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Anyone else slightly obsessed with documentaries? I watch so many of them, mostly dealing with drug addiction, or people in prison. I can't relate personally to them, but something about them draws me in. Is it wrong when watching them I feel better about my life and my choices to not be like that? Not that I don't feel terrible for the people in them, because I do. I guess they just make me proud that I've never done drugs, nor have I been in trouble with the law. Is it conceited of me to feel that way?

HaHaHeather 4 Oct 6
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1

I am totally obsessed with documentaries!!!! All kinds, not just addiction. Alcohol addiction is one of my documentary obsessions, tho. I have personal experience with drug addiction and experience with friends/family with alcohol and drug addiction. It is a common theme in my family. But, if you feel better about yourself by watching them, cool. You're not hurting anyone and you're feeling better about yourself, being proud that you haven't been caught in that addiction trap. Good for you! Be proud! I do this with Hoarders and Cops! Look how much better my life is than theirs! I don't take it as putting them down so much as being proud of what I've accomplished and being so grateful that I didn't take the road that they went down - and I'm sure there were plenty of opportunities I could have.
And I don't find this to be conceited. But, then again, like everything else - this is just opinion! 🙂
(a common conversation in my family: "Where's Jan?" "Watching TV." "Oh, has her nose in another one of her friggin documentaries!" And documentaries has been replaced with "Books" often as well! LOL)

1

Obsessed? That suggests that I find it problematic or worriesome. I am neither, BUT... I love documentaries! I watch a wide array of topics: nature, health, medicine, geography, etc. I enjoy addiction docs, too, though can find some abrasive.

Zster Level 8 Oct 7, 2017
2

There is nothing wrong with being proud of yourself for not going down that route in life. I can tell you from personal experience how easy it is to slip down that path and trust me when I say it doesn't take much to go from you, to what I was. For me, drugs started out as a social thing I did in my early teens, which went from pot smoking to freebasing to shooting up. It soon got followed up with theft, lies and failing grades. I remember getting all Fs on my report card and being proud of that accomplishment. For me to stop, makes it seem trivial and simple but I got luckier than most, I had only been a severe junky for less than a year. I remember bragging to a girl I liked about my Straight F report card, and I got ridiculed by her. The words you're going to be a bum rattled around my brain, as she walked away I said, "what do you mean, it's me." I instantly realized how incredibly stupid and delusional I had become. I left the party, sobered up, and the next morning I asked my Mom if I could go to military school. There is another whole story behind that request that I won't bore you with. In the end, I managed to wean myself off the drugs and struggle to catch up the three years I had managed to piss away. I Look back on that part of my life, I think most people would rather forget, but I think that a part wasn't all that bad. It offered me a level of street smarts that I would otherwise not have. It just came with an enormous educational debt.

1

I also like documentaries and learning about the human condition. People are a curious bunch. As long as you're not judging these people, these's nothing wrong with recognizing that you are lucky to not have to walk in their shoes.

Sandy Level 1 Oct 7, 2017
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It not the belief in god that did it.
It the mindset there someone that love them unconditionally and that gice rhe false strength to go forward.
Yes it sad because they don't realize they did all the work. Yet give the book all the credit

1

I watch a lot of documentaries, too, though my favorites are about ecology, history, or archaeology, mostly. I love all of the David Attenborough nature shows, and this season I've been obsessively watching the Time Team series (via youtube), which is about doing archaeology. Clive Cussler's Sea Hunters TV series is also among my favorites, about looking for and exploring sunken ships and piecing together the last few days of the 'life' of each vessel.

0

Have you watched straight/curve on Hulu? It's all about body image, lots of people I know would relate.

0

Well made documentaries are so much better than most of the garbage on TV today. I'm a big fan of Ken Burns documentaries, and there are a lot of good documentaries on public TV. I'm also a big fan of documentary movies. Two of my all-time favorites are Hoop Dreams, about two high-school basketball stars in Chicago, and Racing the Rez. about two different high schools on Indian reservations in Arizona, that dominate cross-country running in the state of Arizona.

BD66 Level 8 Oct 8, 2017
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