Hyperempathy

At about seven years old (not long after we first got a B&W TV) Charlie Chaplin's (already somewhat ancient) "Goldrush" was shown one evening. I couldn't handle it at all, even though it is obviously supposed to be humorous. (I suppose Chaplin had quite a high degree of empathy himself.) I had to hide behind the sofa while it was on. I imagine that the added musical accompaniment was also quite a significant factor in my quite extreme reaction. 

Where I live these days, they tend to like high action sci-fi movies. I still can't handle the extreme violence of such movies. I count myself as quite open-minded, and I am certainly not naive about how violent and reactionary so-called normal life can be. (I know well what it is like to deal with blood, gore and cynicism.). I think of movies like this as far too gratuitous. I also have the idea that they are deliberately trying to out-shock well-made movies such as Alien, in an extremely cheap & nasty over-commercial manner. I also have no time for all these superhero films we get these days, with which Hollywood seems to want to try and be great again! These days, i just walk away from it or switch off, but if someone tries to keep me in the same room as an over-loud and hyperactive action movie, and tries to talk to me at the same time, I go into a state which could be construed as a meltdown. However, the positive side of things is that I can easily walk away from it, and some minutes later I no longer feel very bothered at all.

I also tend to watch so-called horror movies (of the classic type) with a huge amount of tongue-in-cheek amusement. I suppose they are not real enough to match the reality i already know quite well; and so can mostly be disregarded.

Which reminds me that the very first news report I saw on that B&W TV was a report on the assassination of President Kennedy. That shaped my views on both politics and conspiracy theories for a lifetime. I can become quite animatedly angry about this; along the lines that we are never going to be told anything like half the truth. So "Sod off the lot of you" is often my immediate reaction. And that has got me into quite a lot of trouble with my (somewhat less than stellar) career over the years. I'm actually something like a counter-conspiracist. (It's like, "Don't bother me with this nonsense, because I am not going to be easily corralled!" ;-)

At about seven years old (not long after we first got a B&W TV) Charlie Chaplin's (already somewhat ancient) "Goldrush" was shown one evening. I couldn't handle it at all, even though it is obviously supposed to be humorous. (I suppose Chaplin had quite a high degree of empathy himself.) I had to hide behind the sofa while it was on. I imagine that the added musical accompaniment was also quite a significant factor in my quite extreme reaction. 

Where I live these days, they tend to like high action sci-fi movies. I still can't handle the extreme violence of such movies. I count myself as quite open-minded, and I am certainly not naive about how violent and reactionary so-called normal life can be. (I know well what it is like to deal with blood, gore and cynicism.). I think of movies like this as far too gratuitous. I also have the idea that they are deliberately trying to out-shock well-made movies such as Alien, in an extremely cheap & nasty over-commercial manner. I also have no time for all these superhero films we get these days, with which Hollywood seems to want to try and be great again! These days, i just walk away from it or switch off, but if someone tries to keep me in the same room as an over-loud and hyperactive action movie, and tries to talk to me at the same time, I go into a state which could be construed as a meltdown. However, the positive side of things is that I can easily walk away from it, and some minutes later I no longer feel very bothered at all.

I also tend to watch so-called horror movies (of the classic type) with a huge amount of tongue-in-cheek amusement. I suppose they are not real enough to match the reality i already know quite well; and so can mostly be disregarded.

Which reminds me that the very first news report I saw on that B&W TV was a report on the assassination of President Kennedy. That shaped my views on both politics and conspiracy theories for a lifetime. I can become quite animatedly angry about this; along the lines that we are never going to be told anything like half the truth. So "Sod off the lot of you" is often my immediate reaction. And that has got me into quite a lot of trouble with my (somewhat less than stellar) career over the years. I'm actually something like a counter-conspiracist. (It's like, "Don't bother me with this nonsense, because I am not going to be easily corralled!" ;-)