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Home >Debates >Should people on social media be joking about the tragic Notre Dame fire?
On April 15, The great Notre Dame cathedral caught on fire. On Instrgram, I have noticed many people making the tragic fire into a joke. The cathedral is an important part of French history, And has been standing for centuries. I find it very inappropriate that people would make such a tragedy into a "meme". Eventually, The cathedral will be restored, However, I have a feeling that the fire will be remembered for a long time. As of right now, People need to be respectful to the people impacted by this event. I ask everyone to not make jokes out of this terrible accident.
Jokes are a good method of drawing attention to a tragedy, And they tend to be a coping mechanism for some. Noone died in the Notre Dame fire, I'm just concerned about finding the perpetrator. Jokes can be light-spirited as well as demeaning or derogatory.
The real concern isn't people making lighthearted memes but rather media outlets & journalists suggesting it should be rebuilt with cheap, Modern, Contemporary sh*t, Like an aluminum spire or glass roof. It's near a Millennia old and deserves the same treatment it received all those years ago. However anti-arson measures that don't get in the way of restoring it to it's original appearance are welcomed.
Well, I do and don't. I don't mean to make about Notre Dame, So much as a meta joke I think. There are tragedies in life that it's clearly callous to make a joke of. But there's also the fact that the less involved a person is with the event, The easier it appears for people to make jokes. Easier as time passes, Easier if it is not something you have deep connection to (A joke about an enemies tragedy or an atheist joking about religion). The people involved will not find it funny of course, Sometimes no matter how much time passes.
Leaning - In the court of a king, It was often the jester who was the only one allowed to speak what he truly thought. I wouldn't dismiss jokes so non-chalantly, That's kind of throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Respect is for people not buildings. Offence is taken, Not given, In fact it is the bedrock of stoic thinking. Stoics understand that other individuals cannot (with words) create upset or harm. Rather it is our reaction to those words which does that. And because we are able to control our own thoughts and actions, We can determine what that reaction should be. We can decide to not be hurt. We can ignore or dismiss any attempt to offend us. We can be totally insulated from offence by simply deciding to react in a different way.
The responsibility for becoming offended lies with the listener.
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The responsibility for becoming offended lies with the listener.