At Avondale Markets, spotted by Cuni de Graaf of Hillsborough.
Let's soften up instead
A Trade Me message board user posted their shock at 3News broadcasting the blood of the elderly lady hit by a car in Dunedin. "Why do they think we need this form of sensationalism?" Another user said: "It's real life ... there's no point sugar-coating stuff ... if you get hit on the road lots of blood comes out." Another user responded with: "Come off it, it's being used purely for shock value ... Shows no respect for the individual involved. How many people need to see blood to find it real? More likely it will desensitise people over time." It started a typical pile-in chorus of "harden up". But then this considered opinion: "Sadly I think we need more empathy, not to harden up ... Yes life is harsh and many of us have scars and have suffered loss through our life, but that doesn't mean we need to see it on the news. Maybe you would also like to see the bodies of the children in America lying in their pools of blood after the recent shooting? No we don't need to harden up, we do need to be more caring and understanding."
Thoughts on pettiness
Danish writer and thinker Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was ahead of his time. In his book, The Diary of Soren Kierkegaard, he prophetically explains the psychology behind contemporary bullying and online trolling. "There is a form of envy of which I frequently have seen examples, in which an individual tries to obtain something by bullying. If, for instance, I enter a place where many are gathered, it often happens that one or another right away takes up arms against me by beginning to laugh; presumably he feels that he is being a tool of public opinion. But lo and behold, if I then make a casual remark to him, that same person becomes infinitely pliable and obliging. Essentially it shows that he regards me as something great, maybe even greater than I am: but if he can't be admitted as a participant in my greatness, at least he will laugh at me. But as soon as he becomes a participant, as it were, he brags about my greatness. That is what comes of living in a petty community."
