tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post1787516032197661210..comments2024-02-17T04:06:00.805-05:00Comments on Just Not Said: "I cry when a freakin' butterfly hits the windshield"John Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-2583375740093164442019-02-12T04:02:36.797-05:002019-02-12T04:02:36.797-05:00Laughing out loud! Laughing out loud! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598819347742670466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-91160406313866246322014-07-26T13:24:20.554-04:002014-07-26T13:24:20.554-04:00Steven --
Thank you, yes, what Baer said made no s...Steven --<br />Thank you, yes, what Baer said made no sense in light of his actions, and, frankly, wouldn't have made sense anyway.<br /><br />Yes, I've been following the goings on in Glasgow quite closely. It's been a great meet so far, lots of fast times, some of them surprisingly so.John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-64273632319167687962014-07-26T12:58:13.928-04:002014-07-26T12:58:13.928-04:00btw yeah just to led support to your article, its ...btw yeah just to led support to your article, its definitely weird to say 'i cry when a butterfly hits the windshield'. wtf I'm sure you're right about this guy. Who murders a 4 year old then is sensitive enough to weep for a butterfly? I'm actually slightly offended he said it and that he expected anyone to believe it.<br /><br /><br />You been watching the com commonwealth swimming?Stevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15276736643046430370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-26873168900491712572014-07-26T12:35:37.949-04:002014-07-26T12:35:37.949-04:00Steven --
Just re-read it, you're right, I had...Steven --<br />Just re-read it, you're right, I hadn't focused on the "This has been my experience this week." I guess she IS talking about herself. <br /><br />I think you're right, she's histrionic, not a sociopath. It's also true that females are more likely to react this strongly to other's grief. <br /><br />And yes, those articles she referenced weren't really attacking the Dutch peoples' grief, they were more just sort of discussing the mood in the Netherlands and also talking about who the Dutch couldn't entirely ignore the economic consequences of their relationship with Russia. No defensiveness was called for. <br /><br />John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-44698783709183711332014-07-26T11:16:21.597-04:002014-07-26T11:16:21.597-04:00I didn't think she was sociopathic by the way....I didn't think she was sociopathic by the way. I thought she was probably as sensitive person who is maybe a bit narcissistic or histrionic.<br />Stevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15276736643046430370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-42519214610290646652014-07-26T11:14:20.632-04:002014-07-26T11:14:20.632-04:00Isn't it also a little strange to write a whol...Isn't it also a little strange to write a whole article that is defensive of Dutch people's grief?<br /><br />Stevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15276736643046430370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-81334591480386307102014-07-26T11:13:24.497-04:002014-07-26T11:13:24.497-04:00If you read that paragraph I quoted, she seems to ...If you read that paragraph I quoted, she seems to me to be talking about herself.<br /><br />"Waking up before sunrise and working until you can think no more is one way of coping. Incessantly worrying about the bodies of the deceased and that people will never be able to bury their loved ones." <br /><br />Worrying about the people that wont be able to bury their loved ones means the person doing the worrying isn't a loved one. That makes me think also the sentences it follows from are about herself.<br /><br />Also: "You cannot sleep, because you need to follow every story, read every article, stay informed about every detail, because that is the only thing you can do to inform others. This has been my experience this week".<br /><br />The paragraph ends "this has been my experience this week".Stevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15276736643046430370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-13882133514427147842014-07-26T10:40:18.175-04:002014-07-26T10:40:18.175-04:00Steven --
Nice catch. Just finished reading the ar...Steven --<br />Nice catch. Just finished reading the article, and I had basically the same reaction: Laura Klompenhouwer is overstating the Dutch reaction. In this particular case I wouldn't say it's an indication that she herself is a sociopath, as she isn't claiming that compassion for herself, she is attributing it to the Dutch people in general. (Sometimes writers lay it on thick because they need to write an article, and they think such a viewpoint will appeal to people.)<br /><br />But your larger point is exactly right: it's ridiculous to think that every citizen in the Netherlands is grieving so intensely after the death of people whom the vast majority of them were not close to. <br /><br />I'm like you (and most people) -- when I read about people dying (pretty much every day, in the papers), I feel nothing, or next to nothing. Sometimes an individual case may move me a little, but that's rare. Unless the person who dies is a loved one, we're programmed not to feel all that much. <br /><br />Perhaps there are people who are more sensitive, and their hearts do bleed for strangers. But when I hear people claim that they are like that, my bullshit detectors tend to go off. And the people who claim ridiculous amounts of empathy and sympathy are generally sociopaths. <br /><br />Thanks re: the post on not envying sociopaths. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-79804281123815036502014-07-26T09:55:34.197-04:002014-07-26T09:55:34.197-04:00"Sociopaths do tend to look at the rest of us..."Sociopaths do tend to look at the rest of us as weaklings, burdened as we are by the normal set of emotions."<br /><br />That's why your recent article about why its not good to be a sociopath was so good. Totally disabuses anybody of that notion. And that's what we should say about it!Stevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15276736643046430370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-2137846976520789982014-07-26T09:43:19.400-04:002014-07-26T09:43:19.400-04:00Its surprising what people will agree to when they...Its surprising what people will agree to when they are on the spot. You see that in youtube prank videos.<br /><br />Its coincidental you wrote about sociopaths overstating or being unrealistic with their displays of compassion. I was going to ask your opinion on an article I read in the guardian.<br /><br />http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/23/mh17-dont-judge-dutch-people-193-compatriots-killed#comment-38529608<br /><br />"One hundred and ninety-three of your own countrymen and women killed.<br /><br />How do you deal with this kind of pain, the kind you cannot describe? Waking up before sunrise and working until you can think no more is one way of coping. Incessantly worrying about the bodies of the deceased and that people will never be able to bury their loved ones. That the small things their loved ones could have remembered them by – a ring, a book, a toy – are gone. You cannot sleep, because you need to follow every story, read every article, stay informed about every detail, because that is the only thing you can do to inform others. This has been my experience this week."<br /><br />Perhaps she is genuinely a very sensitive person but this seems over the top to me. If a close loved one dies, you probably will feel indescribable pain and struggle to cope. But for strangers in a plane crash who you have no connection to? <br /><br />I hear news items like that and I don't feel anything. But if I read some individuals story, then maybe I'll feel something.<br /><br />I know there are people with more empathy than me but still this seems too much somehow.<br /><br />what do you think?<br /><br /><br /><br />Stevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15276736643046430370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-18454157336628397462014-07-25T14:53:32.231-04:002014-07-25T14:53:32.231-04:00Pavonine --
Yes, that's a good insight. Sociop...Pavonine --<br />Yes, that's a good insight. Sociopaths do tend to look at the rest of us as weaklings, burdened as we are by the normal set of emotions. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-29692996120412363112014-07-25T13:19:03.910-04:002014-07-25T13:19:03.910-04:00It sounds like he actually believes that empatheti...It sounds like he actually believes that empathetic people are so crippled by their own emotionality that they would fall to pieces over something that insignificant.Pavonine99noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-61819610293932349182014-07-25T10:47:25.185-04:002014-07-25T10:47:25.185-04:00Gethin --
Good point. In other words, he doesn'...Gethin --<br />Good point. In other words, he doesn't really mean it. <br /><br />His very lawyerly qualification reminds me of Bill Clinton parsing the definition of the words "sex" and "is." His posing with his cat (in the original Prison Pen Pals VII post) reminds me of the way Clinton posed with Socks, the White House cat. And his saying that he cries when a butterfly hits the windshield reminds me of Clinton saying "I feel your pain." His having been a serial rapist reminds me of how Clinton had to leave Oxford early because he was accused of rape. Baer was a methhead, Clinton reportedly had a coke habit when he was governor. The parallels are striking. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-54308888312323874012014-07-25T10:39:07.322-04:002014-07-25T10:39:07.322-04:00The other thing that struck me as very slightly of...The other thing that struck me as very slightly off was the way he agreed that the deserved to die, but kept adding "according to the law". If he really thought that, would it be necessary to add references to the law more than once?<br /><br />- GethinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-80833296999996154772014-07-25T09:11:58.416-04:002014-07-25T09:11:58.416-04:00Birdie -
That's an understatement.Birdie -<br />That's an understatement.John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-80475195612509574072014-07-25T08:50:15.011-04:002014-07-25T08:50:15.011-04:00If a "freakin' butterfly" ever hit m...If a "freakin' butterfly" ever hit my windshield, I wouldn't cry, I'd be grossed out. Sociopaths are unbelievable, annoying, irritating, immature, etc.<br /><br />-birdieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com