Sympathy for Lisa Nowak

[Puppycow]

(I know this is discussed in another thread, but I wanted to discuss it from the perspective of evolutionary psychology)

Am I the only one who kinda feels sorry for Lisa Nowak?

She just looks so sad, pitiful and sympathetic in this photo. I found myself getting aroused by it. (Is that creepy? She is a damsel in distress, so I think there is an explanation in evolutionary psychology.)
I guess she kind of had blinders on. I mean, there's so many other fish in the sea. Why try to kill somebody over this one dude? There's a whole big world of possibilities out there.
Of course romance must be a difficult thing for successful women, because most women prefer to "marry up" while most men prefer to "marry down." This could explain why she was so frustrated.

 

[Khyron]

I don't know that I feel "sympathy" for her actions in any way. I do feel that the media circus around this is ridiculous.

Human emotional responses are not regulated based on your profession. There are emotionally unbalanced people in all walks of life. The astronaut profession is small enough that they are rare numerically, but probably run about the same percentage. It's also high-pressure enough that few unstable people are allowed into the profession in the first place - but the same factors can contribute to emotional instability. Emotional problems and crimes of passion are not all that newsworthy in my book, and this shouldn't be getting any more attention than a "stockbroker attacks love rival" story would.