.

 

[Rawne1980]

Some of us think it was a tragic event but I wouldn't go as far as actually "caring".

I wouldn't go out of my way to say "shit happens, oh well" but it would be a lie if I said it "touched" me.

The one and only strong thought I had about it was "thank fuck it wasn't one my kids".

I didn't lose any sleep over it, to be fair it completely left my head 10 minutes after reading about it.

As Thunda said above, we don't like that it happened but to say we have any actual emotion over it would be a lie. No, i'm not one of those that post "we don't give a flying fuck" in threads about tragedies (as some of you are aware it's not often I post a serious comment anyway ... I like humour) I usually just pass them by because the absolute truth is, they don't have any actual impact on my life.

However, if it makes someone feel better to care then all the power to them. There are people that do get affected by tragedies like that shooting. I'm not going to take anything away from them or abuse them for it.

 

[Ryotknife]

Cant say im surprised by the lack of empathy. Dont know how it is in other countries, but here in the US you turn on a news station and it is nearly all bad news as that is generally the only news worth reporting. a couple of years of doom and gloom and yea, im not surprised that people are without empathy. Media has de-sensitized me to horrible events. Waking up in the morning and hearing something terrible that has happened in the world is as part of my routine as making lunch. It is not that i dont care, but ive...just gotten used to it and it no longer surprises me.

Honestly, the media always puts these stories up and then tries to find someone or something to blame, when in reality it is the media that is causing most of these problems (course you wont hear about that because the media will cover it up). Not on purpose mind you, they are just doing their job to "uncover the truth", but the way they are structured and how they present stories are brainwashing people.

look at how much publicity these shooters are getting. They are famous now. Meanwhile the victims are a faceless mob, forgotten in a few days.

 

[eBusiness]

It depends a lot on context. If those things are posted in the sobbing thread on an arbitrary forum I'd say that it's tactless, but not more so than a lot of other stuff posted on the internet.

Personally I'm more concerned about the other type of "those people", those who think everyone has to mourn.

Service announcement for people in Connecticut, and anyone in the general vicinity of a mourn preacher: You are not allowed to have fun for at least 2 months. You are allowed to seem like Christmas time lighten up your miserable day just a little, but don't overdo it.

When people feel the need to announce that they don't care I guess it's mostly a counter reaction to overblown media coverage and friends, family and co-workers who can't talk about anything else.

For most people this episode will fade pretty quickly, but remember how things went after 9/11, they managed to get 2 wars out of the hysteria. Caring too much is not just annoying to other people, you also risk making biased decisions.