RIP and Why Oh You

And in some cases, even tho you didn't know a person or anyone who knew the person or anyone who knew anyone..., you can tell if someone was affected by the news. The sincerity does show through.

It's the others that seem (as AA said) empty that bother me.

 

Slap...I guess with any thread on here, the same rule applies. If you're moved to post on it, go ahead and post and don't worry too much about what others will think.

 

We do it, I think, because we've been conditioned to believe we're supposed to. Because this is the way a civilized society behaves. It's along the same lines of the insincere apologies we hear from time to time ... "I'm sorry if my words or actions offended anyone ..." Everyone knows it's contrived, but to not make that apology is worse. If you only care enough to say, "thoughts and prayers" or "my condolences" well, that's better than not caring at all, right?

 

I agree.
Again, this is just something that has struck me recently. And I've done it as much as anyone else.

And novelist... would it be offering thoughts or condolences because you really are affected and want to or it's systematic... Is a conditioned response caring?

I'm not downing anyone for doing it, but am in the midst of a sincere questioning of the process...

 

Novelist is onto something here. I think we maybe are socially conditioned to offer some kind of response, even a hollow one. Silence isn't something people are comfortable with, so they offer inane RIPs and apologies because they feel they have to say something.

 

Or, you could create a thread that bitches about disingenuous RIPs and post-padding as a way to soar even further beyond 20k posts...

 

I've thought the same thing on numerous occasions, including the Kennedy thread. And I've felt guilty for thinking that because I know what people are posting is coming from a good place.

I suppose I've just become too cynical. And slappy, I blame you for that.

 

It's slightly amusing to see an AP news alert that someone has died and see how long it takes before an RIP thread is started.

Oh, and "RIP Hamilton Jordon."

"Good man, RIP."

"Prayers to his family"

"I guess God needed another former chief of staff to a naive president."

Damn, I am so lame. That could have been four posts.

 

Yeah, I think in many cases it is a conditioned response. We start hearing from the time we start talking that please and thank you are the magic words and the conditioned responses build from that.

 

I understand the response, but I tend to save my condolences for when I really mean it. That way I'm always 100 percent sincere.

 

The key operating word being "was," of course.

 

She lurks. Poor kid has spent half her life sitting shiva, and she's Irish Catholic.