Am I the Only One Who DOESN'T Care About Japan?

[Smokej]

Everybody with a spark of decency and human dignity should care about what is happening around the world. This doesn't mean you have to bring deep sorrow about such a matter but still you should show interest and maybe even provide assistance if you have the chance...

Japan is such an important country for the world in so many regards with very decent people living there. I have to admit i'm pretty impressed by their stoic determination they are showing in this crisis. You can ask yourself how your country and population would react in their place...

 

[Vault101]

Well if anyone of us were in such a situation Id be hoping that somone out there gave a crap

 

[Slayer_2]

Well, I agree, I might be a cold-hearted bastard, but I'm human, it's impossible for me to care too much about people I've never met and never will. If we cared about every human, we'd be so miserable we'd never get to live life, and no one would be enjoying life. While I feel bad for the people who were killed or had their lives shattered, there is nothing I can do.

Then there are those morons who claim this is sign of the end of the world. Crazy idiots

 

[TWRule]

A few things that people in this thread need to get straight:

Sympathy is not the same as empathy.

Caring *for* something or someone and caring *about* something or someone, are also different.

When you say "I don't know those people, so I don't care" - the former does not necessarily entail the later. You can still empathize with any other human being, whether you know them or not, if you think to envision yourself in their situation. You do not need to sympathize (in the sense of pitying) for them to do this.

Obviously, everyone in this thread cares about what is happening in Japan, or they would not be posting here. Again, that does not entail, caring *for* that - in other words tending to it in any notable way.

So if you choose to not even recognize the situation for what it is, then you can say you don't care about it at all - and you likely have a very disturbing worldview. But since you don't need to know other people to care about and empathize with them, I'd say many of the people in this thread are making themselves out to be more callous and ineffectual than they really are.

If you are truly incapable of picturing yourself in another person's shoes, whether you know them well or not, then I feel neither empathy nor sympathy for you.

 

[ex951753]

If you've shown absolutely no interest in Japan, then I hope you're just some 12 years old kid ranting. There's probably people who don't care for the lives lost, or the homeless, but making a thread about it and feeling special for not caring just shows how big of an asshole you are.

The fact is what is happening in Japan is affecting most countries all over the world. The fluctuating stock markets, factory, and shipment delays, businesses forced to shut down, protests against nuclear power as an energy source, etc. What is happening in Japan is probably going to change the future of whatever country you're in, and you must be pretty blind and ignorant to not give a flying **** at all.

 

[Accountfailed]

So as most of you know Japan has had it pretty rough lately what with an earthquake, a tsunami, and some kind of radioactive meltdown happening in pretty quick succession. Hundreds of people are dead and towns have been destroyed. People at my school are all talking about it and debating whether or not we (the USA) should help Japan. But in the midst of all this, I find that I really don't care. I mean, I certinly don't want people to die and I don't wish anything bad on Japan (unlike some crazy people), but I don't really feel any sympathy towards people who I've never met and probably never will. Anyone else feel the same way, or am I just a sociopathic weirdo?

You aren't alone, this kind of thing is natural, actually one could say it is unnatural to care about people you never knew and never will. this is called the "monkeysphere" (or "Dunbar's number" if the first name was too entertaining for you) which is the theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships, which is supposedly somewhere between 100 and 230 people. basically anyone who is not in your monkeysphere of 100-230 people, you couldn't really give a shit about. This includes far off things like disasters and exceptions like someone falling on the street(local empathy) or whatever. So, good sir, the reason you can't care, is because your mind physically cannot generate empathy for a disaster so far away and people so unrelated to you. I believe you would care if someone inside your monkeysphere was in japan during the disaster, So don't feel bad.

 

[Coldster]

They are the second biggest economic power and the most technologically advanced country in the world. It's like when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, everyone was devestated when it happened but then we realised: Wait, this is the U.S.A. they don't need help, they can handle anything. It's tragic that Japan had to experiance such a huge disaster (and they should have recived more donations than the 125 mil that Haiti got!) but they will get over it soon.

Actually, they might be screwed if those nuclear reactors explode...

 

[ProfessorLayton]

If you didn't care about Japan, you wouldn't have made a thread about it. Unless you wanted to have people think you were cool.

Great so this is what we've evolved to, a species who can't even feign compassion for the human race but obviously cares a whole lot for games. This isn't a sign of you being punk and narcissistic like everyone here would like to think but devoid of reality in your insular bubble of virtual achievement and interaction.

Kind of exactly what I was thinking... threads like these are the reason I'm slowly stopping coming to this site...

 

[dogenzakaminion]

Wow, I normally wouldn't go anywhere near this topic except the fact that as a social geographer, this catastrophe is really interesting. Don't get me wrong, it's horrible and I wish it didn't happen, but over 550 000 internally displaced people and how to help is gonna fuel my schoolwork for a few months.

Btw, over 1000 confirmed dead, over 12,000 people missing and 550,000 is horrible...

 

[ryuutchi]

F*cking empathy: how does it work?

I'm not crying, and I don't know anyone currently in Japan.

On the other hand, there's devastation on a massive scale, I know people who have family there whose lives ARE impacted, and I certainly feel sympathy and empathy for what they must be going through. Not knowing if your friends and family are safe and sound, whether you'll have electricity, water or food-- all of that sucks beyond belief, and you can empathize without having to be personally impacted.

Not feeling deep personal sorrow is one thing-- OTOH, being completely indifferent to massive trauma impacting millions of people makes you a jerk at best.

 

[RabbidKuriboh]

you have recieved your attention, congrats

 

[Corjha]

I feel exactly that. I'm an avid reader of buddhist ideas yet I still can't find any compassion.

EDIT: To all ye who call this guy a dick for making this thread, did you not see what he said last? He's asking if he's not the only one so that he can know if not caring means that he is a sociopath. Calling him a dick for questioning his own ability to sympathize is a big step backwards for the development of the individual morality.

 

[Raven's Nest]

You know, at first I wanted to rage at the insensitivity but then I realised the reasons for feeling the way you do are pretty valid.

Although I genuinely felt compassion for that man found clinging to a roof after a few days. When I read that his wife had been swept away in front of him I felt extremely saddened for him after imagining the scene, his grief and irreplaceable sense of loss. At 60 years old it's more than likely he was married for around 40 years, that's 40 years of memories, hopes and dreams, cruelly, indiscriminently and permanently taken from him... From there I begun to feel a lot more for everone affected. It's the first time I've felt genuinely for victims such as these. It's nice to now know that I have that capacity.

Great so this is what we've evolved to, a species who can't even feign compassion for the human race but obviously cares a whole lot for games. This isn't a sign of you being punk and narcissistic like everyone here would like to think but devoid of reality in your insular bubble of virtual achievement and interaction.

You forgot to add sense of entitlement...

 

[Paksenarrion]

So as most of you know Japan has had it pretty rough lately what with an earthquake, a tsunami, and some kind of radioactive meltdown happening in pretty quick succession. Hundreds of people are dead and towns have been destroyed. People at my school are all talking about it and debating whether or not we (the USA) should help Japan. But in the midst of all this, I find that I really don't care. I mean, I certinly don't want people to die and I don't wish anything bad on Japan (unlike some crazy people), but I don't really feel any sympathy towards people who I've never met and probably never will. Anyone else feel the same way, or am I just a sociopathic weirdo?

Well, no, it's perfectly normal.

Then again, going online and talking about it, not so much.

I mean, look at it this way. If you got testicle cancer right now I wouldn't give a crap. Your balls can painfully rot and eventually kill you and I couldn't care less. You could be in agonizing ball pain right now and I would only care about whether I want my toothpaste in spearmint breeze or arctic ice flavour in the next few minutes.

But if I sent you an email saying that... well, that would be kind of rude, wouldn't it?

I would go with the arctic ice flavor. Why smell like trees when you can smell like the Frozen North? Just one sniff of your icy cold breath and people will say, "It smells like Santa lives in your mouth!"

Arctic Ice Flavour: Sink the Unsinkable.

 

[murphy7801]

How very American of you.

 

[Hashime]

I do not care much about the situation either. I am however curious about how they intend to prevent a critical melt-down. There is some new tech they could deploy, it could be interesting.

 

[Radek1994]

I didn't really care to much either until I found out they sent those guys on a suicide mission to stabilize that nuclear reactor.

 

[Yankeedoodles]

As has been well established at this point: no you're not a monster. But people have incredibly diverse reactions to tragedy. When the shooting took place at Virginia Tech a few years ago the person I was living with was devastated. He actually broke down and cried. I tried to be supportive but I just found it incredibly strange. Was it a tragedy? Certainly, I could acknowledge it on an intellectual level. But on an emotional level it didn't even register. I was far more concerned about him than I was for the victims of the tragedy. If there was something reasonably within my power to help the people of the tragedy then I would have done it. But there wasn't. Thus what point was there in getting upset about it?

Don't let other people tell you what you ought to be feeling. My best wishes are with the victims of this tragedy but is there anything that I can do? No, not really. I'm a student on loans at the moment and don't have the funds to spend to help the victims of such a tragedy. Honestly, the best thing that I CAN do is just try to be there for the people around me who are affected by this tragedy on an emotional level. I may not be able to understand what they're going through but I can certainly try to be supportive of them. Just try to remember that such people aren't especially rational at times like this and may well say hurtful things because they can't comprehend why you aren't in the same state. The friend I was talking about earlier came close once or twice. But if they're a good friend they're worth the patience.