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Comment by joosters | Hacker News Reader

Normal based upon what? Normal reaction for families with relatives on a flight missing for two weeks with no news about what happened to it?

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point taken, but it does seem very extreme. did this happen during 9/11?

edit Also, are the families of NZ nationals, Australian, French etc behaving the same as the asians?

You're still wildly over-generalising. Why do you think that the Chinese, or 'Asians' can be categorised together? Why do you think that people from a country will, as a group, behave in an identical or similar way?

Why do you think they cannot? Or do you think that the thing called "culture" does not exist? How people show or do not show grief can and is the cultural thing.

China, let alone Asia, is not one "culture".

I think you're the only one who understood my comment.

Your remarks come out as really insensitive, although I don't think they were made with that intent. There is no possible way to imagine what it feels like to be in their situation.

The remarks weren't made with the intent of being cold and insensitive, though i admit i'm not the most sensitive of people.

edit: who knew asking about human/cultural behaviour was so frowned upon.

The problem for me was that it felt like the people were dehumanized and reduced to their culture in a situation which is so incredibly unique and must be so difficult to bear. This being said, maybe the issue is only that of timing and your question would be more pertinent later in time, after all the emotion has settled down.

I have trouble figuring out exactly what you're asking here.

Are you asking whether it's normal for people to scream, cry, or collapse after being told that a relative is dead?

That's what it seems like, but such a question is about on the same level as asking whether it's normal for a bear to relieve himself in a forest, so I'm confused.

What specifically do you deem as being "extreme"?

Why are you referencing the terror attacks on 9/11?

In the case of the Kiwis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI6TRTBZUMM#t=63. Is this group of screaming, chest-beating men any different in their expression of grief?

In the case of the Aussies: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/aug/02/london-2012-aus.... Is this swimmer's loss really more significant than the loss of one's family and friends? I mean...no one died and this wasn't 9/11...right? Why is she crying, hiding her face, and hunched over?

In the case of the French: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2117014/Toulouse-sho.... This woman didn't even lose any family (maybe) and yet she has smashed her fists to the window, pressed her head close to the coffins, and is openly weeping.

I mean, look at these Americans: http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1360633/philip-seymour-hoffma... (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/philip-seymour-hoffman-actor-strugg...). A freaking actor died and they're weeping and moping.

My point is that I don't fully understand what your intentions were, but I feel that your comments come across as xenophobic and disrespectful to the families who are currently experiencing loss.

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