A lot of these comments are really proving the point of the comic. Nowhere does it say that anybody took his ailment seriously, yet it’s the victim who’s at fault.
Correct. And many of the comments immediately jump to (probably personal) experiences where a friend or loved one had depression and despite their best efforts to help, they were unable to. That’s not what this comic is about.
The victim isn’t at fault for being depressed, or having a mangled hand, or whatever analogy we want to use. However, if they go out with friends and expect them to take the problem more seriously than they, themselves, are taking it, then they have some measure of fault for imposing their problem on the friend. If they are seeking treatment that just isn’t working, or they are unable to get proper treatment for other reasons, that’s a different story and I’ll have a lot more sympathy.
It all boils down to not expecting someone to take your problem seriously for long if you are not taking it seriously yourself.
“You don’t take your depression seriously enough for me” helps me to understand where some people who don’t understand (or don’t care to understand) depression at all are coming from.
A lot of these comments are really proving the point of the comic. Nowhere does it say that anybody took his ailment seriously, yet it’s the victim who’s at fault.
To wit: everyone in the comic is dismissive of the ailment; none offers any real help or empathy.
Correct. And many of the comments immediately jump to (probably personal) experiences where a friend or loved one had depression and despite their best efforts to help, they were unable to. That’s not what this comic is about.
The victim isn’t at fault for being depressed, or having a mangled hand, or whatever analogy we want to use. However, if they go out with friends and expect them to take the problem more seriously than they, themselves, are taking it, then they have some measure of fault for imposing their problem on the friend. If they are seeking treatment that just isn’t working, or they are unable to get proper treatment for other reasons, that’s a different story and I’ll have a lot more sympathy.
It all boils down to not expecting someone to take your problem seriously for long if you are not taking it seriously yourself.
“You don’t take your depression seriously enough for me” helps me to understand where some people who don’t understand (or don’t care to understand) depression at all are coming from.
Maybe the real lesson is that a mangled hand actively gushing blood isn’t really a great analogy for depression.
It’s a very imperfect one, yes. But the comic is trusting that the reader will understand the metaphor. A big ask for some, it seems.