It’s definitely similar and is first how I came to hear of grief tourism. I’d view it as one of the various definitions but I think true grief tourism doesn’t involve actually feeling much of anything. It’s like borrowing someone else’s suffering to win points or something. I actually meant to include something similar in the post but got distracted looking through pictures of that one trip to Japan.
Does Chuck Palahniuk get the concept of grief tourism right in "Fight Club"? I think that was the first time I ever heard the term, so it was at least on my radar for the last 25 years or so.
I'm most familiar with Fight Club and Choke. FC has a scene where Tyler, the main character, calls Moira a fake cancer tourist or something, but they're both faking. The scene on grief tourism isn't the same thing you're talking about, but I think it's a close cousin:
I think the reason what you wrote reminded me of this is the idea that folks will sort of vampire their way off of the suffering of others, almost as though experiencing their suffering makes you feel better or something. It pinpoints something broken in humans better than I had seen up to that point.
It’s definitely similar and is first how I came to hear of grief tourism. I’d view it as one of the various definitions but I think true grief tourism doesn’t involve actually feeling much of anything. It’s like borrowing someone else’s suffering to win points or something. I actually meant to include something similar in the post but got distracted looking through pictures of that one trip to Japan.
Well, there goes my new Substack: "Daniel Nest Presents: Rudy's Cancer Life"
Apparently that's frowned upon. Somehow.
Those Japan pics must make pretty great memories! It's definitely one of the top items on my "to visit" list.
You should create it anyway. I like being irritated with people so you’d be doing me a favor really.
Does Chuck Palahniuk get the concept of grief tourism right in "Fight Club"? I think that was the first time I ever heard the term, so it was at least on my radar for the last 25 years or so.
25 years.... feck.
What exactly did he write?
I'm most familiar with Fight Club and Choke. FC has a scene where Tyler, the main character, calls Moira a fake cancer tourist or something, but they're both faking. The scene on grief tourism isn't the same thing you're talking about, but I think it's a close cousin:
https://youtu.be/1mpNyCYAOoc
I think the reason what you wrote reminded me of this is the idea that folks will sort of vampire their way off of the suffering of others, almost as though experiencing their suffering makes you feel better or something. It pinpoints something broken in humans better than I had seen up to that point.