Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3226 to 3230 (25 - 27 May 2016)
Zebediah:
--- Quote from: Tova on 26 May 2016, 04:46 ---
--- Quote from: mikmaxs on 26 May 2016, 00:18 ---That's initially what I thought when I read it to. As far as I read, she's not making a sarcastic quip about not having renters insurance, she's pointing out that she's not a renter. (And doesn't have insurance.)
--- End quote ---
For what it's worth, I didn't think she was being sarcastic, or pointing out anything. I think she just didn't know what Clinton was talking about ("Renters insurance, what is that?").
--- End quote ---
That was my take too - she had never even considered the concept before, and suddenly realizes how really great it would have been to have that yesterday.
For what it's worth, I don't think she owned the bar. Or the building it was in. I think she was an employee of the bar and rented the apartment above because it was convenient. Now she's unemployed and homeless.
Tova:
Or the apartment accommodation was a part of the job package.
--- Quote from: cesium133 on 26 May 2016, 04:49 ---
--- Quote from: Kugai on 25 May 2016, 22:54 ---Yeah. Had Contents Insurance since I'm renting here
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Was it questionable?
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You'd probably have to declare that.
jheartney:
If Brun were the bar owner, she'd almost certainly have insurance on it. If she had a mortgage on the place, the bank would require insurance. Even if she owned it outright, she'd almost certainly have it insured. But she strikes me as far more transient than that, which means she's down to whatever the fire dept. saved, her clock, and, possibly, a bank account. If there's no bank account she's probably headed for a homeless shelter.
If Clinton really wants to be a mensch, he could ask Clairemom about Brun staying in the spare room while she looks for another bartending gig and a place to live. It'd beat the hell out of a homeless shelter, even if it means listening to CM and Chad making loud whoopee.
Case:
Can one of the resident US natives explain Jeph's use of "pathos" to me?
I feel like I'm missing smth. in differing cultural contexts - e.g. there's a difference in the use of "pathetic" and it's German translation "bemitleidenswert" (worthy-of-pity/empathy). IME, Germans would use "bemitleidenswert" in the sense that a person objectively qualifies for ('is worthy of-') sympathetic empathy ('Mit-Leid' literally means 'co-suffering') - e.g. their lot is such that they are above relativism of the "others have it harder"-type.
The focus is on the victim and their suffering. There is no implicit connotation of them being at fault for their lot - I've never heard "bemitleidenswert" spoken through a sneer (*). If anything, there's an implicit exhortation to 'take pity with them' in the connotation-cloud.
"Pathetic", on the other hand, seems to indicate ... much of the same, yet I've frequently heard it spoken/written with a scornful, even condescending note? As if the speaker was angry with the sufferer for 'evoking pity/demanding sympathy from them', or contemptuous for bringing themselves into a situation where they evoke pity.
It's not that Germans don't victim-blame with the worst of them, or are above "Schadenfreude" (Ha! Ha!) - it just means that use of the term "bemitleidenswert" would indicate (amongst other things) an affirmation by the speaker that such feelings are objectively inappropriate in that specific context - that the speaker would feel you are a bad person if you expressed such feelings in that context - whereas the particular use of "pathetic" I've pointed out above seem to indicate quite the opposite, in fact.
With that in mind - what does "pathos" mean here? That Clinton would feel compelled to feel empathy/sympathy with Brun's lot? Or that he would feel angry with her for not having renters insurance?
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(*) Though I hasten to add that this has been changing recently - Some (young) people have started using "Opfer" (Victim) as a slur. Unabashed victim-blaming of the purest sort. Blaming victims for being victims ...
BenRG:
Pathos is here used in its original meaning from classical Hellenic literature: Words and events that invoke in the audience and are meant to communicate from the source text intense emotions, primarily negative ones such as grief.
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