Boston Marathon Bombing

[Sahaqiel 1232]

"A bunch of people lost their limbs and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."

[Padraig! 103]

"dangerous" territory?

 

It's simple. God created you. He set the limits to what you can do.

 

Let's say you can sing. Is that a learned thing? Can everyone learn how to sing well? Or are some people gifted with a better voice than others? I think the latter is more in line with the truth. So where did that capacity to sing beautifully come from? Your genes? Those came, originally, from God.

 

Even if you completely deny that, who gave you the air to breath and sing? The earth? Who made the earth? God. 

 

This is all regardless of the fact that I was trying to get across to Sahaqiel that what she said wasn't offensive and I find it odd that it irked him. So I was trying to give him some clarity as to why what she said is okay.

 

yknow if this was any other user i would have thought you were being ironic.

[LLmao ?✊? 1276]

"A bunch of people lost their limbs and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."

They should make T-shirts with no arm holes for the victims who lost limbs. It would not be a T-shirt anymore. Maybe an I-shirt

Edited 23 Apr 2013 by ∟ ∟ (see edit history)

[Brodongo 272]

Wait so just to be clear you guys are now hating on a t-shirt where 100% of the profits go to charity? Nobodies denying that it isnt a cheap PR move by Adidas but its still going to a decent cause so even if people buy them because supporting Boston is trending on Twitter, its not like the money is going to waste. Did I skim through this too fast or is that actually happening?  I don't understand. Go back to bashing on the media.

 

Also Im pretty sure sleeveless shirts already exist, but you should try to trademark them just in case.

 

@Chase

 

I had started to write something up but then it kind of started involving more personal details about my life than i had anticipated and then I didnt feel comfortable posting it on a public forum. I'll try to chop it down a little. I guess the cliffnotes version is that this has been one of the most disturbing weeks of my life, the media is twice is bad when they are circling your like you vultures and you cant simply shut off the tv to escape them, and yes, I feel genuinely bad for the victims, more so than I have after almost any other mass attack on the public, mostly because this hits so close to home.

Edited 24 Apr 2013 by Brodongo (see edit history)

[Chimetals 344]

Wait so just to be clear you guys are now hating on a t-shirt where 100% of the profits go to charity? Nobodies denying that it isnt a cheap PR move by Adidas but its still going to a decent cause so even if people buy them because supporting Boston is trending on Twitter, its not like the money is going to waste. Did I skim through this too fast or is that actually happening?  I don't understand. Go back to bashing on the media.

im i guess i didnt really word that right. im all for what adidas did, and im especially proud of the 100% profits thing. wanting to know how the fund was being handled was more my curiosity than anything else, just so that people dont think "im helping the victims" but then its being used for building repair or something. but like i said, i couldnt get that webpage to load for some reason, so idk on that.

 

its just that stepping back and thinking what it would be like to have one of those shirts a ways from now feels weird. id rather donate the money than get a tshirt for it, tbh, since a tshirt to commemorate death and maiming just feels like something that would be really awkward. on the other hand, i think it gets people that wouldnt donate upright, but would go "hey, this tshirt is donating 100% profits!" and buy it to sorta add to the money to help the victims. like, i think the idea is helping the end goal, but the idea that there are people that wouldnt go "this is awful, ill send money since i live really far away" but would buy a tshirt because "all the profits from this tshirt go to help!" is a little like, "look, i donated", when its really a better character trait to just donate the money without declaring that you did so.

 

i guess im a little annoyed that people would rather walk around broadcasting that they helped rather than just helping quietly? but what adidas is doing is perfectly fine with me.

[Brodongo 272]

yea thats fine. I couldn't really see myself wearing the shirt either, but I don't have a problem with people wearing them. And at least from my perspective, its not so much about just commemorating a death as supporting a city that never has really dealt with this type of thing in a very long time. Last week the subways were practically empty. I've never seen so many armed officers and officials in my life. People were scared to go to school or work. There was this kind of eerie subdued atmosphere everywhere. Its kind of like a moral booster, at least thats the way I see it. But of course, the people I see wearing them are walking through the streets of Boston everyday.

 

Its hard for me to gauge what the atmosphere is like outside of Boston though, because I have been in the city for the entirety if this thing. I just think if I was in Oklahoma and I saw somebody wearing one, I wouldn't mind.

[Chimetals 344]

yeah, i can see that. i just mean that for some dude in like, illinois or something wearing one of these shirts several months from now would be really weird. right now, it wouldnt be bad, and especially in boston. kainda like, for the people that want to genuinely give the moral support, thats understandable.

[Brodongo 272]

yeah, i can see that. i just mean that for some dude in like, illinois or something wearing one of these shirts several months from now would be really weird. right now, it wouldnt be bad, and especially in boston. kainda like, for the people that want to genuinely give the moral support, thats understandable.

 

And I actually do find it touching that you feel this way.

 

Off the top of my head, I do know of two companies that have tried to turn profits by not only selling T shirts but also by trying to trademark the "Boston Strong" slogan. That generally disgusts me a lot more than a slacktivist trying to do his good deed for the day and then boasting about it.

 

I still see 9/11 shirts every now and then though, and I don't really think its weird. Some people want to be reminded about these things. I Know that I would want to not forget this.

Edited 24 Apr 2013 by Brodongo (see edit history)

[Sahaqiel 1232]

I'm not bashing the act of charity, but no matter what, if those t-shirts have any traces of a logo or if there's an effort to let people know that the companies are doing this, the tradeoff is in the marketing. They get publicity, and it's kind of annoying if  they're taking advantage of this. These companies are about as bad as the media in this sense. But I appreciate charities and hope their intentions are good.

 

I hope that your life can return to normal and I'll hold onto the naive hope that no one will have to face tragedies like this again. I know firsthand what it's like to suffer a televised tragedy. I look weird and I'm not black enough, so the reporters didn't chase me down, but just know that I'm with you. That feeling of nothing ever being the same, of the sudden reality and dealing with its aftermath. Thinking about it every day but sighing because that's all you can do. It's far from easy.

[LLmao ?✊? 1276]

I agree. I am not denying that the shirts are helping people. It was a thing that helped people. I am not going to ask, "Well where was Adidas when _______ happened? Why didn't they donate?" It's not my place to comment on that. But you can't help but think that this is an opportunist thing. Charity on a government or corporate level doesn't qualify as charity to me. And you could say, "well who cares? It's helping people!" and that's true, but it's a very calculated helping of people.

 

I guess in general I am severely turned off by prescribed empathy/calculated acts of "kindness"/good deeds a policy. It's not about the semantics of what a "real" good deed is. I am not trying to nitpick or discredit the fact that the victims will probably benefit from this. I guess I am just thinking that there are many things that could benefit from charity. It turns me off that the amount of support something gets is directly proportionate to how cool its slogan/viral YouTube video/T-shirt design/bumper sticker/etc. is. Helping others and being helped both plan their actions with a business model. The helper and the helped both become run-of-the-mill and it's a lot easier to be jaded when causes are constantly competing for media attention. I just do not like that sort of charity. Maybe I just want to stroke my ego and feel like a great person when I help someone face-to-face, as opposed to this faceless cause with T-shirt/viral YouTube video/bumper sticker/etc. If that's the case then I guess the person doing it for their own satisfaction is no different from a person who is donating to get a piece of merchandise commemorating three premeditated murders.

 

 

 

Further reading (optional):

 

Ramble: It's just that coincidentally in my Philosophy class (hear me out lol), we were discussing ethics and good deeds. It was stated that for a deed to be truly "morally good", it must have been a person's duty to perform it. If a person was acting for their own satisfaction, to get something out of it, or for their ego, because it's their job, etc. then the action was not "morally good". It's just a thing that is on my mind, as I just came across this topic in class and it seemed somewhat relevant. I am actually supposed to be writing a paper for class and maybe I will use this charity thing as an example.

 

Honestly, I was not affected by the Boston bombings. I do not feel as if my bubble of safety was breached. I do not think that this sort of thing is any more likely to happen to me at any point. I don't have friends or family who were injured. There was no economic ripple caused effect by the incident or any kind of breach of my freedoms. The incident did not change my view of the world (if anything I just have more disgust for the media). I am not more cynical nor am I more optimistic about the future. Overall, I was practically unaffected by this incident. This says nothing about my values nor my empathy nor my apathy as a person. Excuse me if I am going on another little tangent here: It is totally alright to admit that you simply do not care about current events. I don't have to consistently follow a set of principles regarding the lives/goings-on of people who I do not know. I am saying this because due to circles that I find myself in, grounded apathy seems to be taboo. Even if bad things are happening in the world, they are not happening right in front of me. I do not get to pick and choose what I get affected by. Granted, I can pick and choose what I am exposed to for the most part. But I simply do not really care about what happens in Boston because it didn't affect me. The fact that it didn't affect me is the only proof to see that if didn't affect me. Now if I had watched a bomb go on and injure people in front of me and saw a victim collapse and die in front of me, that would be a different story most likely. I can't say how or how much it would affect me because I can't know. I don't empathize with the people in Boston because I literally cannot. I am not trying to not empathize with them. I just have never been in a situation such as that. And again, my lack of empathy and understanding in this case has ZERO bearing on whether or not I am a good or bad person. I am slowly realizing that, while exploitative, the news corporations are simply trying to force me to empathize with the victims. You could argue that it's not their place to do so, but whatever. They're doing it. News companies use the same tactics as advertisers when "reporting" on the news. A slow, sad piano song named "tragedy #5" over a slideshow of crying people is not news. It's a calculated attempt at getting a rise out of me. They are hoping that some opportunistically snapped photo of a person crying somehow resonates with me and that I can put myself in their shoes. All I am trying to say is that I do not want to fall for that. I feel like I am being forced to have false empathy for these people who I have never met. Again, I am not saying that I wouldn't hypothetically have legitimate empathy if I had been there. I do not like having my emotions manipulated for some outcome, as a matter of principle. I am not jaded when it comes to human suffering/tragedies that affect me.  I am jaded when it comes to news. I can't force empathy. I know people who do it. It's incredibly inconsistent and always serves some ulterior motive (such as painting themselves as a "caring" or "involved" person). It's really infuriating to deal with a person like this because they are usually really smarmy and egotistical. Everyone knows that "bleeding heart" person who doesn't believe the things that they preach.

 

It bothers me that I was told that I am apathetic and subsequently judged for that fact. The fact is, I agree with them about apathy. I am apathetic because I am ignorant to another person's suffering. I will not understand it until I have experienced something similar. I cannot understand the suffering in Boston not because I am a super-chill, jaded contrarian coolguy, but because I am ignorant.

 

Note: I was and am still on Adderall when typing this. I feel like typing a lot when I take it. I also like to ramble, but in a way that I feel is organized.

Edited 24 Apr 2013 by ∟ ∟ (see edit history)

[Chimetals 344]

honestly, LL, i agree. people empathize from experience. like, you can feel bad for people and stuff, and understand that its an awful situation or happening, but unless you have a background containing a similar situation, its hard to emotionally resonate with someone else, whether theyre a stranger or your best friend. so having a logic-based response to something you have never experienced is something normal, i think.

[LLmao ?✊? 1276]

I was semi-venting and talking to no one really. If I had the time to organize my thoughts, I would have liked to express this to a person that I know. They were judging me for not caring.  It helped me organize my thoughts.

Edited 24 Apr 2013 by ∟ ∟ (see edit history)

[Chimetals 344]

even so, its a good point about human psychology that tends to be intentionally ignored as its "heartless" to know that just because something awful happened to someone else, youre still expected to finish your term paper or go to your day job, and that it would take a rare person to be able to be drastically emotionally affected every time something happened to someone theyve never met before.

 

people tend to overlook a lot of quirks about the human mind, really. the thing is just stuffed full of coping mechanisms, though, so saying "hey, i have a coping mechanism and its working just fine" isnt a heartless quality.

 

i have a bit of built-up frustration at the large group of people that have no idea what the hell anything in science is, then try to pass judgement on it. like embryonic stem cell research, gene therapy and gene research articles (for the last time, the fact that the cats glow isnt related to the fact that theyre resistant to FIV), and how emotions work.

 

dumb tangent, incredibly optional, nothing more than the background behind my reasoning:

though the last one i guess is mostly due to people in my past telling me how i "should" feel. ive come to the conclusion that i just react differently than most people, or interpret my emotions differently or idk. the end result is people asking me "how are you so emotionally stable???" though, so i think the perks outweigh the cons. i cant sympathize at all with people whove been dumped, though, not even on an intellectual level, which has left me in some awkward situations. im not gonna walk all over a romantics heart, though (eg, "theres no such thing as love"), as i just know too many among my friends or whatnot, so i just kainda nod and smile and take their word for it, because i sure as hell dont understand in the slightest. i think it exists for some people, i mean, there are chemical reactions in the brain that govern attraction and such, but its not an emotion or experience in my arsenal, and anything close to it has been little more than a fleeting phase for me.

[Brodongo 272]

@LL

 

About empathizing, not caring etc:

 

I think youre right. I remember last week that somebody on my facebook made a post about how their were bombings like this everyday in Syria, and we should also feel bad for them.

 

But I don't have any emotional connection to them. I don't know what its like to live in a civilian war zone where bombs go off everyday. The Boston bombings make me feel sick because it happened to people exactly like me/my friends, doing the exact same thing that we were doing, in almost the exact same place. There are other reasons but thats really what it comes down to in the end.

 

I am being honest when I say that a ton of people care about this around here. People living here have taken this attack personally, and that has stirred a lot of strong emotions. Many people in the northeast know people in Boston, and almost everyone around here knows a handful of people that ran in this years marathon.

 

I can't speak for them, but I would guess that the people who have had their lives significantly altered are similar to you guys in that they only really care about the support from people that mean it, which there is a lot of in the Northeast. And while I don't really care about your emotional connection to any of this, I can at least respect your honesty, because I would be lying if I said I didn't feel the same way about other events. 

 

I'd say that news channels holding you as a captive audience and attempting to manipulate your emotions is wrong, and your friend calling you heartless for not caring is also wrong, but good luck getting people to give a shit about how the Bostons Bombings have been a minor annoyance to you.

Edited 25 Apr 2013 by Brodongo (see edit history)

[LLmao ?✊? 1276]

update: just when you thought that the bomb suspect could not get any scarier, the Muslim Russian suspect has also recently been confirmed as a member of the Nazi party and a Redcoat sympathizer