# Does Anything "Shock" You Anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2009, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385 "2009-11-21T07:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/21 "2009-11-22T06:57:36Z")
Heard about some Peruvian gang that kidnaps fat people and hangs them over candles to “harvest” their fat. They then sell the human fat on the black market. Not sure how true the story is but it was kind of shocking. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/22 "2009-11-22T07:09:16Z")
I got paged to a murder-suicide about 2 months ago. Dude was sitting on the couch, having given himself a 12 gauge haircut, and the right side of his brain was laying on his left shoulder. My reaction? “Well, he’s dead…” I had much more sympathy and sadness for the wife he had strangled. Being an EMT, I have a very well-developed jaded gland. My answer is not much has truly shocked me for a long time. Probably the the last time it did happen was the sudden death of a dear friend about 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/23 "2009-11-22T07:38:34Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I have to admit, I was shocked by that woman who sold her 5-year-old child as a sex slave . . . to be raped and murdered. Whoa! What’s this now? Link? Has this person been tried by a jury of their peers and convicted?? Not that I doubt you. I mean, after Andrea Yates confessing to drowning her children, nothing like that actually shocks me anymore. It’s just that I had not heard of any tried and convicted moms that had sold their children to be sex slaves lately, so I would love a link. Thanks. As to the OP, I will echo others that 9/11 stunned me in a way that I didn’t even _recognize._ ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/24 "2009-11-22T07:44:24Z")
The video of the Lithuanian man throwing his own dog off a bridge shocked me pretty bad, and I even knew what to expect. I think I’m almost as shocked that the /b/tard internet detectives tracked him down and he’s now been arrested. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/25 "2009-11-22T09:05:31Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > The video of the Lithuanian man throwing his own dog off a bridge shocked me pretty bad, and I even knew what to expect. I think I’m almost as shocked that the /b/tard internet detectives tracked him down and he’s now been arrested. See in my youth animals were not treated with as much “kindness” as they are now. It was no big deal for owners of cats or dogs to take the puppies or kittens their pets had given birth to put them in a bag with rocks and toss them in a lake. I find that incredibly cruel and even in the 70s people could get their animals fixed, but it happened all the time, I grew up in the south side of Chicago ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/26 "2009-11-22T09:33:04Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Heard about some Peruvian gang that kidnaps fat people and hangs them over candles to “harvest” their fat. They then sell the human fat on the black market. > > Not sure how true the story is but it was kind of shocking. [Where there’s money, there’s murder.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8369674.stm) As for the OP: Shocked, nah; saddened, often. ps. Argent, I’m guessing you’ve never been in prison, have you? ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/27 "2009-11-22T15:09:21Z")
Invariably, the things that shock me the most are things I read about that happened before I was even born. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/28 "2009-11-22T16:12:50Z")
> [@Wheeljack](#): > > Invariably, the things that shock me the most are things I read about that happened before I was even born. Yeah. Segregation is shocking to me. I can’t even wrap my mind around it. 9/11 scared the shit out of me for approximately 1 day, because I was worried more attacks would happen. It was tragic, but I wouldn’t call it shocking. Then again, I didn’t really know what/where the World Trade Center was when I first heard about it. If I had been more closely connected to NYC, it definitely would have been shocking. Columbine shocked me because I had been a high school student and couldn’t fathom anything like that happening at school, my safe space. After that happened I felt I had no more safe space. I developed such a complex about it I got a hernia. When I was 13! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/29 "2009-11-22T16:17:18Z")
I’ve pretty much seen it all by now. 9/11 was probably the last thing to shock me, and I can’t remember what it was before that. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/30 "2009-11-22T16:37:44Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Whoa! What’s this now? Link? Has this person been tried by a jury of their peers and convicted?? Not that I doubt you. I mean, after Andrea Yates confessing to drowning her children, nothing like that actually shocks me anymore. > > It’s just that I had not heard of any tried and convicted moms that had sold their children to be sex slaves lately, so I would love a link. Thanks. > > As to the OP, I will echo others that 9/11 stunned me in a way that I didn’t even _recognize._ This all just happened, so there hasn’t been a trial yet. [http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/17/crimesider/entry5682136.shtml](http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/17/crimesider/entry5682136.shtml) I was shocked when I heard about what she was accused of, too. I also agree with 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/31 "2009-11-22T17:08:03Z")
A co-worker of mine has cancer. She’s fighting it hard, with chemo and tons of medical appointments, but from what I understand it’s not a very good outlook. She’s single, and her whole family (sisters, mother, nephews, etc) are halfway across the country. I asked another friend at work why in the world this woman was still working at this stressful and thankless job in the midst of this possibly terminal illness, when she could be spending more time with her family. My friend looked at me like I was stupid and said “well, she needs the health insurance from work if she wants to keep up the treatments”. Shocked. I couldn’t, and still can’t, wrap my mind around that concept. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/32 "2009-11-22T17:33:49Z")
I was horrified and shocked by a report on TV about the way albinos are treated in Tanzania. The witch doctors there tell people that if they drink a broth made from the bones of albinos, they will become wealthy. This has led to mutilations and murders. Albinos have to live in separate areas for their own protection. This sort of mindset needs to end. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/33 "2009-11-23T00:04:46Z")
Thanks for the link, Omega. I will wait for the outcome of this one. I would have to see her confess or be tried before I can even fathom that she can be guilty of such an atrocious crime. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/34 "2009-11-23T02:34:56Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > I was horrified and shocked by a report on TV about the way albinos are treated in Tanzania. The witch doctors there tell people that if they drink a broth made from the bones of albinos, they will become wealthy. This has led to mutilations and murders. Albinos have to live in separate areas for their own protection. > > This sort of mindset needs to end. I started a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=471249&highlight=Albinos) on this last year. ---
**Author:** ![My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/My_Darn_Snake_Legs)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/35 "2009-11-23T04:04:24Z")
A friend of a friend used some really offensive racist language in a facebook discussion of politics. I was shocked that he thought that was an appropriate thing to say in public. :eek: (That friend called me later to tell me that he’d deleted the guy’s comment and that the dude had a bad drinking problem, but it was still shocking.) ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/36 "2009-11-23T04:34:58Z")
I was shocked when I learned about Jeffrey Dahmer. I was shocked on 9-11-01. I was shocked when I learned about the Columbine shootings. Not much shocks me, either. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/37 "2009-11-23T05:08:54Z")
I got pretty jaded once I digested “grandparents don’t try to pimp out their children! not in normal families! mine is a normal family! we don’t live in cardboard houses!” Ever since, there’s many things which make me angry but don’t shock me, don’t stun me. Comes in handy in emergencies, I guess. 9/11 was a What - The - Fuck???!!! moment, but I was so busy reporting on it (via a MUD) to people who had access to internet but not to the TV images and organizing who would call whose family to report “hi, I’m a friend of your son’s, he can’t get on the phone cos the lines are blocked but he’s fine,” that I didn’t really have much time to freak out. ---
**Author:** ![Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Picard_Kills_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/38 "2009-11-23T05:18:14Z")
I don’t think anything really shocks me anymore. I think now I just feel disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/39 "2009-11-23T05:37:22Z")
I think I can still be shocked. If I woke up to find a snarling tiger in my bedroom, I’d be shocked. If my 83 year old mother took up extreme skateboarding with an 18 year old lover named Tyler, I’d be pretty shocked. If President Obama showed up at my door insisting I advise him about Afghanistan, I’d be shocked. Probably even more shocked if he was naked. If I found out I could play the trumpet all this time and I never knew it, that’d be a shock too. Lotsa things can shock me. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385/40 "2009-11-25T00:12:45Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I think I can still be shocked. > > If I woke up to find a snarling tiger in my bedroom, I’d be shocked. > > If my 83 year old mother took up extreme skateboarding with an 18 year old lover named Tyler, I’d be pretty shocked. > > If President Obama showed up at my door insisting I advise him about Afghanistan, I’d be shocked. Probably even more shocked if he was naked. > > If I found out I could play the trumpet all this time and I never knew it, that’d be a shock too. > > Lotsa things can shock me. Thanks for the smile. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-shock-you-anymore/518385.md?page=3)