HMV in trouble again.

[struth]

ive been paid off and made redundant; no-one gave a toss, which was a shame as my job was as important as someone in a multi chain. only difference is 10/15k jobs going at one time instead of 20/30.
that said of course i feel for the workers, its always sad to see anyone losing their ability to earn a living. hopefully a buyer will be found for some of the stores and at least some jobs get saved.

[Dr Winston O Boogie]

ive been paid off and made redundant; no-one gave a toss, which was a shame as my job was as important as someone in a multi chain. only difference is 10/15k jobs going at one time instead of 20/30.
that said of course i feel for the workers, its always sad to see anyone losing their ability to earn a living. hopefully a buyer will be found for some of the stores and at least some jobs get saved.

We all have, but HMV was for me anyway the last of the great record shops.

[struth]

We all have, but HMV was for me anyway the last of the great record shops.

yup, but record buyers are very much a niche. thats one of the reasons for it. although there has been a resurgence, its nothing like the heyday. the populace for the most part have moved away from physical media alas.

[Macca]

I can't say I have felt any external pressure of the type you describe.

See Barry's post 131 above. Unless you express how badly you feel for these people you are 'not a nice person' and deserve to be socially castigated. Whereas I would say that unless you actually know someone personally you don't actually 'feel' anything for their plight.

We are just acknowledging that it is a shame on an intellectual level, not an emotional one. And I don't see the point of that, frankly. It's platitudes at best, virtue signalling at worst.

[Marco]

It's the idea that it is okay to put social pressure on people to think a certain way in an attempt to force them into displaying some show of faux emotional response to the plight of people they have never met that I find both tedious and slightly sinister.

An interesting (and somewhat cold-hearted) outlook, which is one of your traits, and I'm afraid not one I can relate to. You're of course entitled to feel how you feel, or not feel...

It's not about a "faux emotional response", but simply natural human behaviour, expressing some sympathy for one's fellow man in unfortunate times. I'm not crying into my soup or anything, as it doesn't affect me directly, but I'm always sad to hear when someone loses their job, through no fault of their own.

For me, that's just a normal emotional response; nothing "faux" about it.

Marco.

[Spectral Morn]

An interesting (and somewhat cold-hearted) outlook, which is one of your traits, and I'm afraid not one I can relate to. You're of course entitled to feel how you feel, or not feel...

It's not about a "faux emotional response", but simply natural human behaviour, expressing some sympathy for one's fellow man in unfortunate times. I'm not crying into my soup or anything, as it doesn't affect me directly, but I'm always sad to hear when someone loses their job, through no fault of their own.

For me, that's just a normal emotional response; nothing "faux" about it.

Marco.

+ 1

Having been made redundant a number of times its horrible. And I do care about those that are. Its harder when you are older. I am employed currently, but not at the same level I once was and so far todate I have failed to get back to that level.

[Joe]

It's interesting whether, and to what extent, we sympathise with others' misfortunes. There seems to be a sort of sliding scale of empathy, depending on how close we are to those involved, both in terms of actual relationship/friendship, and in terms of physical proximity. Thus, the death of one person we know well or are related to will affect us far more than the death of ten people in this country whom we don't know, or of a hundred people in a nearby country, or of a thousand people on the other side of the world.

In terms of redundancy, which is clearly far less serious, my reaction is of concern, especially for those with families, but it doesn't last long, or cause me to alter my own behaviour in any way (eg visit actual shops rather than shop online), so I guess it's 'faux concern' to that extent.

[Marco]

Sure, however the key point is that your *initial* reaction was one of concern, and I suspect also feeling some sympathy for those affected - and there is nothing "sinister" in that.

I know that Martin's a nice person, in the truest sense of the word [as I know him].

However, I do worry about the increasing trend these days to be dispassionate and uncaring towards others, almost automatically, as I believe that it breeds selfishness and disrespect: two things that are largely responsible for how the world is today, and why I enjoy living in places where a community spirit still exists and people show kindness towards each other, simply out of good manners, if nothing else.

Remember those...?

That's one of the reasons why I *hate* big cities, especially London, as no-one gives a damn about anyone, other than themselves!

Marco.

[Macca]

Saying that you care is not the same as actually caring. And the true purpose of saying that you care is to ensure that other people are aware that 'you care' - because you actually do care about what those people think of you quite a lot more than you care about the people you don't know and have never met to whom the terrible disaster has happened.

The fact is at best you can 'care' on an intellectual level, not on an emotional level. So you post that you care just so no-one is in any doubt about it and then get on with your life and I guarantee you will have forgotten all about it within ten minutes.

On the other hand if, say, a good friend calls you to tell you that he has been diagnosed with a terminal disease then you actually will care - on an emotional level. it will ruin your day, your week, it will never be far from your mind.

That's the difference between actually caring and faux-caring.

Aside from establishing your 'caring credentials' with your judgemental cronies, faux-caring is a complete waste of time - how does it benefit the afflicted people in any way? If you really cared you'd go down to your local HMV and hand over a monkey (or whatever you can afford) to each member of staff to help tide them over until they get another job. But I bet no-one is doing that are they?

[Marco]

I get where you're coming from, and good point about handing over a "monkey"

However, the concern/sympathy I feel, when hearing that someone's lost their job, or had some other misfortune, liable to seriously impact upon their lives in a negative way, *is* a genuine emotion. There is nothing false about it. That is fact.

What you're talking about is the LEVEL of care shown, in terms of the above, not whether the care displayed is genuine or not, as unless you can see inside someone's head, and therefore know whether they're being disingenuous, simply for effect, or not, you're not qualified to judge.

It therefore follows that, in terms of LEVEL, you'll care far more about the misfortunes of those you know, than those you don't, but that doesn't negate one's ability to care to some degree about anything - and genuinely so, too.

Marco.