reasons i am a robot part one billion
Jul. 25th, 2013 01:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kleenexwomanI don't really care that much when other people express strong emotions about things I don't share, I guess, but I really dislike it when I feel that I'm expected to join in.
Grief is a biggie for me. I hate attending funerals of people I don't know. I'd certainly be upset if an actor or a writer I liked died, but if someone whose work I don't particularly care about dies, I can't muster much more than a "Huh, that's too bad" most of the time. Now, this should be fine, but it does strike me as weird when people cry at me about it, and I go, "I didn't know you were a fan of them," and they go, "I wasn't, but it's SO TRAGIC." Do you get teary when a co-worker's relative dies and they have to go to the funeral? Do you mist up reading the obituaries? Maybe you do because you are that tender-hearted of a soul, but I do not think most people do.
It's especially weird when people go, "Oh, man, I'm so sad X died, now we'll never get another movie from them," and other people go "STOP BEING SELFISH, YOUR THOUGHTS SHOULD BE WITH THEIR FAMILY." The only reason you care about this person is because they made movies or songs or books you liked. You may have become a fan of their personality, you may have even met them, but you would never have known they existed and thus been able to be sad about their deaths if you hadn't liked the way they made art. That was your relationship to them, fan to idol. Why shouldn't you mourn their creations forever unveiled? Why shouldn't you mourn them in a way that's appropriate to how you knew them, if that's how you feel?
Recently, the royal baby thing has been fucking weird, because there are people talking about it all the fuck over the place and women talking about it at work, and one lady asked me if I was happy, and I said, "I don't really care. We're not an English commonwealth--in fact, we kind of seceded--so it's got nothing to do with me." She got mad and said, "Well, if you don't care about the future king, you can at least care that there's a happy and healthy baby in the world." I said I hated babies and went to eat my salad. Then I thought of a much better thing to say :/ L'esprit d'escalier.
If you're bringing this down to that human and common of a level, what's the point? A guy I know posted on his Facebook on the date of the baby's birth, "Shaniqua Johnson gave birth to a healthy baby boy in a Harlem hospital last night. There was no news coverage." If you're trying to make people care just because there's a baby, why don't you care about Shaniqua Johnson's baby? The only reason you know who these people are or what they are doing is because they are royalty. If you care about royalty, that's lovely, I'm certainly not going to debate you on how important the British crown is or what you should care about. But if you think I should care about the baby even if I don't care about royalty, what else are you ignoring?
tl;dr Feel whatever you feel about whatever you want, but don't get mad at me when I don't join in. Thx.
Grief is a biggie for me. I hate attending funerals of people I don't know. I'd certainly be upset if an actor or a writer I liked died, but if someone whose work I don't particularly care about dies, I can't muster much more than a "Huh, that's too bad" most of the time. Now, this should be fine, but it does strike me as weird when people cry at me about it, and I go, "I didn't know you were a fan of them," and they go, "I wasn't, but it's SO TRAGIC." Do you get teary when a co-worker's relative dies and they have to go to the funeral? Do you mist up reading the obituaries? Maybe you do because you are that tender-hearted of a soul, but I do not think most people do.
It's especially weird when people go, "Oh, man, I'm so sad X died, now we'll never get another movie from them," and other people go "STOP BEING SELFISH, YOUR THOUGHTS SHOULD BE WITH THEIR FAMILY." The only reason you care about this person is because they made movies or songs or books you liked. You may have become a fan of their personality, you may have even met them, but you would never have known they existed and thus been able to be sad about their deaths if you hadn't liked the way they made art. That was your relationship to them, fan to idol. Why shouldn't you mourn their creations forever unveiled? Why shouldn't you mourn them in a way that's appropriate to how you knew them, if that's how you feel?
Recently, the royal baby thing has been fucking weird, because there are people talking about it all the fuck over the place and women talking about it at work, and one lady asked me if I was happy, and I said, "I don't really care. We're not an English commonwealth--in fact, we kind of seceded--so it's got nothing to do with me." She got mad and said, "Well, if you don't care about the future king, you can at least care that there's a happy and healthy baby in the world." I said I hated babies and went to eat my salad. Then I thought of a much better thing to say :/ L'esprit d'escalier.
If you're bringing this down to that human and common of a level, what's the point? A guy I know posted on his Facebook on the date of the baby's birth, "Shaniqua Johnson gave birth to a healthy baby boy in a Harlem hospital last night. There was no news coverage." If you're trying to make people care just because there's a baby, why don't you care about Shaniqua Johnson's baby? The only reason you know who these people are or what they are doing is because they are royalty. If you care about royalty, that's lovely, I'm certainly not going to debate you on how important the British crown is or what you should care about. But if you think I should care about the baby even if I don't care about royalty, what else are you ignoring?
tl;dr Feel whatever you feel about whatever you want, but don't get mad at me when I don't join in. Thx.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-25 04:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-28 08:45 pm (UTC)because they might have impacted your life in a deep way: given hope, given inspiration, brought friends together, their works given joy and entertainment through times of struggle, sometimes even the will to live. and if not to you, personally, then to many others - because that's what happens when someone gets famous. their lives and influence spread wide. and when they die, there's a void created.