People are things

[P3nT4gR4m]

Sociopath
so¬?ci¬?o¬?path (sō'sē-ə-păth', -shē-) pronunciation
n.

One who is affected with a personality disorder marked by antisocial behavior.


So I'm trying to watch tv last night and, about half way into the film I couldn't hear it cos of the screaming in the street. 13 year old from across the road is out his face on booze and pills and is shouting abuse at the alcoholic family next door. He's really going for it too and, what's more he's mob handed - 3 older guys, mates of his sister.

"This could be fun" I think to myself. There's been a feud going on with those two buildings for years now maybe tonight we'll get some claret. So I turned down the tv so I could hear better and opened the blinds a bit more so I could see better.

The young kid is hollering up at the window and then makes some wisecrack about the pissheads mom. That did the trick, next thing him and his dad come charging down the stairs, ready to kick the living shit out the 13 year old (I don't think they'd seen his mates by this point or they'd never have come out)

The 13 year old is fucking wasted but he aint stupid so he backs off and draws them into an ambush. Suddenly one of the older guys sprints in and smashes the dad in the head with a bottle while the other two chase his son back up the stairs into the house.

I laughed like fuck when the old geezers false teeth came flying out but the whole time I'm thinking to myself - "shouldn't a normal person feel some kind of empathy for this asshole?"

TBH I'm one step away from putting that familys door in and taking a bat to their heads anyway (gotta think of my property value after all) but when I look out at a street that has rapidly filled up with 20 - 30 screaming idiots I'm pretty sure that (legislation aside) I could quite happily march out there and put a bullet between the eyes of every last one of them. I mean come on, I'm trying to watch a movie here!

So now I hear through the grapevine that the father is walking with a stick now cos someone jumped on his spine at one point and all I'm thinking is that a decapitation would have been way cooler.

Is there something wrong with me?

I realise that, technically, these are people but, more and more, I'm seeing them as things.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I realise that, technically, these are people but, more and more, I'm seeing them as things.

I see them as brain-damaged apes.

[Triple Zero]

well, i couldn't look at people like that, is all i know.

but i hardly ever find myself in such situations either (or maybe i just dont recognize them as such), and not knowing the rest of the story, i can't say what i'd have thought.

[Payne]

I have been in situations like that. And yes, I too saw the people involved as somewhat less than human.

[Cain]

It is hard to say what I think.

Sometimes, I can be like that.  I understand, intellectually, that there are many reasons for people being the way they are and often there are factors outside of personal control involved.  I try to realize someone is being a dipshit simply because they had a bad day.  People often react against things that had nothing to do with their situation simply out of frustration.

But then, there is the flipside.  This all may be true, but it doesn't change what they are doing.  And I don't have the ability to fix everything.  And while my life has hardly been terrible, it was no cakewalk either.  So there is a...edge of contempt, I suppose, in my thinking.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I have been in situations like that. And yes, I too saw the people involved as somewhat less than human.

In my line of work, I see this shit EVERY DAY, and it just keeps getting FUNNIER!

TGRR,
Loves his job.

[faust]

even the most subhuman filth has some kinda redeeming characteristic.
everyone is entitled to live despite their disadvantages and standards of life (why there are so many downs syndrome people are around). Being stupid white trash does not mean they are beyond hope.

I did not see any way this could be true until one of the winos came into work, she is one of the nicer ones and less likely to steal, but she comes in every hour to buy her cans of devils bit. now this woman is living in the homeless community, she is disturbed, a thief and contributes practically nothing to anyone. however she is not voilent like her brother who has pulled a hatchet on me. Seeing her visibly decay over the last few months has been really hard.

so one day she comes in, smiling and happy like I have never seen her before, sober too (for now she goes to straight over to the cans). but she comes up to me, and brings out these two pictures, I assume that she is trying to distract me while someone else tries to rob stuff.
the pics are of her kids. the first her son, who is also technically her brother, seeing as they both have the same father, is in the pic, he is in secondary school and doing really well she tells me.
the second pic was her and a little girl smiling, she was the daughter of some other bloke she was with. she had managed to stay sober, and gotten visitation rights. and is now spending one day a week every month with them.
I dont know why but this really cheered me up, but really humanized them a lot to me.
if you got to know the creeps next door you might possibly end up seeing them as fucked up people then meat.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

even the most subhuman filth has some kinda redeeming characteristic.

Bullshit.

[Triple Zero]

what faust said is exactly an example of the thing that makes me unable to see people as things. in my experience, every person i've looked closely enough at, has always had, somewhere, some semi-redeeming human quality that makes them more than just a meat-thing.

TGRR: you're probably right, but personally i have not yet met such a kind of person, only heard about them.

[Cain]

People are often not outright good or bad.

However, there are complete saints and there are absolute devils.  Any cursory reading of the last century should convince people of that fact.  They're just not as common as mostly bad or good people.

[P3nT4gR4m]

It is hard to say what I think.

Sometimes, I can be like that.  I understand, intellectually, that there are many reasons for people being the way they are and often there are factors outside of personal control involved.  I try to realize someone is being a dipshit simply because they had a bad day.  People often react against things that had nothing to do with their situation simply out of frustration.

But then, there is the flipside.  This all may be true, but it doesn't change what they are doing.  And I don't have the ability to fix everything.  And while my life has hardly been terrible, it was no cakewalk either.  So there is a...edge of contempt, I suppose, in my thinking.

Three words seem to spell it out for me - too far gone

The 60 year old terminal alcoholic lying in a puddle of his own piss in the street. You can see the tragedy if you choose to. There's a life of cruelty, abuse, bad luck and bad decisions behind that. truly heart wrenching.

At the end of the day I don't care about that - all I see is litter.

Shovel it into the refuse truck it's a fucking eyesore and it smells bad.

[Triple Zero]

too far gone is a different situation, IMO.

i feel the same for ancient dementing vegetables. no matter what they did in their life.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

too far gone is a different situation, IMO.

i feel the same for ancient dementing vegetables. no matter what they did in their life.

You fuckers need to stop talking shit about Reagan.

I'm not kidding.

[Cain]

Heh.

Anyway, I was going to say, it is very easy to have contempt for normals.  But since one of the things I am trying to do lately is use charm and empathy in order to make my own life much easier.  And that requires putting aside that contempt sometimes, in order to attain that greater goal.  So I am kind of divided.  One on hand, I dont want to perpetuate this sort of behavior from the norms, but on the other, if I do, I can also make my life easier, including, perhaps, not making them act that way.

[faust]

even the most subhuman filth has some kinda redeeming characteristic.

Bullshit.

even Hitler had an incredible singing voice