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"Article: "The Crying Game" (SO mentioned)"
Posted by Cygnus X1 on 04-01-06 at 00:20 AM
This article (blog item?) in Time magazine mentions SO in terms of what appears to be a recent spate of public crying:

The most alone I’ve ever felt was crying on the F train in New York. Someone handed me a tissue on the way out the door — I didn’t look up to see my benefactor’s face — but no one asked me what was wrong.

I’m not sure how I would have answered — it seemed like a million things at the time. Which is why I’m not satisfied by the rather obvious explanations for a recent spate of public waterworks. Last week, the Bush White House got touchy-feeling as Andy Card’s eyes brimmed while he announced his resignation as Chief of Staff. College basketball players Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick sobbed on the courts after their respective teams, Gonzaga and Duke, were eliminated from the NCAA tournament. And remember poor Mrs. Alito, sniffling through her husband’s confirmation Senate hearings. Of course, the daytime block of network programming has long been synonymous with emotional instability. There’s Oprah and Dr. Phil, of course — and Starting Over, the syndicated group therapy show whose saline output is of biblical proportions.

We know why they’re all crying, right? A farewell, losing, stress and, well, the whole point of daytime chat shows and Starting Over is to exhaust a thesaurus of synonyms for "closure." But there are flavors of sadness and specific qualities of joy, let alone a whole basket full of motivations for tears.

Keeping the focus on SO, any thoughts about the article? Do you think, as the article says, that the crying in the SO house is, while an expression of emotion, possibly also a barrier to communication?


Better than I deserve.

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"RE: Article: "The Crying Game" (SO mentioned)"
Posted by truthinadvertising on 04-03-06 at 11:39 PM
This was an interesting article you found Cygnus. I had to come out of lurkdom to comment. In my opinion, crying is a primal response that comes from a place where emotion, not intellect rules. That depth of emotion cannot be expressed verbally. That's why the image of someone weeping is so universal- without any caption, you know that something deep, personal and perhaps earthshattering is occurring.

Of course this does not include the fake water spouts of someone like gagging Lisa. Or the look-at-me selfpity of Allison and others.

And tears are cathartic. Once the grief, sadness, whatever, has been expressed with tears, then a person can return to a place where words are possible. It is like reflexes. First you pull your finger back from the flame. Then you can yell ouch.

I wonder if some of the housemates (think Kelly) do use tears as described in this article. If she is busy crying, she can't be reaching out to empahize with anyone.

Any thoughts?

"RE: Article: "The Crying Game" (SO mentioned)"
Posted by lovemydogdude on 04-04-06 at 01:10 AM
Interesting article hmmmmm. Excellent post truthinadvertising! This season's dramatics have IMO encouraged all the fake tears i.e. Lisatwit, Allison overkill, Kelly wiping her eyes before she even sheds a tear (that's ok she loves repetitive meaningless movements lol), once Jill started crying it's like she couldn't stop (trying to steal Allison's thunder?)..yes it does waste alot of time..especially in tv land.

I would much rather see genuine tears associated with a particular HG's healing process..wouldn't mind investing the time and missing out on that extra shot of a spider web, the swimming pool, bugs, close-ups of feet, or the same old pear candles on the coffee table... At this point I'm not really sure what I'm missing out on!?..but tend to agree that the time could be used more productively.

"RE: Article: "The Crying Game" (SO mentioned)"
Posted by kawyar on 04-04-06 at 09:37 AM
The genuine tears of TJ when she was talking about her rape, the genuine grief of Kim when she finally faced her abandonment as a helpless child... these are some of the very few gems that stand out from this season. The rest have come across as fake and make me highly distrust their motives behind their therapy.
"RE: Article: "The Crying Game" (SO mentioned)"
Posted by tac_2 on 04-04-06 at 11:17 AM
SO ought to designate a 'crying room' which is the one and only place the women are allowed to weep. I can just about guarantee the tears would be dramatically reduced. After all, they'd have to get up and move their lazy butts to another room, fat chance of that happening.

Tears, sniffling, or full on weeping...I have no problem with until it's obviously being used to manipulate me (or others). Tears are not just an emotional reaction but also a form of communication and too often for people with little imagination or spine. The SO women are great examples of those types.

"RE: Article: "The Crying Game" (SO mentioned)"
Posted by MizJazmine on 04-06-06 at 05:47 AM
hahahaha...I had to laugh at that biblical proportions comment! In answer to you question I think it's both. While I've seen true blue tears displayed on SO, I've also seen them used as a means to control, manipulate, and not communicate.

I remember Towanda and her "tear" moment of which was quite forced and I don't think I saw a tear. There was a little sumptin going on there, but I think she failed to produce the fully matured droplet! No Towanda didn't quite come through. Then this season there was Lisa(1) who was supposidly crying, but I don't recall really seeing a tear and well she upped the anti by adding fake vomiting to her fake tears. Who wants to communicate with somebody when they're doing all that? Does the person doing all that want to communicate? I don't think so. Then there's Jodi who's a leaky faucet. She has a very hard time taking responsibility and facing the reality of her life. Has she really in a heartfelt way shared that? Not IMO, but she comes through pretty good in the tear department. Tear stained face and all. Hey it's pretty good stuff!

I do think SO plays on the stereotype. If a hg is crying well that means something "therapeutic" is happening right? After all women cry, that's one of our trademarks and who dares to question it! When a woman cries especially on a daytime reality tv show, that's gotta be real right? Why communicate when the tears have "spoken"? Hmmmmmm...

"RE: Article: "The Crying Game" (SO mentioned)"
Posted by SOfan0221 on 04-06-06 at 07:22 AM
I have always felt that crying was more 'heart rules head' than 'head rules heart'. That being said, I don't think it is weak to cry and a truly heartfelt release of tears and emotions can be cleansing.

SO is so full of 'aha' moments and tears. Some real, some pretend. Lisa1 is the queen of pretend tears, those leave me cold. Others have moved me to cry right along with them.

The unique situations at SO probably lead to more tears than the normal person would produce. Kim barely cries at all and Kelly is dabbing away continuously as is Jodi. Kim could emotionally move me to cry along with her if she would ever realy let go and get it out. Kelly and Jodi, I just kind of go 'whaddddddever' when they turn on the spigots. Not that I don't care about their problem, just that they never stop crying.

So anyway, it was an interesting article just wanted to give my spin on it.