# Sensitivity **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 15, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensitivity/326382 "2005-10-15T18:07:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensitivity/326382/21 "2005-10-16T22:28:20Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > He’s patently East Coast. He has a whiny voice. He played a heroic, articulate, funny _anti-military character (Hawkeye) on a show (MAS_H\*) that many conservatives condemned for its irreverence. His old man, I believe, was implicated in pinko causes during the blacklist. Need I go on? Yes, you need. 😉 I have no idea what that all has to do with being overly sensitive, an accusation I’d heard from articulate, funny, anti-military East Coasters. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensitivity/326382/22 "2005-10-16T23:42:50Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > He’s patently East Coast. He has a whiny voice. He played a heroic, articulate, funny _anti-military character (Hawkeye) on a show (MAS_H\*) that many conservatives condemned for its irreverence. His old man, I believe, was implicated in pinko causes during the blacklist. Need I go on? He over came polio as a child. He’s played a much beloved character on an equally beloved television series. He stood up for what he believes in. He and his wife have been married for almost sixty years-an amazing feat in Hollywood. He’s able to poke fun at himself and doesn’t take himself too seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensitivity/326382/23 "2005-10-17T02:12:11Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > He and his wife have been married for almost sixty years-an amazing feat in Hollywood. Well, it’s more like (a still impressive) 48 years. When he smashed Jill Clayburgh in the head with a wine bottle in _Whispers in the Dark_, I almost felt like cheering. Take _that_, mister sensitivity! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensitivity/326382/24 "2005-10-17T03:09:34Z")
D’oh, I read the wrong date in IMDB. Never mind, still, 48 years, that’s wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensitivity/326382/25 "2005-10-17T04:08:49Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > \Although I agree with \*\*featherlou \*\*that one CAN be too sensitive to other people’s vibes and can become overwhelmed by it. But, in a culture which makes a great deal of noise about “psychic vampirism” and being “an empath” , there’s also a lot of fakers. A lot of drama queens who will make the moment be about them, rather than the person who needs assistance (or simply to be left alone.) I tried to picture myself as a drama queen, and it’s pretty funny. Even when other people’s emotions are strongly affecting me, they probably never know it - truly sensitive people also learn to hide their emotions. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensitivity/326382/26 "2005-10-17T04:17:31Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > About sensitivity, there’s a secret fourth group of over-sensitive people that only one person I know falls into, and I often think it’s the absolute worst one - the person who’s so “sensitive” to others’ pain that everyone else’s personal tragedy turns into their own. I have several specific examples of this, but the following is most prominent in my mind: said oversensitive person learned that her close friend had stage four breast ca, ncer. Her friend was very sick from the cancer and from all the chemo treatments. This oversensitive person was so convinced her friend was going to die and so “sensitive” to her friend’s pain that her friend, still suffering from cancer, was forced to comfort the oversensitive jerk each and every time they spoke. The oversensitive woman would sob and say things like, “But you might die!” to a woman who at that time had very poor chances of living and really needed a friend to lean on. Somehow, the woman with cancer did recover. For some reason, she’s still friends with the oversensitive person, but I haven’t been able to figure out why. [Man with Friend with Cancer “Going through a Rough Time”](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41449) I totally agree with the OP x1000. I get a real reputation as a bitch both IRL and on the Interweb because I’m the kind of person who tells it like it is, and doesn’t bother to soften the message with smilies or hug marks. When it comes down to it, most of those huggy-wuggy people don’t even care about someone’s problem; they just want to cram you with so many “good vibes” that you’ll feel obligated to smile and then they’re like “see, you’re not depressed anymore, GOOD VIBES for all!” and I find that totally patronizing and counterproductive. Like, when someone I know has a problem, I will talk to them about it until they don’t want to anymore, and I might tell them some things they don’t want to hear, but I will have a real interest in helping them work their situation out. Because I am empathetic, I can tell the difference between someone who’s just smiling for my benefit and someone who is really comfortable and happy, and I don’t want that first type of person to exist. I think some people are so uncomfortable with the idea of other people being uncomfortable and unhappy around them that they have this obsessive drive to make everyone suit their own image of what a “happy person” looks like, and I think that is pretty self-centered. I would rather help one person through a tough time than hug fifty people just to bring a fleeting smile to their faces. Especially when most of those smiles will be fake. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensitivity/326382/27 "2005-10-17T12:01:56Z")
Off to MPSIMS. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensitivity/326382.md?page=1)