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sombrefanVia The Guardian, a new report on how public outpourings of grief is actually selfish.
"Author Patrick West said: "We sport countless empathy ribbons, send flowers to recently deceased celebrities, weep in public over the deaths of murdered children, wear red noses for the starving in Africa, go on demonstrations to proclaim Drop the Debt or Not in My Name ... [but] they do not help the poor, diseased, dispossessed or bereaved. Our culture of ostentatious caring concerns, rather, projecting one's ego, and informing others what a deeply caring individual you are."
.........
"When a group called Hedgeline calls for a two-minute silence to remember all the 'victims' whose neighbours have grown towering hedges, we truly have reached the stage where this gesture has been emptied of meaning."
"Author Patrick West said: "We sport countless empathy ribbons, send flowers to recently deceased celebrities, weep in public over the deaths of murdered children, wear red noses for the starving in Africa, go on demonstrations to proclaim Drop the Debt or Not in My Name ... [but] they do not help the poor, diseased, dispossessed or bereaved. Our culture of ostentatious caring concerns, rather, projecting one's ego, and informing others what a deeply caring individual you are."
.........
"When a group called Hedgeline calls for a two-minute silence to remember all the 'victims' whose neighbours have grown towering hedges, we truly have reached the stage where this gesture has been emptied of meaning."
