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Emotional Calluses

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Emotional Calluses
Posted: Wed 05 Dec , 2007 7:54 pm
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I've lost my emotional callouses. I've been avoiding commercial news of any sort for at least half a year now, and had been severely curtailing any "news" input for a while before that.

Most of our time commuting has been spent listening to audio books. Before we started doing that, we used to listen to Bill O'Reilly during lunch driving. Last night we finished an audio book, and didn't have another ready for today, so when we were driving at lunch, my husband flipped on the radio to O'Reilly.

He was talking about some guy in Houston who called 911 about some burglers breaking into the house next to his, and told the 911 guy he had a shot gun and was going to stop them. The 911 guy told him not to, that no property was worth someone getting killed over. And then the guy with the shotgun said that the burglers were leaving and he was going to go stop them. And two shots fired. And the tape ended. And O'Reilly came back on saying that the two men were dead.

And I turned the radio off and started crying, and couldn't stop for several minutes.

My emotional calluses are gone. It cut me to the quick, to hear the sound of two men getting killed. I don't think this would have bothered me so much a year ago, but after so long of *not listening* to the bad stuff of humanity, I wasn't prepared for something so awful out of the blue. Burglary is not a capital crime. Those men did not deserve to die.

My husband offered to take me to the library after we were done eating, to look for another audio book, but we didn't have time. We kept the radio off.

My dislike of news has reached a new peak. I like feeling calm and peaceful most of the time. Watching bad news that does not affect me gets me all twisted up inside for no good purpose. I've always avoided horror stories and movies for the same reason- and now starting to consider "news" as horrific- except that it doesn't have warning labels for being too graphic! :rage:

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LalaithUrwen
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Posted: Wed 05 Dec , 2007 8:07 pm
The Grey Amaretto as Supermega-awesome Proud Heretic Girl
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I know exactly how you feel. I really do. I avoid the news for this very reason. Some call that hiding your head in the sand, but my own life has enough pain and turmoil and all of that. I can only handle a small bit of the pain and suffering of people around the world. (But I don't keep my resources to myself, if that makes sense. I pray and I give money to several charitable organizations. I just can't bear to listen to it on a regular basis.)

Some people can handle it. I can't, and I'm learning to be okay with that.

Becoming a global world has its advantages and disadvantages.

:hug:

Lali

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tolkienpurist
Post subject: Re: Emotional Calluses
Posted: Wed 05 Dec , 2007 8:10 pm
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MariaHobbit wrote:
He was talking about some guy in Houston who called 911 about some burglers breaking into the house next to his, and told the 911 guy he had a shot gun and was going to stop them. The 911 guy told him not to, that no property was worth someone getting killed over. And then the guy with the shotgun said that the burglers were leaving and he was going to go stop them. And two shots fired. And the tape ended. And O'Reilly came back on saying that the two men were dead.
Yet another "success story" of a gun owner "defending himself."

Alternatively, yet another Texan death penalty success story.


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vison
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Posted: Wed 05 Dec , 2007 8:10 pm
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I don't regard such events as "news" anyway. Or at least, not after the first broadcast/publication. After that, it's just sensationalism and playing on fear.

We have this endless nasty trial going on here, and every single time it's on the news, which is about 50 times a day, they say the guy's name and the number of women he's supposed to have killed and where he lived and if there is a living human being in Canada who hasn't heard it 590 times, they are in a vegetative state.

Likewise the Taser death at Vancouver airport.

And from what I've heard of this O'Reilly guy? Don't listen to such stuff. Put a rock and roll station on and sing along to The Doors.

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MariaHobbit
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Posted: Wed 05 Dec , 2007 8:34 pm
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Awwww, O'Reilly used to be used to be amusing, vison. We used to be regular listeners, and every time he'd say the word "chaos", it was a game between my husband and I to see who could yell the word "CHAOS" after him fastest. :D

This time of year, he's supposed to be ranting about the War Against Christmas, but instead this sound bite came on and shocked me silly.

tp,
I'm not against the death penalty, nor against home owners defending their own with lethal force. But for a person to go out and kill someone burglarizing someone else's property, that's just wrong. He had no idea if these people were known to the homeowner or not.

I need another audio book. I'm next in line for the one I want next, but it's a monster, near 30 disks, and it'll take a while for the person ahead of me to get done with it.

*sigh*

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Ara-anna
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Posted: Wed 05 Dec , 2007 8:38 pm
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Maria,

I sort of do the same thing, its been a long time since I watched the news of any sort. I barely listen to news radio, sometimes NPR. But I guess at some point I just got tired of listening to all the bad stuff, most of which I can't change.

Anyway it makes for a much more peaceful day. I often wonder about people 100 years ago or back even further....how would an ordinary person living in a rural area have any idea about world affairs, they wouldn't, especially if there wasn't a wire or newspaper around.

Hum, come to think about it, it would be like the Hobbits in the Shire.

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Riverthalos
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Posted: Wed 05 Dec , 2007 9:38 pm
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I feel that, in a global society, it is important to follow the news. I also feel that a lot of what is pawned off as news these days is crap. So I read the news. I do not listen, I do not watch. It's more remote that way. I can step back before my emotions get involved. I can filter out what I feel is important and what I feel is crap. And, thanks to the internet, my sources are less limited. It's hard to get the BBC on TV or radio, but the internet is always on. :cool:

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TheMary
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Posted: Wed 05 Dec , 2007 11:51 pm
I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map, And knew that somehow I could find my way back; Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too - So I stayed in the darkness with you
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I heard that phone call several times while in the car with hal who listens to some Republican radio show over several days and it was disturbing to hear the gun shots knowing that men died at that moment.

The Texan deserves to be pistol whipped for killing two guys for stealing a bag of loot (so not worth the death of anyone). The two burglers should have thought twice before burgling in Texas the gun happy capital of the US.

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Night is falling
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Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see
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Safe in my arms
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TheEllipticalDisillusion
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Posted: Wed 05 Dec , 2007 11:55 pm
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I wouldn't trust any story that I hear on Bill O'Reilly.

MH, there is a website that you can subscribe to that allows you to download audio books. Audible. According to the front page, the site has over 40,000 audio books. If you have an iPod for your car, maybe this site can help you avoid running out of audio books to listen to in the car. You may even be able to burn the audio to a cd if you do not own an iPod or another digital listening device.

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MariaHobbit
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Posted: Thu 06 Dec , 2007 2:58 pm
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Yeah, but I can get audio books for free at the library! And it's always such a gamble, with audio books, on whether you can stand the reader, or whether the author's style is good for being read aloud. I'd rather not spend money on such things when it's so likely we'd reject the result as un-listenable.

Back in September, I went through the library's fantasy section of the audio books, and reserved lots of books that looked interesting. Most of them had something *wrong* that either I or my husband couldn't stand. We must have gone through 10 books before settling on George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. It's enormous! It took us a couple of months to get through the first book, and now I'm on the waiting list for the second, equally enormous book.

But, we went to the library last night and picked up some likely books: several Louis L'Amour books (which are always listenable, provided the reader doesn't sound ridiculous, which happened once) And there was a sequel to a Terry Pratchett book that we liked, by the same reader, so we know we'll like that. And there's something called Mystic Warrior by Tracy Hickman that I picked up just because I like the reader. That one may or may not be listenable, depending on the writing quality/style.

The Louis L'Amour books are read by different readers, so I got three different ones by different readers, so I can start a list of the *good* readers of that author. It was tough finding ones that specifically mentioned "unabridged" on the Louis L'Amour books. Abridging Louis L'Amour is like abridging poetry! You just don't DO that! Actually, we don't listen to abridged anything. I want the full story.

Anyway, we are stocked up with audio books again, to fill the interval until the the next book in The Song of Ice and Fire series becomes available again.

So, my head goes under the sand again for a while. :)

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TheEllipticalDisillusion
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Posted: Thu 06 Dec , 2007 4:08 pm
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For all I know, you can return the ones you don't like to the website, but I have no idea. Just thought it could help you.

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MariaHobbit
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Posted: Thu 06 Dec , 2007 4:45 pm
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No, thanks for the info, we might actually do that when we've exhausted the possibilities of the library. :)

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LalaithUrwen
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Posted: Thu 06 Dec , 2007 7:14 pm
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Our library has a digital collection as well. You check them out of the website (why, I have no idea! :scratch:), download them, and then listen to them. They are not iPod compatible, at last check, but some you could burn to CD. Free. They have music, too.

Rio, I think it's important to keep up on the news as well, but I prefer to do it on my own terms. Like you said, a lot of that is by reading news articles online, by hearing things through Freddy, or by hearing things from you all.


Lali

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TheMary
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Posted: Fri 07 Dec , 2007 2:27 am
I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map, And knew that somehow I could find my way back; Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too - So I stayed in the darkness with you
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I miss civilized libraries :bawl:. The Long Beach Public Library is a piece of crap. They charge money to check out movies and CD's how stupid is that?!

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Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
Night is falling
You’ve come to journey's end
Sleep now
And dream of the ones who came before
They are calling
From across the distant shore

Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see
All of your fears will pass away
Safe in my arms
You're only sleeping


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MariaHobbit
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Posted: Fri 07 Dec , 2007 3:56 pm
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That is weird. I guess they have had too many stolen?

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LalaithUrwen
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Posted: Fri 07 Dec , 2007 4:02 pm
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That sucks, TM! Seriously?

I must say our library is awesome. Our town has two, and they are among the best I've come across--lots of bells and whistles! We have access to all kinds of cool databases (free); for example, we can do Rosetta Stone foreign language in practically any language they offer for free up to 19 lessons or so (which is at least enough to know whether a kid will stick with it, like it, do well at it, etc.).

I wish I could get you all fake cards, so you could access all of their stuff online.


Lali

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TheMary
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Posted: Sat 08 Dec , 2007 2:08 am
I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map, And knew that somehow I could find my way back; Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too - So I stayed in the darkness with you
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MariaHobbit wrote:
That is weird. I guess they have had too many stolen?
I do live in ghettosville ;). I guess this way bums can't come in take the media and sell it for booze money. Well they could but they'd have to beg for the money first.


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Griffon64
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Posted: Sat 08 Dec , 2007 4:28 am
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I've all but stopped following the news in South Africa, because no emotional callous can protect against what happens in South Africa daily.

As an example, here is a picking from a South African website. There's regular stories of similar violence.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Afri ... 56,00.html

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tinwe
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Posted: Mon 10 Dec , 2007 4:39 am
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Ranger’s note:

The discussion concerning the morality of using deadly force to protect property has been split off. The new thread can be found here:

The use of deadly force to protect property

tinwë

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Impenitent
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Posted: Tue 11 Dec , 2007 11:46 pm
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MH, I can recommend the free, downloadable audiobook of "Wolf Brother", which is beautifully read by Sir Ian MacKellen. It's a kids' book but thorougly enjoyable, and the first book of seven in a series called Chronicles of Ancient Darkness.

http://www.playtime-books.com/Playtime_ ... other.html

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