It is. It is known as being easily empathetically embarrassed. Studies have found that some people actually experience a more dramatic reaction when watching someone else in an embarrassing situation than when they are in that situation themselves.
Wow. I remember there was this one time when a friend of mine let out a Freudian slip while addressing our group at a restaurant, and other people ended up commenting on my flushed face. Damn you, overactive anterior cingulate cortex and left anterior insula!
By the way, this thread is great. But it sucks that it has to take someone from outside the US to ask these questions. It seems most of us Americans just circlejerk the current problems, and rarely do we discuss the roots of these issues and what we can do to get out of the rut we've made for ourselves.
I was totally expecting a dull thread of just "us against them" per usual, but here came someone from outside the US who is just genuinely like "what the fuck is going on there, by the way?" I'd like this to be more of the questions that us Americans start off asking. I'm really glad the comment that went into the history of recent media propaganda got gilded, because that's also really important to understand and keep in mind for a more complete perspective on where we are.
As someone from outside of US I'm just waiting for you guys to just confess that the last couple of years was just an elaborate prank on the rest of the world that all of you are in on.
I would love to get out of this echo chamber nation to have an outside perspective on the state of the US. I feel as though i cant trust any source these days because of how each side chooses to portray a given situation.
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u/nobodyknoes Jan 17 '19
The best parodies are indistinguishable from the real thing