Reading What Sucks

I swear that if I hear one more person bitch about today's Christmas being all about commerce and watch everyone in the room nod in agreement, something very bad will happen.

Why can't we just all agree that we're too freaking busy to really care about anything larger than a personal crisis? Five minutes of news on TV cover the net worth of five hundred human casualities, not including a two digit number of wars that haven't been deemed worth reporting and someone tells me they care about it all, day by day? Right.

There's so much shit happening at this very moment, dignifying its degree of awefulness with an adequate amount sympathy would be a day job. And unless you're way down in Sudan keeping a child from bleeding to death because she tripped on a fucking landmine, why not just skip the bullshit and admit that the part of your conscience responsible for global misery has died off when you were fourteen?

It's not like you would be a worse person for it. More honest maybe, but no worse. Human minds haven't been built to deal with the sorrow of a whole planet, and faking the process is just so distasteful. Having that constant background feeling that this world is going to hell? We all are. But just whining about it does nothing but show that you really couldn't care less.

'Yeah, That's what Jesus would do. Jesus would bomb Afghanistan. Yeah.' - snowlion

I would agree.

Also note: The world seems like such a terrible place because there has been an explosion of media. The internet, television, radio, newspaper... most of which has been made popular within the last hundred years or so. With this comes commercial gain. Those who work in the media want to increase their own trade (like all businesses) so they put out the stories that people will listen to.

We bring it upon ourselves. We can watch the news with our jaws wide open, wondering what a sick world we live in, but who pays the electrical bill? Who buys X product from the livening commencials?

Nothing can really be done. But I would like to add that the total filth that we live with has just become popular, not more frequent. So isn't it comforting to know that an equal amount of good has happened? No newcaster will tell you that a son had come home after a lifetime of sex and drugs and violence. No newscaster will tell you about two young teenagers falling in love and spending wonderful lives together. They won't tell you about the men who lived in Iraq. (But they WILL tell you who died...) They won't tell you who came home for Christmas, or who got an A on their semester finals, or who just had a bar-mitzvah or who recieved a medical miracle...

There is a whole world of hurt, but there is a whole world of love and truth and hope and joy and everything that we have deemed good by our own standards. Don't let the media tell you where the world has gone. Make it your own goal to say that you will work for the good things that have been in practice for thousands or years and have forgotten in fifty.

Am I alone?

Discipline makes you happy.

There is a whole world of hurt, but there is a whole world of love and truth and hope and joy and everything that we have deemed good by our own standards. Don't let the media tell you where the world has gone.

Nicely said. Really.

I find it rather amusing how every year on December 24th the press is exerting themselves to produce a single cover story that is not about death, murder and decay. It really must hurt them to do that.

'Yeah, That's what Jesus would do. Jesus would bomb Afghanistan. Yeah.' - snowlion

The full weight of what you said hit me in the past few days hearing about the tsunamis that hit Thailand and Sri Lanka amongst other places. I think the current death toll is approx 30,000. i hear this and i see the images and listen to the stories... and i feel overcome with guilt about my selfish nature.

it's quite the paradox, my guilt brings this crisis down to a personal level: there is no escape.

I can't tell you that i shed tears over this, the emotion i fel is to abstract and strong to expressed through the same manner i express my insignificant woes that change daily with the tide. instead, each time i think about it a weight grows heavy in my mind and my stomach tightens to knots that are possibly strong enough to withstand even the awesome power of the tsunamis themselves.

i am taking every cent that was given to me over the Christmas period, and all that i earnt as well and donating it toward the cause. I care but not enough. these deaths and losses do mean a lot to me, but i am still not prepared to sacrifice my own life. I do something which is meant to ease my guilt, and coincidently it might provide some poor Sri Lankan family with a blanket or two.

Even so, if it were not for the fact that my fathers family are from Sri Lanka i may not have even bothered to do so little. or if i had not studied the political situation in Aceh, Indonesia in school this year i wouldn't know or care that the Indonesian government have not allowed in aid organisations for years and that the situation between the the peoples of Aceh and the Indonesian government is close to beyond repair. when i first heard of what had happened i emmited a bitter laugh thinking great, because the people of Aceh clearly haven't suffered enough

i refuse to accept the point that "i don't care" because i do. maybe the part of my conscience responsible for global misery is a dying off two years too late... i wont leave my enclosed sheltered life, but i do care.

as for 'whining'... i like to believe there is a difference bewteen whining and raising awareness. for instance i essentially run our schools branch of Amnety International...now personally, i think amnesty are about as useless as a squash when it comes to actually resolving anything, however i think they are excelent at raising awareness. when things are well known enough, it is my hope that perhaps then something will done. but it is amazing how ignorant some people are. we put up a poster in the girls toilets (the girls that frequent these toilats are about 16 years old on average) telling a story about a sudanese 15 year old girl who was raped, and urging women to educate themselves, and to please donate money (we were running a fundraiser for Sudanese orphans). the poster was written on and slandered. we wrote a letter in return and stuck that up - and we let them have it. these are the girls whose parents pay for everything they ask for. hell - their parents are paying about AU$12,000 a year just for their schooling, and they cant spare a thought for anyone else. i do think they are worse than me. i dont give a damn if you think they are more 'honest'... i think they are horrible people, and i in fact think that are dishonest. when they read that poster, they would have felt something deep inside, it was this feeling and fear of it which prompted their cruel reaction. currently, i despise them... but who knows, perhaps when we put up another poster next year those people will not slander them again, then they can have my respect.

oh look, i just whined for a page... i clearly couldn't care less.

-Mel

PS - this was not meant to have an aggressive tone at all, and to follow the USAs example, im going to pre-empt anger, exasperation or disgust from Jaz and apologise in advance. i gather that your post was referring to people complaining about far more trivial issues... and mine was going to be... but my anger kind of grew and grew while i wrote this, and it went in a direction it wasn't quite intended to go in...

Look at me! I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

The full weight of what you said hit me in the past few days hearing about the tsunamis that hit Thailand and Sri Lanka amongst other places. I think the current death toll is approx 30,000. i hear this and i see the images and listen to the stories... and i feel overcome with guilt about my selfish nature.

What really cracks me up about this disaster is the subtle concern that I might only be so moved because of the high bodycount. Bangladesh has been flooded to death on a regular basis for ages, but might not even make it into the news.

Shit, I actually heard a lecture about this. Hundreds of people die but the average citizen couldn't find the country on a map? Doesn't make it into the news because of the high cultural distance between the audience and the place of events. Raise the death toll by a factor of 100 and things are looking different again.

i like to believe there is a difference bewteen whining and raising awareness.

I think that if you have reached a point where you feel the necessity to raise awareness rather than enjoy a latte with your friends while talking about how awful it all is, I was not talking about you.

this was not meant to have an aggressive tone at all, and to follow the USAs example, im going to pre-empt anger, exasperation or disgust from Jaz and apologise in advance. i

Don't worry, I don't think anybody took offense.

'Yeah, That's what Jesus would do. Jesus would bomb Afghanistan. Yeah.' - snowlion

What really cracks me up about this disaster is the subtle concern that I might only be so moved because of the high bodycount.

oh, i hear you... it's all about the sheer magnitude, with so many people affected it is far easier to bring this to a personal level. *gasp* four or more countires involved! but my neighbours sisters cousins uncles wife knows someone who might live there~! what-to-do what-to-do!

Hundreds of people die but the average citizen couldn't find the country on a map?

you really need to be introduced to the genius that is John Safran. his latest series John Safran Vs. God really illustrates this point whilst john abuses the viewer. it's great. if i manage to get it, i'll even mail you a copy of it! unfortunatly, i very much doubt that his stuff will be available anywhere but Australia.

Doesn't make it into the news because of the high cultural distance between the audience and the place of events

*snorts* the only reason why we have practically 24 hour coverage of the disaster is because Australia is geographically close, and guess what... it's useful to be close to Indonesia now, considering we changed our mind mid-way through the East Timor separatist movements to suddenly run the vote that granted independence. woops, i think we're in the bad books, thankfully a nice tidy sum of money right about now will help us pat ourselves on the back.

Don't worry, I don't think anybody took offense.

oh phew, i've been wary of posting much the past few months (other than: today i woke up and put on a pair of purple socks as my red ones were in the wash. here is a photo of said purple socks__), i've been afraid of things being misinterpreted and blowing up out of proportion. perhaps NAO has returned to a peaceful state once more.

-Mel

Look at me! I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

To sum up my feelings on the issue as breifly as possible:

Yes, people are hurting all over the world. However that is no excuse for my to go anti comfort as some would have it. Granted, I don't mind contributing my excess to help those that are in need, I just don't see why a body must suffer because others do. If it is in your power to help, than may the body, mind and spirit convict your ass till you provide, but don't suffer throug it...

That's not the point. We need to enjoy life, regardless of others who do not have that luxery, because if we all went nuts because others couldn't nobody would enjoy life, so what would be the point of it existing?

I should be ashamed of myself.

I just don't see why a body must suffer because others do.

There's always the struggle between
Oh my god, those poor people, I feel so bad about them!
and
I'm really sorry for them, but when I feel bad it doesn't help them, so why should I.

I myself am not so sure where to stand, but a few months ago I've come across this interesting experiment:

A person is given random electroshocks. The shocks come by surprise and inflict a small amount of pain. Brain activity is monitored. The brain shows the usual patterns for a person in pain and stress.
Then a person close to the subject (boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse) joins the experiment: they just sit there in a comfy chair and watch their beloved one getting electrocuted.
Both brains show the same activity patterns. The experiment finds no difference between actually feeling the pain and feeling empathy for someone in pain, other than the presence/lack of the physical pain itself.

For an emotion to become that powerful, it must have played an important role in evolution for a long time. In this case I'm willing to put some trust into evolution and say it's The Right Thing™ to feel bad about all those people.

That, and I donate money :-)

When life hands you a lemon, that's 40% of your RDA of vitamin C taken care of.

This post was edited by null on Dec 30, 2004.

There's always the struggle between
Oh my god, those poor people, I feel so bad about them!
and
I'm really sorry for them, but when I feel bad it doesn't help them, so why should I.

The TV screen shows use a number of deaths that keeps rising. At any given time it's 10,000 more than it was before. Can I comprehend 114,000 people dying in less than a weeks period? No. Am I horrified because of this tragic event? Hell yeah. Do I really understand the magnitude of suffering? No. Between the TV, Radio and Internet I am bombarded with sensory overload. The shear amount of information is too overwhelming. I cannot take in all this death and destruction everyday. I am desensitized to it. The media only ever reports on death and violence. Rarely you will see something good on the news, but rare. I'm kind of sick of turning on the TV or viewing a news website and seeing death stare me right in the face. I don't want to hear about more people dying. I tune it out. It's too surreal to imagine happening. I've never seen a dead person (other than at a funeral which brings an certain amount of sanity to the situation) or somebody die in front of me. So the whole experience of it is rather frightening and horrific.

This post was edited by majic on Dec 30, 2004.

In college I had a buddy that was a Venuzuelan Jew (the only one you'd ever meet...other than his twin brother). The second funniest moment between us was when I came in and asked how his day was.

"My country is in revolution. Angry masses have taken to the streets. I think the leader has been killed. I fear for my family."

"Uhhh....I had this really hard test..."

What do you say to that? I had NUHthing.