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Milos
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Milos
848 posts
Peasant

Cat tries to revive a dead friend.

Heartbreaking :'(
Link says it all. I don't remember seeing anything as sad as this in recent past.

  • 41 Replies
aknerd
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aknerd
1,416 posts
Peasant

Okay, I just figured out what bothers me about this video: it implies that death is only sad if someone misses you.

No one would watch this video if it was just a dead cat in a road. Because then you would be watching road kill, which, as I said in my first post, is an odd way to spend your time.

But bring in kitty number 2, and suddenly we have a tragedy. Why? Either way, the cat is dead. A life is lost. It doesn't matter whether that lost life is remembered or not.

knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

Why? Either way, the cat is dead. A life is lost. It doesn't matter whether that lost life is remembered or not.


Tragedies occur as we speak, but no one cares unless they are aware. The people aren't feeling pity for the dead cat, they're pitying the cat that is apparently trying to revive it.
aknerd
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aknerd
1,416 posts
Peasant

The people aren't feeling pity for the dead cat, they're pitying the cat that is apparently trying to revive it.


Oh, I know. I just find it odd that they feel bad for the cat who is still alive. I guess there isn't much use on wasting pity on the dead, though.
Strop
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Strop
10,816 posts
Bard

Who is this guy filming this? Seriously, that's a little odd. Why would someone film roadkill?


Anything and everything gets filmed. And then put on the internet.

The people aren't feeling pity for the dead cat, they're pitying the cat that is apparently trying to revive it.


The real reason there's a reaction is because people can identify with being affected by a death, as the cat is clearly demonstrating.

Think about it this way: if it were a dead cat by itself, most people might not think as much about it (well, I would). If it were a dead person, however, most people would. That the cat is displaying behaviours that we recognise as how we might react to the death of a friend of our own is the significant factor here. We pity the animal who is alive because we would feel grief if we were bereaved.

The corollary from this is that we don't actually feel sorry for a dead person... not for being dead. We might pity the circumstances in which they died, or even the circumstances in which they lived, but we don't pity them for the death itself. We pity ourselves for having lost that person.

If that doesn't make sense, consider that our grieving processes actually begin when we conclude/become aware that a person (including oneself) is dying, because we are aware of our impending and ongoing loss. Once again, many species of animal demonstrate the same behaviour.

I hope that's a little helpful.
Holden012
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Holden012
1,989 posts
Nomad

Who is this guy filming this? Seriously, that's a little odd. Why would someone film roadkill?* Also, how about some respect. If I died, I wouldn't want someone posting a video of my friend stepping on me on youtube.


Clearly the other cat was trying to revive it's died friend if you read the OP .
Strop
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Strop
10,816 posts
Bard

p.s. I should add, reactions might again differ if it were a person grieving over a cat, because of a perceived disparity. It's important that it is a cat tending to a cat.

Don't care. XD. Don't blame the player, blame the game. The cat died from being ran over. Google it.


I'm not acting in my capacity as a moderator here, but I'd like to impart a bit of personal advice... everybody has their own way of dealing with confronting scenes. Some are more compatible with other people, than others. In this context, a deflection (such as the one above) would be considered a maladaptive response to the situation and only pisses people off. You won't make any friends in this manner!

A better way of coping in such social situations is to acknowledge what others are feeling, even if you don't feel the same way yourself (or are trying not to!)
knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

The real reason there's a reaction is because people can identify with being affected by a death, as the cat is clearly demonstrating.

Think about it this way: if it were a dead cat by itself, most people might not think as much about it (well, I would). If it were a dead person, however, most people would. That the cat is displaying behaviours that we recognise as how we might react to the death of a friend of our own is the significant factor here. We pity the animal who is alive because we would feel grief if we were bereaved.

The corollary from this is that we don't actually feel sorry for a dead person... not for being dead. We might pity the circumstances in which they died, or even the circumstances in which they lived, but we don't pity them for the death itself. We pity ourselves for having lost that person.

If that doesn't make sense, consider that our grieving processes actually begin when we conclude/become aware that a person (including oneself) is dying, because we are aware of our impending and ongoing loss. Once again, many species of animal demonstrate the same behaviour.

I hope that's a little helpful.


I forgot that point thank you. It helps a lot.
aknerd
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aknerd
1,416 posts
Peasant

stupid logout glitch... well here I goes again

stuff Strop said

I realize all of that, afterall I am human, and have experianced the basic human feeling of loss before. But loss is inevitable, and therefore attaching a superlative such as "saddest" to it makes no sense. My original point still stands: the tragedy of a death is not determined by how intensely it is mourned. More people might grieve when Oprah dies than some Hermit, but that doesn't mean that the Hermit's death is not tragic.

Of course, people are self centered, so they don't care about the actual tragedy of a death. Instead, they care about the tragedy that they are forced to experiance. So the sense of loss outweighs the actual loss. BUT this same logic can be used to prove my point: if we don't care about another's death, why should we care about another's loss?

Both death and loss are inevitable and tragic. At some point, we will grieve another's death, and at another point we will die. I personsally care more about the latter. I value my own life immensely and I pity those who can no longer experiance new things. Therefore, I pity the dead cat much more than the living one.

This make the grieving cat obsolete. With it gone, this is essentially a video about roadkill.

So that is how I arrived at my original point.
Strop
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Strop
10,816 posts
Bard

and therefore attaching a superlative such as "saddest" to it makes no sense


I ignored the title of the thread; I was concentrating purely on the video.

But while we're at it, I don't understand what you're getting at, aknerd. How are you assessing the magnitude of a tragedy? I think it would be an error to attempt any kind of objective measure, seeing as 'tragedy', by definition, is used subjectively in conversation. A tragedy is declared by a person expressing their feelings, and it is the feelings that are only loosely "measured" by a rationalisation. It would be worth noting that I have never used the term "tragedy" except to describe the literary genre.

if we don't care about another's death, why should we care about another's loss?


Empathy.

First, some semantics: nobody is obligated to care about another's loss. However, empathy, the basis of all personal relationships, is what has us identify with somebody's experiences and feelings, and evokes the same feelings in us (if we are so equipped).

Because of the various common pathways and experiences in our lives (expressed as concepts), we communicate and share this empathy, which is what generates the sense that one might be required to care for another's loss. In turn this is what engenders that question: "I do feel bad that gran died, but I don't feel all that bad because I barely knew her, does that make me a bad person?" Given my opening sentence, no, of course it doesn't!

Just as it doesn't necessarily make you a bad person if you don't feel bad for the dead car or the grieving cat. Others might like to assert this, indicating that they are upset by something and are upset that you don't share their feelings. I can't feel bad for a dead cat because I can't feel bad for anything dead: I can't identify with the state of being dead (duh). However, I feel bad for the living cat because I assume that it is grieving, especially since I've been in similar situations with dead friends, dead patients, and my dead father, who was killed in a roadside accident and I identified in the morgue. He, too, was roadkill, but I was still there.

This is why I also don't understand what you mean when you said that the grieving cat is "obsolete".
allright88
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allright88
154 posts
Nomad

I lost my best friend `~`
He was very funny.He will even give his life for his friends.
He was killed by a stealer.My friend went into some one's house when the stealer was stealing.
If the police got him then Ill surely kill him

aknerd
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aknerd
1,416 posts
Peasant

How are you assessing the magnitude of a tragedy?


I was implying that death is always tragic. Or rather, it has more to do with how the dead individual spent their life than how they are mourned after they die. I haven't read a tragedy for a while, but what I from I remember, they seem to fit my definition. In a lot of Shakespear plays, there isn't anyone left to mourn the dead at the end, besides the audience. And the audience is not saddened by the loss of a character, but rather the fact that said character had to die after leading such a hard life.

I can't feel bad for a dead cat because I can't feel bad for anything dead: I can't identify with the state of being dead (duh).

I've never been around someone when they died. Well, I have, because I volunteer in a hospital. But not someone that I know and care about. I've only ever heard after the fact. Which might explain our different perspectives here.

obsolete

A bad choice of words. The first time I typed my post, I think I chose "irrelevant," which makes more sense. After the logout glitch killed said post, I didn't spend as much time on word choice the second time around. By irrelevant, I mean irrelevant in terms determining how "sad" the situation is.

And I apologize if my literal use of the word roadkill was offensive, because I did not know you had suffered such an experiance. I do feel bad for you for losing your father (which I know goes against everything I've said here).
thepossum
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thepossum
3,035 posts
Nomad

Millions of animals do this same thing every day. It happens all the time. So I just don't find it that sad. People just think it's sad because the cat is showing human emotions.

Strop
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Strop
10,816 posts
Bard

Woohoo, I'm really on a roll here!

Or rather, it has more to do with how the dead individual spent their life than how they are mourned after they die.


This is exactly what I said in that stuff I said, i.e. "the tragedy" in death itself can't be measured without a measure of the life that preceded it... of course that measure has many different standards, compared to normative expectations of a person's life at the time of that death. But I think I can see where you're coming from when you say death is always tragic, though this wouldn't necessarily be viewed the same way: certain cultures celebrate a death after a good life, certain cultures celebrate a 'good' death.

I do feel bad for you for losing your father (which I know goes against everything I've said here).


Haha, I trust that my point has been made then :P

(For the record I am okay with my father's death, otherwise I wouldn't be willing to mention it.)

People just think it's sad because the cat is showing human emotions.


This is also exactly what I said: read the post I made at the end of page 2, and combine that with the post at the start of page 3. Even if you don't think it's that sad, you have to admit that other people find it sad- think about how that in particular makes you feel.
Holden012
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Holden012
1,989 posts
Nomad

He was killed by a stealer

I believe you mean Burglar or a Robber?

Well sorry for your loss.
escartian
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escartian
780 posts
Nomad

As Mark Twain said (not exact quote) The story of my death was highly exaggerated.
The cat thinks the same way.

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