Hamster mommaR might be onto something with that idea. Sometimes I think the way we handle death in my culture anyways, is a little weird. Could be a cultural thing too, her trying to handle it maybe... I don't know.

The torture thing, well that's a little weird. My in-laws are from Vietnam, they fled here but the stories they have told their children are horrible, but I think they ( the parents ) were so desensitized to all of it. I don't know if it's something like that maybe.
They also handle death differently, their living is filled with framed pictures of dead family members. A little weird to walk into if you haven't seen something like it before. My mom does this also, and keeps them in an album, so I was used to seeing the photos when i was a kid. I have to admit, walking into a living room full of them even shocked me a bit.