A Little Decency Does Not Hurt Anyone · 5:59am Nov 16th, 2015
You know what irks me? Insensitivity, especially when it's about people suffering.
What's got me writing this blog is the amount of jokes I've already seen about the Paris attacks. Simply put, I find it deplorable. Tragedy isn't something to joke about. Whether it be about an individual, an event like 9/11, or something as far back as WWII, I always sigh at the mockery of victims.
"Have a sense of humor" or "stop being so sensitive" or "I'm just joking" seems to be the usual responses from people who act this way. But, quite frankly, I don't buy those. Excuse me, but I don't see the humor in innocent people being murdered. I always picture the person behind the keyboard trying to be some edgy badass when they really just make themselves look like a plain ass. And, of course, if you try to call them out, they'll just laugh and try to act even more offensive.
As cliche as the phrase is, victims really did have lives and friends and families. And now they're all gone. Just try to humanize a victim by imagining what their life and experiences may have been like. When you can see a victim as real person, just like you, life is so much more precious.
Those are my thoughts. Excuse my ventiness; this was written before I've had time to cool down. My moral of the story is to have some empathy for people. Honestly try to picture yourself in a victim's shoes, and then imagine having people on the internet laughing at your loss. It's not funny. Show a little respect and make the situation a bit more positive.
My heart goes out to everyone affected by the Paris attack. May the victims be at peace.
And please, if you want to be that person right now, just save it. Really.
Thanks for reading. I hope you'll take some words to heart.
Oh, that's easy to explain. Since Empathy isn't one of the Elements, nobody knows it's important.
I guess that's why the phrase "too soon" exists.
My heart pours out to those innocent people.
3545204 We've found the seventh element. OC writers behold!
Be a decent person? but that's impossible on the internet!!1
Also that video was beautiful, though I am confused with what the pianist is doing in some sections.
I probably wouldn't find much humor in recent events, and certainly wouldn't joke about them in front of any of the victims or their families. But I'd also caution against judging people who would too harshly; they're not necessarily unempathetic or trying to be insensitive. Humor is just a coping mechanism that some (many) people use. Some might be bad people, but others are just shaken, and respond by trying to laugh it off.
Here's an article on the relation between humor and tragedy.
3545232 I know. I'm actually a kind of person who'll use humor to feel better. In referring to the people who really acting badly. You can often tell the difference.
About the jokes about Paris, I'm just an uncaring asshole who really likes black humor.
I haven't posted any jokes about it online though, but I have made comments about it to others.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
1:40_11/16/2015
Complete agreement. People who make light of tragedies like this are absolute dicks.
Speaking of assholes, people have started "#fuckparis". This is the world we live in, folks. Hundreds are murdered, and people literally say fuck'em.
One the one hand, comedy does equal tragedy plus time. (It must be true: GLaDOS said it.)
On the other hand, it kinda hasn't been nearly long enough. The required time scales with the tragedy.
Simply put, pain is no joke, there is nothing funny in pain and suffering, yet I too have seen it time and again where some half wit opens their mouth and makes some crude remark thinking they are "funny".
Cruel is cruel, no matter how it is presented or wrapped.
Personally, my heart goes out to the people of France.
Indeed, I agree with you, but... honestly, I don't think this sort of response to events like this will ever go away, no matter how many blog posts people make about it. People are, let us face it, non-empathetic assholes. This almost certainly isn't a different response from events like 9-11-it's just that this time it's exacerbated by the internet.
It's terrible, I know. Both what happened, and the response. But I think people being dicks is just something that must be put up with.
In short:
Yeah, there's being funny and there is being tasteless.
I know I'm a bit late to this, but hear hear!
3545204 My response: "It's right there under Kindness. RTFM, kids!"
See I don't mind jokes as long as they're not super tasteless.
But what I do mind is people using the blood as a soapbox to scream ignorance.