Sinead O'Connor

[jonny jeez]

FTFY, for the sake of concision.

I an as empathetic towards people that I neither know or will ever meet...as they are towards me.

Why did this make the papers, is she more important than the fella in my road.

Clearly she is to you.

 

[stephec]

I an as empathetic towards people that I neither know or will ever meet...as they are towards me.

Why did this make the papers, is she more important than the fella in my road.

Clearly she is to you.

It's been reported as it will be important to some people.

Like it or not she will have had an influence on some people and their lives, in much the same way that artists often quote famous people before them as their own influences.

By the way, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you, just offering an answer to your question.

 

[Andrew_P]

I an as empathetic towards people that I neither know or will ever meet...as they are towards me.

Why did this make the papers, is she more important than the fella in my road.

Clearly she is to you.

Quite a strange stance, surely empathy can be felt or shown for anyone either known to you or not. Not saying it would spiral me in to mourning if something had happened but some empathy and sympathy for how she might have felt at the time wouldn't be unusual.

 

[jonny jeez]

Quite a strange stance, surely empathy can be felt or shown for anyone either known to you or not. Not saying it would spiral me in to mourning if something had happened but some empathy and sympathy for how she might have felt at the time wouldn't be unusual.

Of course. And equally so, of course we can feel empathy. My point here is that there are very likely people that are close to you (us) right now, physically and emotionally, who need your (our) help and empathy.

Yet we spend time "showing" how caring we are to a celebrity...why?... celebrity doesn't care about you.

So sure, I'm deliberately coming across as uncaring really to make a point that its right to care but wrong to apportion care by celebrity status.

In erith a few months ago, a well know and locally respected GP was killed by an unknown driver, yet people I know who live in the area and were treated by him were expressing their sadness for an actor who appeared in eastenders and had met a terrible end.

I found it all rather pointless, shallow and disrespectful

I understand how we feel loss when a celebrity who was formative in our lives is gone but the constant elevation of celebrities as "better" winds me up.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

My point here is that there are very likely people that are close to you (us) right now, physically and emotionally, who need your (our) help and empathy.

I understand that, I have close family in this position but it doesn't mean I can't feel concerned for the well-being of others, even if they're famous. It's not a binary thing.

GC

 

[Absinthe Minded]

I an as empathetic towards people that I neither know or will ever meet...as they are towards me.

You are making the assumption that, if Sinead O'Connor found you to be troubled, she would show no empathy. This is where you are in error, since you have no way to be sure that that would be the case.

To show true empathy, you would feel for somebody based upon their predicament; not by balancing your own make-it-up-as-you-go-along idea of how they might feel for you if you were in a similar predicament. For instance, I would feel equally for your neighbour, as I would Sinead O'Connor, given I was privy to the same level of detail for each person.

Why did this make the papers, is she more important than the fella in my road.

No, but she is known by many more, and the papers are not reporting the story out of empathy, but out of 'public interest', or greed, or both.

Clearly she is to you.

And how have you arrived at that conclusion?

 

[Fab Foodie]

I live in a Bi Polar world ....

 

[Rooster1]

Is this thread still going, jeepus

 

[Markymark]

I an as empathetic towards people that I neither know or will ever meet...as they are towards me.

Why did this make the papers, is she more important than the fella in my road.

Clearly she is to you.

She is no more or less important. But because she is famous do you think that laughing at her when she had potentially got into trouble is acceptable?

 

[jonny jeez]

She is no more or less important. But because she is famous do you think that laughing at her when she had potentially got into trouble is acceptable?

When was I laughing at her?

 

[Markymark]

When was I laughing at her?

Fair enough. Others in this thread have.

 

[jonny jeez]

You are making the assumption that, if Sinead O'Connor found you to be troubled, she would show no empathy.

no I'm not. I'm making the assumption that she would treat me like any other person, as I would her...she is just a person, her celebrity "status" affords her no additional level of empathy.

the papers are not reporting the story out of empathy, but out of 'public interest', or greed, or both.

iand pandering to it just perpetuates this.

 

[Markymark]

no I'm not. I'm making the assumption that she would treat me like any other person, as I would her...she is just a person, her celebrity "status" affords her no additional level of empathy.

iand pandering to it just perpetuates this.

However she has, because of her status, found derision.

 

[jonny jeez]

I understand that, I have close family in this position but it doesn't mean I can't feel concerned for the well-being of others, even if they're famous. It's not a binary thing.

GC

I accept that, and wish you well.

The problem I have is when so many of us cannot afford time or care to those that we can actually help, who we can actually care for... in favour of faux sympathy to someone we have never met, simply because they were once a bit famous.

I suspect that many folk actually don't care about the celebrity at all and only really care about other peoples impression of them. So they "Have" to show that they care, because "everyone else" does.

To all who are asking if I believe that caring is a finite resource, of course it isn't but why do so many of us choose to "care" so much about people that the media tell us to care about, rather than those who can really USE our care.

 

[jonny jeez]

However she has, because of her status, found derision.

and adoration.

I wonder if vulnerable celebrities find the sympathy of strangers helpful or intrusive. Is it possible that the attention itself is part of the problem.