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sabotabbyIt's perversely fascinating reading LJ several days after a tragic newsworthy event. Most people on my friends list, for example, are aware at some level that 35,000 children die every day from preventable diseases, and this is a tragedy, but none of us blog every day about the 35,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases. It's usually the unexpected mass deaths that fire up the collective imagination.
Well, we don't know those children. But most of us don't know anyone who went to Virginia Tech either, but a lot of us are overwhelmingly upset and touched by the lives and deaths of people we never met. I'm disinclined to say anything cynical about that; I mean, I have that same reaction. (And check out the spike in the numbers of LJers who were "sad" or "shocked" over the past few days.)
At any rate, I have a theory that a lot of us react to high-profile tragedies in bizarre ways that we tend not to talk about. Accordingly, a poll:
[Poll #969519]
Well, we don't know those children. But most of us don't know anyone who went to Virginia Tech either, but a lot of us are overwhelmingly upset and touched by the lives and deaths of people we never met. I'm disinclined to say anything cynical about that; I mean, I have that same reaction. (And check out the spike in the numbers of LJers who were "sad" or "shocked" over the past few days.)
At any rate, I have a theory that a lot of us react to high-profile tragedies in bizarre ways that we tend not to talk about. Accordingly, a poll:
[Poll #969519]
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-19 04:21 pm (UTC)Right after I heard the news, I thought to myself (as I don't personally know anyone at VTech) "jeez. That's messed up. I wonder how a person gets to the point in their minds where they can go and do that? I wonder if we could all be different to each other such that they didn't, or not as often? Probably. But probably also somebody's going to go batshit crazy in a very tragic way every once in awhile no matter what. I wonder who wants to join me for Chinese tonight?"
Like the loss of the Rain Forests, it's the kind of thing that sits in the back of your mind as "really bad, but basically an abstraction, outside my sphere of influence, and therefore where shall we eat?" Were someone to provide small, concrete actions I could take to contribute to a solution, I would likely take them. Until then, the new Indian restaurant in town is quite good.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-19 04:29 pm (UTC)Deliberately refusing to read, watch, or listen to any news stories about it until the media calms the fuck down.
I basically had a lot of thoughts run through my head: "Is there anything I can do about it? No? Or at least not right now. On to something else, I guess." But it was way before dinner.