• ChexMax@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    59
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    11 months ago

    I don’t understand the confusion here. Yes, it’s interesting and entertaining to watch people on TV deal with issues that don’t affect me and that I don’t have to accommodate, and it’s not interesting, entertaining, or fun to watch my brother deal with those issues in real life, or that we have to walk on eggshells at family holidays so my brother in law doesn’t have a meltdown. Duh. It’s also entertainment to watch a show where an important character dies, but extremely difficult and uncomfortable when your actual friend loses a spouse or child.

    Society loves things that are difficult on TV, and in real life society prefers things that are easy.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      11 months ago

      Yeah, but one thing useful to tell a good person from a bad one is that they are conscious of this at least when you point out their behavior of this kind to them. Sometimes people consider themselves good because they like watching and reading about people doing good things, and are in denial about the contrast with their own real actions. Or have the gall to behave as if the latter matters less.