If it happens in the States, the response will be exactly the same. Some people will donate their time to help, some will donate some money, and the rest won't be bothered enough to do a damn thing about it. It's human nature. As long as something does not directly affect them, they won't really care about it.ekkaman said:
Am I the Only One Who DOESN'T Care About Japan?
- Thread starter Revenge Revisited
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<-- Lives in New Zealand. So yeah, I can sympathise with the Japanese at the moment.
In fact, even if we hadn't had problems here, I would still feel upset for Japan that such a terrible thing happened. Am I weeping about it self-indulgently? No. That would be silly; I am not in Japan, I don't know anyone in Japan, I am wholly unconnected with Japan.
Do I feel sympathy for my fellow human beings? Yes.
You're not a sociopath. You're just rather self-absorbed.
In fact, even if we hadn't had problems here, I would still feel upset for Japan that such a terrible thing happened. Am I weeping about it self-indulgently? No. That would be silly; I am not in Japan, I don't know anyone in Japan, I am wholly unconnected with Japan.
Do I feel sympathy for my fellow human beings? Yes.
You're not a sociopath. You're just rather self-absorbed.
No, because most Americans didn't care about Katrina. Just like most of the rest of the world didn't care about Katrina, and doesn't care about Japan.FluxCapacitor said:
People (generally) simply do not emotionally recognize tragedy that does not personally affect them. It's an evolutionary defensive mechanism and it's not going away any time soon.
I don't give a damn either. Of course I'm a pretty hateful person anyways. Haiti and New Orleans, didn't care about those either.
You know, I'm really more annoyed with the "am I then only one" part of this thread, but anyway... No. Honestly, I don't really care either. Yeah, it is something bad that happened, and it sucked, but I really don't care that much. I'm not going to fake it and pretend I do so some random people I don't know or care about don't hate me or whatever. I doubt half the people that say they care really do care, too.
I see the way the Japanese are handling this. I saw with my own eyes how Americans handled the Katrina - Rita - Ike hurricanes.ekkaman said:
IMO - The American people suck at this point. We are so wallowed in apathy it is mind blowing to me.
This is one American who feels so sorry for those people in Japan. At the same time I have great pride for them at how they are handling this situation. It gives me a small glimmer of hope for humanity as a whole. If I only had to base humanity on what I see every day with Americans - ug....
As a die hard American from Texas who has a US flag flying over his house - who has served his country in the US Army - I am so sorry for the way this country has - is - will act.
I'm American.
I believe 9/11 was a set-up, so I don't care about it at all.
When Haiti got hit with a tsunami, I almost laugh. It turned to anger when they started refusing the food we were giving them because it wasn't good enough. I didn't care.
New Zealand gets hit with an earthquake and the only thing I care about is the architecture, nothing more.
Now with Japan, I didn't care at first. The difference is the death toll and our relationship with the country. The video footage on the internet is terrible, from the destruction to the screams of the dying which will haunt my mind for many nights to come. Their reactors are close to meltdown, which would ruin vast areas of Japan for hundreds of years, and then a volcano erupts killing even more people?
This country is getting hit so hard that they have run out of body-bags and coffins for their dead. Think about that.
This is probably a first but, yeah, I care.
I believe 9/11 was a set-up, so I don't care about it at all.
When Haiti got hit with a tsunami, I almost laugh. It turned to anger when they started refusing the food we were giving them because it wasn't good enough. I didn't care.
New Zealand gets hit with an earthquake and the only thing I care about is the architecture, nothing more.
Now with Japan, I didn't care at first. The difference is the death toll and our relationship with the country. The video footage on the internet is terrible, from the destruction to the screams of the dying which will haunt my mind for many nights to come. Their reactors are close to meltdown, which would ruin vast areas of Japan for hundreds of years, and then a volcano erupts killing even more people?
This country is getting hit so hard that they have run out of body-bags and coffins for their dead. Think about that.
This is probably a first but, yeah, I care.
While I see what you're saying, I find the idea that it's an evolutionary trait to be an easy out. Sure, our minds can't take in all the sadness in the world so we have to compartmentalise stuff, but that doesn't mean it doesn't ever register. I find it saddening that there are so many people who sound like they didn't even feel a twinge of concern and sympathy, and I can only put it down to the rising tide of narcissism in today's society.Agayek said:
I cared about Katrina, and about Haiti, and about Pakistan, and about Christchurch. Did I let it take over my life? Not at all. Was I able to spare the time I was watching the news to feel bad for the victims of these tragedies? Absolutely. It isn't that hard to develop a sense of empathy - evolution as a species takes a long time, but you can evolve as a person by questioning these basic tendencies and trying to be better.
Not sure what else to add to that. Other than this:
http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/September/20050915165123ajesrom9.768313e-02.html
As usual, your nowhere close to being the only one, you are however part of the small minority who is either enough of a prick or wants attention enough to try and announce this fact to as many people as you can.
If it's not important to you, then why are you talking about it?
If it's not important to you, then why are you talking about it?
The monkey sphere. [http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html]
Hey, at least you don't think that they deserved it for whaling [http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/japan-earthquake-musician-stringybark-mcdowell-criticised-over-tasteless-japan-comments/story-fn7zkbgs-1226022410553] or Pearl Harbor [http://www.viceland.com/blogs/en/2011/03/14/tsunami-vs-pearl-harbor/] or some other reason that can only be thought up by the world's biggest arseholes.
Hey, at least you don't think that they deserved it for whaling [http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/japan-earthquake-musician-stringybark-mcdowell-criticised-over-tasteless-japan-comments/story-fn7zkbgs-1226022410553] or Pearl Harbor [http://www.viceland.com/blogs/en/2011/03/14/tsunami-vs-pearl-harbor/] or some other reason that can only be thought up by the world's biggest arseholes.
Well, I do care about things going on there because even though I now live pretty far away, I still have a lot of good friends there, but for someone with zero connections to the country I can understand that it doesn't really move you. To be honest I don't really care about what is happening in Libya, Afganistan or anywhere else either. That is just human nature. It is hard to truly care about people you don't know and especially when they live on the other side of the world.
But as a general advice, in the case of not caring it would be good to simply keep your mouth shut as announcing to everyone how little you care will be considered very rude and it can really hurt those that actually do care.
But as a general advice, in the case of not caring it would be good to simply keep your mouth shut as announcing to everyone how little you care will be considered very rude and it can really hurt those that actually do care.
You know saying that what you just said was a bad idea doesn't make it any better, in fact it usually makes it a lot worse. And I despise the term "Japanophile".Nighthief said:
OT: I'd say that, knowing a few a a couple people who are affected by it, yes, I care. It doesn't really matter to me if others don't care, since that's probably the more normal way to think of it (although that's not necessarily a good thing).