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I don’t think it’s weird at all. If a million people were to die of COVID tomorrow, I wouldn’t really care emotionally. They all had their own life narratives,
by mise_en_place 5y ago
I don’t think it’s weird at all. If a million people were to die of COVID tomorrow, I wouldn’t really care emotionally. They all had their own life narratives, emotions and intelligence. Yet it wouldn’t phase me one bit. Perhaps intellectually I would have some compassion for them, and would hope they didn’t suffer.
On the other hand, if a close relative or friend dies, I would mourn them immensely. Similarly, if I had a pet pig I would mourn that individual pig a lot. But a lab pig that’s used for experiments not so much.
- sailfast 5y agoA MILLION people? Not one bit? "Perhaps intellectually I would have some compassion for them?" I guess you're proving Stalin (paraphrasing Tucholsky?[0]) was right? "The death of one is a tragedy, but the death of millions, a statistic. [0]https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0603/Political-misquotes-The-10-most-famous-things-never-actually-said/The-death-of-one-man-is-a-tragedy.-The-death-of-millions-is-a-statistic.-Josef-Stalin https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0603/Political-m...
- RalfWausE 5y agoWhy should he? If he didn't knew anyone of the dead, i can totaly relate to this. I, for me personally speaking, would see it as factual BAD would a million people die tomorrow of Covid, but i wouldn't mourn anyone if i didn't know him personally. Perhaps i am a psychopath, but even an event like 9/11 left me just with the feeling of "oh, i think this is not good" instead of the shock or anything like my peers expressed...
- csee 5y agoIsn't this normal? We didn't evolve to feel much compassion in the abstract for people outside of our group, especially not if there aren't visual or auditory cues that they're suffering.