Chardok wrote:a co-worker of mine just spoke the following words:
"When september 11th happened, I was like, 'And? People die all the time."
I stood up from my cubicle and stated that she is the most disgusting person on the planet to me, seriously.
I've never been more offended by anything anyone has said, ever.
Am I being overly sensitive? what would YOU do? Report it to HR? is there some kind of unwritten social stigma attached to apathy over 9/11 that I am falling into?
Did you overreact? In my opinion Yes.
She was talking of a personal emotional reaction and not about the catastrophe itself.
Especially if you are considering "reporting to HR" which to me is totally unrelated.
It's a sane reaction to respond cold to disasters (which usually is conditioned by news overflow). If you didn't even let her explain her reaction before you exploded then you havn't given her a chance. Maybe she feels really sorry about the tragic deaths but emotionally can't handle and thus doesn't respond to the magnitude of thousands of deaths.
Cynisism are usually used as a psychological defense mechanism by those who are more prone to emotional responses in the first place, instead of giving in to the emotional response which could be devastating they "shut off" all emotions and try to distance themselves from news that are tragic. It's the same reaction as people who need to joke about stuff who really is very tragic, you distance yourself from the emotion and might therefore be more able to handle it.
Many people feel emotionally blunted by news reports of disasters and wars, therefore just another tragedy doesn't trigger an emotional response unless they have a personal connection to the people or the site.
Since you responded the way you did you should ask yourself how you have reacted to other tragedies with similar deathtolls, if you haven't reacted emotionally to them in the way you have with 911 then you should be able to figure out that not all people react the same way and that is a good thing. It is not something which you should "prosecute" her for; rather it show that you yourself is insensitive to other peoples reactions.
). If she this is how she deals with tragedy, then she should at least have a glimmer of intellect and know that the normal response would be at least some respect and reverence.