"A Single Death is a Tragedy..."

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It's an infamous quote, but I find myself that I actually see things the opposite way naturally. Single deaths, or dozens, even hundreds depending on circumstances don't bother me. I shrug my shoulders and say, "these things happen," and it doesn't have an impact on me, even if I hear the story and history of one of the unfortunate individuals involved. However, large numbers of deaths, especially deaths caused by deliberate maliciousness or incompetence of a groups (for argument's sake, let's say deaths which ought to have been prevented) cause me great emotional pain. The genocide in Rwanda, which ought to have been prevented by the international community, now that stings, that sort of thing makes me want to cry. I get angry about things like train crashes caused by skipped maintenance for corporate profit. That sort of thing really bothers me, in a profound way. It seems like that's the opposite to the reaction of most people.
Anyone else feel that way, or is it just me? Is this an Asperger's thing, or just a personal quirk? I think it's probably that I look at these events in an analytical way, and so when there are obvious mistakes that have caused large scale pain and loss of life, it all seems so pointless to me, while smaller scale deaths are usually because of happenstance and could not have been prevented.

MMaestro

haven't read this yet

All death and suffering bothers me. Unless it's a really terrible person like Rosie O'Donnel. But that quote is mostly accurate. Many deaths at once seem to be less potent, and more diluted than a single one. One can only be so appalled at a single event. No matter how many deaths there in that event. But spread them out, and it leaves every single death to think about over and over in your head. None get lost in the shuffle. Every single horrific death is seen alone. Plus when you get to numbers of millions killed(which Stalin did), it's hard for the human mind to even calculate that. I mean, I am totally offended by one unjust killing. I cannot get one million more times outraged.

I mean what would be more horrific, to see 30 friends die at once, or one die everyday for a month.

I could probably explain this better if I wasnt so high.

I would say an individual death bothers me most, especially one as sad as Merv Griffin's future death.

I hope he stays alive long enough to see the premiere of what may be his last game show creation, "Merv Griffin's Crosswords."

You can't have a million without one, for without one there is no "one and one".
By the time deaths go to the hundreds, thousands and then millions we have become
desensitized and indifferent.

Everyone does it.

I think that a great amount of people dying is much sadder than one person dying. Things like war and 3rd world countries really bother me, but when I watch the news and hear about one person dying it does not affect me. I've even had someone I know die and I did not get sad.

I disagree.

I'm desensitized to it all. And every time the mass media goes on about some poor blonde white rich girl tragically murdered, I think of the thousands of people who died across the world, that minute, from hunger or thirst or preventable disease.
Then I change the channel.

Individual deaths, but only if I care about the person. Two of my friends.. well, aquatences that were somewhat nice to me, killed themselves when I was in highschool, Mark and Dan.. I mean, I cared enough to feel upset about them though. If its people I dont know or care about I usually just end up saying whatever about it. I really appreciate life too, but theres no sense in getting upset about something like that when you have enough of your own problems to deal with as it is.

I agree with you.

In general, probably mass deaths. Unless it's someone I care about, of course, and then that death matters to me the most.

I'm just curious why this is in the autism forum, lol.

When answering the poll question, should we assume that the single death is someone we know? Or is it a single stranger?

That reminds me, the person who posted this thread didn't intend to be so incoherent, did they?

Individual deaths, but millions of deaths are usually very interesting reading in the news as they happen.