Barack Obama smashed Mitt Romney like a plaster lawn gnome, but instead of taking a victory lap in a fighter jet, our re-elected and wildly popular president is crying all the time. Conservatives who care very much about the future of our country are asking, very seriously, "Why is Barack Obama such a wuss?"

Just look at your president, getting all teary-eyed for the second time in as many days. Maybe he will become a liberal in his second term, after all!

There is more to discuss about the way we weep now. Apparently, and in a direct rebuke to the timeless wisdom of Rosey Grier, crying doesn't really make you feel better. Let's see the Science!

"I saw a woman weeping on the subway and I did nothing. Was that the appropriate response?" The answers may surprise etc.

"Dee Kim and Bistin Chen created Project Goodcry as an experiment intended to make crying a collective experience. This is the first installment in their extensive study exploring the role of crying in a networked culture. Google Chrome users can now install the “I cried button” on YouTube. Click it when you shed some tears or after you’ve finished material that moved you; instead of rating the video with a series of stars, your emotions are gauged by tear drops." —My emotions are indeed gauged by tear drops.

Where is the saddest place in the city to be seen sobbing? As someone with an apparently innate ability to observe his fellow human beings at their lowest moments, I would have to say the grocery store: There is something about seeing a woman wheel a wagon through cramped aisles of processed foodstuffs, tears streaming down her face as she continues to fill her cart with the mundane items of our existence, that seems to violate the conventions of basic human dignity. (Duane Reade runs a close second for similar reasons.) Then there are the parks: Someone sitting on a bench, carefully unwrapping his lunch while quietly [...]

My longstanding dream has been to open a series of Crying Spaces, where people can come during the day to sit in a small room and weep privately. I think that these would do especially well in urban areas like New York, where the population density and cost of living usually forces you to share space with other people. Rather than wait until your roommate or significant other is out of the apartment, rather than hope that none of your coworkers will hear you stifling sobs in the stall, you could come to the Crying Space and just let it all out secure in the knowledge that the only [...]

Why do we cry? To get attention, to get what we want, or to get away with something bad we did. And also because it might make us feel better.