I Am Done... so Done

[alcibiades_mystery]

25. I take people at their word that they care about an event and want some connection to that

I find your viewpoint very cynical. OK, so fine, overlaying the French flag on a picture of yourself (or something else) doesn't cost you anything. So what? It's a small gesture of one's humanity. Is it the only appropriate gesture? No. Is it merely a gesture? Yes, probably. Again, so what? It is a human gesture of horror, shock, sadness, feeling. It is a connection to others. So this manifests itself in some symbols that you view as insufficient. Too popular. Schmaltzy. Maybe that's your issue.

Now there's the scolding that nobody overlaid the Lebanese flag over their Facebook profile for the Beirut bombing, so of course anyone who feels anything about the Paris attacks is a hypocrite and a Eurocentric racist, who doesn't care about brown people, or some such. Do y'all Tragedy Scolds even hear yourselves?

People see something horrible, and show sadness, and human connection, and the Tragedy Scolds have a thousand and one complaints and critiques. Sometimes I wonder whether people develop such a feeling of superiority over others that they think they're the only one's who can actually feel. And when others manifest feeling - gasp! in public, collective ways! - it enrages them.