On feeling sorry for people

You're welcome. People are makeing a big to-do about nothing.

I can't tell if this is sarcastic or not.

I think most people would interpret the above remark as quite critical.

Wow,I've read through this thread and still can't quite fathom what exactly the problem is.1)Robin happened to be at a veteran's hospital, witnessed some veterans, who had presumably been injured, presumably in a war.
2)they appeared silent, perhaps a little depressed.
3)Robin empathised, expressed a little sadness at/sympathy for their situation, (having been injured/lost limbs etc.).
4)and folk here criticize him for 'dehumanising' these people?
EH?...WHAT?What am I missing here?If I witness someone who has apparently been through a tough time, I instinctively feel sympathy. it is no attempt to dehumanise. I really fail to see what the issue is here.and Robin:
I fail to see how the response you got can be classified as 'PC' I think that is precisely the misconception of 'PC' that appears to be doing the rounds and has been hijacked by the right wing to demonise those 'damn liberal hippies'.
I think the response you got was merely a reflection of the mindless need for some here to argue or disagree, sometimes without real reason or direction.well.. my $.02

I don't doubt that YOU think that. However it was only one part of a larger comment. Here is the content of Message 11 that you quotemined in full. If you read what was written, instead of pulling one line out, I believe you will see that all I said was that you missed an opportunity, that it was your loss, not theirs.You complain that folk criticize you, yet you start thread after thread returning to the same theme and resort to the same tactics of trying to place your internal labels on what is said to you.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

quote:

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I don't doubt that YOU think that. However it was only one part of a larger comment.
  —"jar"

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I took it as a critical remark. You are softly attacking his action, no positive reinforcement, then giving a "too bad" at the end. Letting, at least me, know that you disagreed with what he did.How did he miss out on an opportunity? It was there, he didn't take it and doesn't feel bad about his choice... what was missed?

Creavolution, Take a look at this exchange, from the closed "On judging others" thread:I said: Another poster responded as follows: If this is not PC, it's at any rate a rather strange sort of moralism.

I agree it is a strange view on morality, but I do not see what it has to do with Political correctness.ABE:
As has no doubt been mentioned, humans make superficial judgements all the time, as a matter of instinct. If something feels hot.. you move your hand away, even if it was not hot enough to actually burn you, you make that initial judgement on the situation. which provokes a reaction.As I see it, political correctness comes into play when that instinctual reaction hurts or offends someone's sensibilities.
In the instance of your hospital visit, no one's sensibilities were offended, the whole thought process happened in your mind (regardless of the details) thus not affecting anyone.If every time someone disagrees with you or criticises something you do or say you are going to cry "PC!" I can see how the term poltical correctness can become distorted and misused easily and quickly.Edited by Creavolution, : added paragraph

Take a look at this from the original thread: This has PC written all over it.Edited by robinrohan, : No reason given.

A very good question. Unfortunately so many of these threads of robin's are simply continuations of long past threads. In the one where he mentioned his visit to the VA hospital, I presented a personal experience similar to his. I was once visiting my Great-Aunt (lived to be well over 100 years old) only to find her sleeping or busy or something. So I was leaving the nursing home and I passed an old gentleman in a wheelchair. I stopped and talked for awhile and it turned out he had lived in Texas while it was still frontier, still the wild west. It was fascinating and I learned a lot about what the Rio Grande Valley was like before all the folk moved in.In the earlier thread I was trying to point out that there is another viewpoint one can take beyond simply feeling sorry for folk. In particular, there is a wealth of instituional knowledge in our older folk. We are rapidly losing the Willies and Joes, the knowledge of the depression, of the expanse of the nation. Remember that Oklahoma and New Mexico and Arizona only became states after 1900.History moves further back everyday. And so much of it is not written, not recorded except in the minds of those that lived it. Sure I disagree with robin about almost everything. As to what he did, he brought it up in a thread. It was not something solicited, but volunteered. He continues to bring them up. These threads are not started by others, but by robin. If he simply wants to speak, without anyone responding, then he can so indicate in the opening post and one of the admins will happily close the thread for him as soon as they see it.But when he brings these things up time after time, I assume, perhaps wrongly, that he is seeking a response.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Sunday afternoon I was out for a walk and I happened by the local mental health facility. Three of the patients were sitting in the shade having a smoke (patiently).I happened to be wearing my Three Stooges T-shirt and, as I walked by, one of them muttered, "I like your shirt." I stopped and told him, "Everybody likes it."His face lit up. The three of us wound up having a nice conversation about the Three Stooges. When I left, they told me to have a nice day and I told them, "You too."A few Sundays ago, I had the same conversation with a homeless man whose wife had just died.I didn't "feel sorry" for any of them. I didn't "do" anything but treat them like human beings. They probably won't remember me tomorrow, but I bet I made their day that day.
They certainly made mine.It may have been a small oppurtunity, but robin certainly missed it.

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Almost all the experiences we have are small opportunities. I guess I believe we can try our best to make them add up to something larger, or simply let them flow by. It is up to each individual which path they choose.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

I can't speak for Robinrohan, but I really don't like talking to strangers, not that socially adept to just go up and talk to people. Homeless, mentally ill, handicapped no matter. Do I feel bad for them? Yes I do, will chatting with them brighten up their day? Maybe, I don't know.I will give occationally to charities and the like, but if I don't take time to chat with the local homeless guy I sure as hell better not get critized for it.What you did was honorable and very kind-hearted and I really commend you for it, but it isn't what I do. I think of myself as a decent guy and try to do my part to help people - just in a different way.I could easily take a personal situation and say you should do this because I did, but what is the point?

I'm not sure I agree. At best, it appears to have your interpretation of PC written all over it.I disagree with the view put forward here and would consider myself to be a 'PC' person, at least I try to be.
I cannot understand how feeling sympathy for someone in a less fortunate position than myself (admittedly, I'm making the assumption that someone who had lost a limb in a war is in a less fortunate position than myself, haveing lost no limbs in any wars.) can be considered un-PC, or even be related to political correctness at all.I guess I'm really not understanding how critisicm of your thoughts in this case can be labelled PC, or how your thoughts can be considered un-PC.

That's not the point that either I or Neurocycle was making. The point is that you said you were not criticizing me whereas in fact you were. You can criticize me all you like, but you might at least ADMIT it.