(no subject)

[spatch]

There was a Green Line accident this morning at Boylston Street, two trains collided and folks went to the hospital and all. The Glob online is running a story complete with a humonjus picture of an injured rider being taken out on a backboard right past a station decoration of the MBTA's cartoon Charlie mascot grinning and giving the thumbs-up.

On the one hand the irony of this picture is morbidly amusing, but on the other hand my god, my object empathy (which I described a few years ago) is flaring up something fierce.

Comments

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Jesus H, they could have cropped that.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

omg, i have object empathy too. i thought it was just me.

[resk.livejournal.com]

I fall squarely into the "morbidly amused" camp.





As if you couldn't have guessed.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

your object empathy essay that was linked here was really interesting. I'll have to pay attention now to how much of that I experience, although I suspect it's considerable.

I saw that photograph earlier today; an officemate of mine was in the train behind the one that crashed, and she was a little shaken that had she hurried a bit more she would have been more involved, rather than just inconvenienced quite a bit.

[prog.livejournal.com]

The photog (and their editors) knew exactly what they were doing.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Looking at it as a photograph, that Charlie portrait is so so lame. First of all, with his elbow resting on his palm like that, it looks vaguely like a rude gesture. Secondly, someone who was not the designer said "This isn't T-ish enough" and rammed a big T signpost through his hands, even though they aren't posed to look like they could hold anything. So now it also looks vaguely like Charlie is halfway through a kung-fu pole-arm maneuver which will end with someone getting smacked upside the head with the giant T.

[ilovehpl.livejournal.com]

OMG thank you for coming up with an explanation of OBJECT EMPATHY , sweet jesus there's a name for it. I've got it bad especially when it comes to cute animals on packaging, for me it's worse when they're photographs.

So are you feeling ashamed for Cartoon Charlie?

[28bytes.livejournal.com]

I see I'm one of many chiming in that I experience the exact same thing! I thought I was the only one in the universe that felt that way. I've even had that exact same reaction to that exact same cat.

The Cheerios bee affects me too. Sure, he looks happy, but you can also detect a certain melancholy in his eyes, as if he's just smiling on that box because he feels he has to, but really, he's sad about something.

I don't haphazardly throw away burned-out light bulbs; I gently place them in the trash bin in a way so that they won't be broken, because even though they're no longer working, they still deserve a dignified afterlife.

[alphacygni]

I totally winced like hell, although I've got empathy plus professional loyalty on the line.

I assumed they knew exactly what they were doing, and I thought it was a bit harsh, considering the extremely minor nature of both the accident and the injuries. (_Of course_ you mention that your neck might hurt if it does in the slightest after something like that. And _of course_ it will have to be checked out, and _of course_ you will be taken out on a board. But they seemed to want to get the most newspapery dramaticy picture possible.)

[ron_newman]

I used to feel sorry for the Columbia-Screen Gems logo lady. Such a sad facial expression and an uncomfortable arm position, not to mention freezing to death wearing that dress.

[28bytes.livejournal.com]

She always reminds me of Alice on The Honeymooners.

[spatch]

The latest model for that was Annette Bening.

And now you know the rest... of the story.

[kalliejenn2.livejournal.com]

i would have been amused...had i not been right near there when it happened, stuck at park street with 1,000 other milling, confused people. i was not amused when a huge wave of people came at me, clamoring to get out (and freaking out a bit) since no one would announce what was going on. i was not amused when the only direction i got upon emerging from the station was the metro guy directing me where to go to catch the shuttle busses(not a T employee in sight). i was also not amused that the buses were only going to kenmore station, even though i had to get to the E line (um, you can't get there from kenmore)...after waiting 20 minutes for one bus (for now nearly 1,500 people or more) i was also *very* not amused when, after walking to copley to catch a bus from there, and asking a bus driver where he was headed (his bus said "out of order"), he replied "i don't know. just hop on." yeah, right. i hate the T.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

I can't throw away any stuffed animals. And people were threatening one time at the Bruins game to throw these Johnny Bucyk figurines they gave away on the ice during a crappy call, I thought I would literally cry if they did. I know it's just plastic! But it has a face! How could you hurt Johnny Bucyk like that?

[ron_newman]

Roger Ebert says that's not correct.

[tansu.livejournal.com]

If I were the photographer, and an editor cropped that photo in a way that removed the Charlie mascot, I would be wishing hellfire upon that editor.