I believe the term is: Sonder.
The realization that every single person you see, and billions more that you don’t see, are living their lives just like you. That the rando you pass on the street has a life story just as involved and complicated and wonderful as yours.
It makes you careful of judgment, and enhances empathy. It makes you relate to the common humanity of us all. And without this realization, you become cruel.
I’m sure the cheesy grin and thumbs-up are just there for scale.
Speaking as someone who used to deal with blood and death professionally on a regular basis: yeah, there is a tendency towards callousness and black humour. It’s a defence mechanism.
However, in a good lab, they keep a close watch on that sort of thing, and stomp it hard if it looks like getting out of hand. Because if you don’t, the next thing down the line is very often an ethics scandal.
Not a scandal about the black humour, a scandal about actual, serious ethical violations. Because letting the professional culture slip encourages a careless attitude towards ethical responsibilities in general.
I would put very good odds on this cop being involved in a wide assortment of other abuses.
And it’s not the cornfield…and that’s good. That’s a real good thing.
[quote=“beschizza, post:10, topic:88806”]
I have added you to the list.
[/quote]This wasn’t necessary. This sort of mocking of sincere responses, even if they are a bit critical and happen to refer to the concept of “disappointment”, can make you come across as a bit thin-skinned, maybe even a bit of a bully.
[quote=“Mister44, post:17, topic:88806, full:true”]
I agree it’s tasteless and shouldn’t have been released.
[/quote]No: the photograph is tasteless and shouldn’t have happened. But it’s important that we hear about it happening, because otherwise how will there be pressure to prevent it happening again? Without the picture, if we just heard there was a picture, do you really think there’d be enough outrage to spark reform?
It’s a bit (too?) meta, has nothing to do with the thread, (or much else, really), an in-joke if you will. Go ahead and click the link, (must… not… rick… roll…), and read the quote at the top of the list.
In a sense the list is analogous to the same dark humor we are discussing elsewhere in this thread. It is a bit wearing for editors to see that their readers are “disappointed” on a regular basis, but with the size of readership there will quite regularly be somebody who is, in fact, “disappointed”. The list compartmentalizes it, keeps it from being internalized and turning an awesome gig into a sucky job you hate.
I see the URL for the correspondence is
Send them a fax to their non-redacted fax number?
You can send a fax for free online. It’s even easier than a phone call as long as you want to be obnoxious to them.
That’s useful. I seem to have a copy of the photo they want on my computer and wish to return it to them.
Oh like when they killed Pablo Escobar? (Been spending entirely too much time watching Narcos…)
That’s funny, I do too. I hope they get them all back…
With all my complaining I’m kind of disappointed I’m not on the list.
Michael Moore had a great item on it in TV Nation (?). A guy had tried to enrol with the police force, but you have to pass a test and according to the test he was too smart. So, in the item they had the guy resit it while making noises (sharpening a pencil etc.) to distract the guy in an effort to get him to achieve a lower score. Having succeeded at that, they head to the official to argue that the guy should be accepted now. At the end of the section with the official, before the door is closed on the reporter, the official says something that it is their duty to serve and protect crime (or some other mix-up of cliches). And the reporter is flabbergasted: Did he really say that.
It is one of those times that you try to report that something is wrong and make a fun item of it, and it turns out to be both even worse and better than you thought.
Bert
Now, I googled it and found the item: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqvijdxnHxI
I had great fun re-watching it. Also fun to see how my memory worked. It got things right, and things wrong.
Really, all that proves is that police departments don’t want bright bulbs as long as they’re willing to stonewall the public.
Because nothing says public servant better than “I’m not fucking answering any of your questions, you little person. I’m a dude with a badge and a gun. I could kill you right now, in broad daylight with numerous witnesses on film, both yours and the squadcar’s dashcam, and in three weeks be working on the force in the next podunk town down the road.”
I’m just slightly amazed that someone that generous with their supply of logical distractions and fallacies gets to be a lawyer, simply because they guess that their adversary isn’t one.
Slightly.
This is a non-issue. To you this is a big deal, to the officer this is Tuesday another OD, another Body, Another Report. Black (Dark) Humor is a pretty common method for dealing with bad shit on a daily basis. Coroners talk shit about you, Doctors and Nurses say vile things about you behind your back, your children’s teachers talk about how stupid your kid is. These things happen, and as cameras and video become more prevalent your going to see more of it.
Is it right. Nope. But it’s how people are. It’s how a lot of people deal with stress.
Last thought: The officer should have kept his pro-face on while dealing with this situation, but he didn’t so here we are. .
If one is disappointed he or she is not on the disappointed list, does he or she then make the list? Is there another list for those disappointments not covered by the disappointment list? Disappointed people everywhere need to know.
When it comes down to it, aren’t we all disappointed some way some how (if only by our lack of disappointment)?
To be added to the list is actually considered a great honor around these parts. Note that you cannot be added to it upon request, or via intentional contrivance such as expressing disappointment at the existence of the list or one’s failure to be upon it.
