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Hearing on the news that someone has died

Posted by Epicharis • 7/13/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: news, paranoia

When you read/see/hear a news story saying that someone has died do you immediately panic and think it's someone you know?

I just read that a 6-year-old girl in London had died of swine flu and went into a a mini-panic as I scrabbled to find out who the girl was, even though my sister is 7 and, to my knowledge, is in perfect health.

Tell me I'm not the only one who does this? Or am I seriously paranoid?

User Comments

7/13/09

hatingtherain

Sometimes. it's more often that when I hear something like "Did you hear about..." that I almost immediately assume someone died.

And "guess what" almost automatically means someone's pregnant.

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7/13/09

Deray28

No, you are not paranoid. I feel the same way every time I hear that a bicyclist was it in Tucson thinking it was my friend Alex. The worse one, for me, was when I heard of the fire in a day-care center in my hometown (Hermosillo), that killed over 40 babies. Even though I know that my aunt takes care of my Godson I still called home immediately just to check that he (and all my other nephews/nieces) were ok.

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1. 7/13/09
  
  Epicharis
  
  that sounds awful! I think that's a more reasonable reaction than my assuming that the one child (of the wrong age) in the whole of London must be my sister!
2. 7/13/09
  
  Deray28
  
  The worst part was that one baby, that die in the fire, had the exact same name as my Godson! only he was 2 years old and my Godson is only 7 months. My cousin got tons of calls that day from people that thought it was her baby too. I'm glad it wasn't and still very sad for all those parents that lost a baby that day.
7/13/09

melindaville

I can honestly say I have never done this.

But I have absolutely no fear of death.

[reply]
1. 7/13/09
  
  Epicharis
  
  I'm not scared of my own death except in that it will affect my sister.
  
  I think it's all probably because there have been 2 incidences where people in the news who have died have been people I knew.
2. 7/13/09
  
  timethief
  
  My answer is the same as Melinda's.
  I have never done this -- period.
7/13/09

Agit8r

I work at 3:30 in the morning, and every time I hear about an "early morning fire" on the morning news during break-time, I get antsy

[reply]
1. 7/13/09
  
  Epicharis
  
  glad I'm not alone in the paranoia!
2. 7/13/09
  
  Agit8r
  
  yeah, yippee
7/13/09

Stillthinking

I get that way with car accidents. I always stop and watch the story on the news to make sure it was no one I knew.

One time, in college, it was someone I knew. It was my high school chemistry lab partner. My mom heard about it from one of her co-workers and it freaked her out for months. She would get really mad at me if I was driving at night.

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7/13/09

Anok

Only if the incident is too close to something or someone/somewhere familiar do I do that. Hell, even when my cousins were murdered, I didn't realize it was them until a while into it. I had heard about the incident, but never made the connection.

I'm a bit slow sometimes...

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7/13/09

Shiley

I've seen too much to worry about it. When I am in the middle of it that's when I freak out.

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7/13/09

Floormodel

more than a few years back I had it happen two days in a row. normally I don't feel dread when I hear a news item but this one day when they covered a man's body found in a local park, my blood went cold. I knew it was someone I knew, I just didn't know who at that point. The next day I heard of a car accident on the radio and again went cold. I knew it was someone I knew, I just wasn't sure who.
The first was a childhood friend whose wife had him killed, the second was one of my dearest friend's husbands.
It hasn't happened since but every once in a while I hear a news item and panic.

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7/13/09

lotusb

There have been times, especailly since leaving CA that I hear of things going on and make quick calls to see that my friends and fam are alright. Or passing an accident on the freeway I'll do the same if it looks bad enough...

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7/13/09

Friday13

Nope. Hasn't happened.

I've only heard about such accidents from my family.

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7/13/09

nothingprofound

Only once, but it wasn't paranoia. My Dad used to paint aircraft carriers. There was a flash on the news that a big fire had just broken out on the ship he was painting. It took several hours before we found out that he wasn't one of the persons killed or injured.

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