Boston Marathon Explosion - Today's Topics: Public Schools

Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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Actually, it's always a sad affair when things like this happen to innocent people. Being aware of everything that happens all around the world isn't exactly possible, but since thiswasin our back yard and in this case, since I did have family THERE, it's pretty fucking insulting that you "don't give a fuck" like some badass e-thug.
That's a BS copout. You know there are bombings going on in Iraq. They've been going on daily for the last decade. Do you get online and read about it? Nah, you don't care enough to. In fact, I'd bet you give zero fucks about the bombings in Iraq that happened today. Who gives a shit? Bunch of people I never met from a place I've never been to, got blown up by a bunch of unknown people for unknown reasons. Boston might as well be Baghdad.

It's just a low thing to say man. Have a little respect for human life; your countrymen.
I'm a citizen of the world, brah. Just because a person is trapped in same artificial construct we call a country with arbitrarily drawn boundaries, doesn't mean my affinity to him is any stronger than a guy who's stuck in another artificial construct 300 miles up north. Or in one 3000 miles away.
 

Burnem Wizfyre

Log Wizard
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We are programmed biologically to not be greatly effected by the loss of life of people we don't know, the further from your immediate circle/family/location etc etc the less you will actually care. If we gave a damn about every life that was lost on an emotional level like someone directly connected to those people as a species we would quite possibly cease to exist. I feel empathy because I understand their loss, for the people that survived this and their families I feel sympathy, I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone and I hope it never does, regardless of where they live. Deep down in my core or whatever this will not affect me, unless some changes are instituted that effect my daily life this will just be another event in a long series of events that don't particularly stick out from one of the other many events in the timeline of my life.

What Araysar is doing is breaking the social contract where we all say how much we care, he is being dickish about it but never the less he is right.
 

SimSimSalabim

Molten Core Raider
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We are programmed biologically to not be greatly effected by the loss of life of people we don't know, the further from your immediate circle/family/location etc etc the less you will actually care. If we gave a damn about every life that was lost on an emotional level like someone directly connected to those people as a species we would quite possibly cease to exist. I feel empathy because I understand their loss, for the people that survived this and their families I feel sympathy, I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone and I hope it never does, regardless of where they live. Deep down in my core or whatever this will not affect me, unless some changes are instituted that effect my daily life this will just be another event in a long series of events that don't particularly stick out from one of the other many events in the timeline of my life.

What Araysar is doing is breaking the social contract where we all say how much we care, he is being dickish about it but never the less he is right.
If people are "programmed biologically" to give less of a shit the further people are removed from the core then please explain how someone would ever become a firefighter, or a paramedic, or an ER nurse? There are plenty of people who purposely put themselves in positions where they will be helping strangers on a daily basis because they want to. There are plenty of examples in only very recent history of groups of people volunteering to aid strangers. This isn't to say all charitable acts are altruistic, but there are people who do genuinely care about the lives of strangers.

Value of life is subjective on a person by person basis. If someone doesn't actually value life of others fine, more power to them. But don't use some bullshit excuse like biological programming to justify people being self centered to the point where they don't care about something unless it immediately effects their day to day routine.
 

TheBeagle

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That's a BS copout. You know there are bombings going on in Iraq. They've been going on daily for the last decade. Do you get online and read about it? Nah, you don't care enough to. In fact, I'd bet you give zero fucks about the bombings in Iraq that happened today. Who gives a shit? Bunch of people I never met from a place I've never been to, got blown up by a bunch of unknown people for unknown reasons. Boston might as well be Baghdad.



I'm a citizen of the world, brah. Just because a person is trapped in same artificial construct we call a country with arbitrarily drawn boundaries, doesn't mean my affinity to him is any stronger than a guy who's stuck in another artificial construct 300 miles up north. Or in one 3000 miles away.
Ya, we're all the same species. I just can't understand the notion that aHomo sapiensin Bumfuckistan is less important than aHomo sapiensin Boston. Obviously if you have a loved one in the bomb zone then you disagree, but the notion that this is some catastrophic event that is somehow more important than this:http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...92I04Q20130319is just dumb bumper sticker bullshit.

It's funny how its always the people occupying the lower rungs of society that are always the same people most eager to go after the other ones on the same social scale, but a different color. Pointing out their stupidity is always pointless because they're just too dumb to get it, and have no ability for self-reflection because ever admitting your wrong is hippy, faggot, grabass, bullshit.

Last paragraph probably belongs in Politics, but fuck you. Stream of consciousness, 3 am, 9 beers, 1 adderall (OMGFELONYPHOENIXBRO!), one bowl, and 7 hours of Physics homework I dont give a fuck.
 

Northerner

N00b
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Well, most firefighters, paramedics and nurses *do* work in their own communities. A lot of them even do it for a paycheck or the social gratitude.

The more removed a group of people is from your own group, the less you care about them in general. That's just the way we are wired. It doesn't mean you can't be compassionate and caring about people from other groups, it just means that you have to work at that while caring about your family, friends, community and other "in" groups is much easier.
 

Burnem Wizfyre

Log Wizard
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If people are "programmed biologically" to give less of a shit the further people are removed from the core then please explain how someone would ever become a firefighter, or a paramedic, or an ER nurse? There are plenty of people who purposely put themselves in positions where they will be helping strangers on a daily basis because they want to. There are plenty of examples in only very recent history of groups of people volunteering to aid strangers. This isn't to say all charitable acts are altruistic, but there are people who do genuinely care about the lives of strangers.

Value of life is subjective on a person by person basis. If someone doesn't actually value life of others fine, more power to them. But don't use some bullshit excuse like biological programming to justify people being self centered to the point where they don't care about something unless it immediately effects their day to day routine.
I could write some long winded explanation but I am afraid it would be wasted on you if you haven't reached the point in your life where you don't quite fully understand what we are capable of on and individual level and as a species.
 

Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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If people are "programmed biologically" to give less of a shit the further people are removed from the core then please explain how someone would ever become a firefighter, or a paramedic, or an ER nurse? There are plenty of people who purposely put themselves in positions where they will be helping strangers on a daily basis because they want to. There are plenty of examples in only very recent history of groups of people volunteering to aid strangers. This isn't to say all charitable acts are altruistic, but there are people who do genuinely care about the lives of strangers.

Value of life is subjective on a person by person basis. If someone doesn't actually value life of others fine, more power to them. But don't use some bullshit excuse like biological programming to justify people being self centered to the point where they don't care about something unless it immediately effects their day to day routine.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number
 

Nuttin_sl

shitlord
79
1
Ehh, what does the number of people one knows and keeps social contact with has to do with the question?

A doctor "probably" comes in contact with 10000 x Dunbar's Number during his / her career, that he / she helps.

If people are programmed the way as stated how the hell does organisations such as Doctors without borders, Greenpeace, Amnesty International etc and so on, exist?
 

Eorkern

Bronze Squire
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About what Araysar brought up, I was more thinking about the "Proximity Law" in News coverage/people giving a fuck, 1 guy getting mugged in your local news is more important to most than 1000 kids dying of aids in africa that same day. It's human nature I guess, I'm trying to care as much about shit in far-away land as I do if it would happen in my own backyard but I don't want to become too desensitized over people I should care either. People of the world etc...
 

Famm

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I do agree with Burnem and Araysar generally except he's being a funloving dick on purpose. The thing is that its easier to empathize because people see this as "it could have happened to me or my family" more than a bombing in Iraq. The closer it is to our daily lives the more its going to have an effect. Same reason this is tougher for us than the London tube bombing, even being much more similar to the US than Iraq, its far enough away so as not to strike the same chord. Yeah, I haven't shed any tears or lost any sleep, but I understand why there's more emotion on the east cost for Boston than for Baghdad.
 

Zaphid

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Ehh, what does the number of people one knows and keeps social contact with has to do with the question?

A doctor "probably" comes in contact with 10000 x Dunbar's Number during his / her career, that he / she helps.

If people are programmed the way as stated how the hell does organisations such as Doctors without borders, Greenpeace, Amnesty International etc and so on, exist?
Because it's not a rule until there is at least one exception. You don't have to care about people to help them, if something hurts, you fix it and move on, you don't invite them for a dinner. Shopkeeper doesn't need to like you to sell you shit.
 

Running Dog_sl

shitlord
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The closest event I could remember to the current one was the 1996 bombing at the olympic games in atlanta, I never heard what happened there and apparently it took them 7 years to get the guy.
The first thing that came to mind for me was the nutcase in London a few years later, mainly because the devices seem similar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_nail_bomber

They caught him relatively quickly from CCTV footage.
 

Noodleface

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If people don't care about this, them why are they posting in this thread? There's only one answer and that is: to be a dick.

Listen, I feel bad for people that live in countries where this happens on a daily basis. Seriously I don't know how they handle it. But to come in here and spout bullshit when it does matter to people, especially people who knew people involved with the marathon iss downright foolish.

If you guys want to continue being Internet badasses and continually show us how much you don't care then so be it. I hope you are never in this situation.

Both of my friends are ok and all EMC coworkers are accounted for, so that's good. Our one good friend finished 10 minutes before the explosion and moved 2 blocks over to meet a friend. Said he was watching his friend finish from right where the first bomb later went off before he moved.
 

Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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Ehh, what does the number of people one knows and keeps social contact with has to do with the question?

A doctor "probably" comes in contact with 10000 x Dunbar's Number during his / her career, that he / she helps.

If people are programmed the way as stated how the hell does organisations such as Doctors without borders, Greenpeace, Amnesty International etc and so on, exist?

The assumption is always that the one and only reason that people do this is because they genuinely care about every single person they help. A lot of people involved in charity or volunteering do it for selfish reasons. Some do it to personally validate themselves, some do it to pad their resume, some do it so they can later brag what a great person they are. Not every volunteer is a pure altruist.
 

Noodleface

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My sister claimed the same bullshit theory that lumie is proposing. She posted it on Facebook then got scared the government was after her and deleted her Facebook. She's also a dumb as rocks stripper. Don't be that person.