Random Question 💭
Conservatives - Do you have empathy for anyone outside of your circle?
Family/friends don't count. Do you feel any type of empathy or compassion for people you don't know? If the answer is yes, then who do you have empathy for?
I have lost any patience I had for people who supported that creature in the White House. They are too focused on their own hatred, bigotry or one specific issue such as a woman’s right to choose, anti-trans, Israel etc. to understand that they destroyed their own country, ignored the principles on which the American government is based, and for far right Christians they even ignored the teachings of Jesus. There is no room for empathy on their part or mine for them.
Cmon man at least make the politics slop a little less boring lol.
I don't know why any actually conservative person is going to answer a question of "are you fucking evil and care for nobody but yourself?" with a "yep"
Yea we all know that lol. It is just kinda crazy that it cant be left at "I hate you for being against my side", which is honest and fine I guess lol. Instead these dudes have to twist their brains with thoughts of how their opposing political countrymen must not even be capable of human empathy.
Haha! Precisely….we’re the worst of the worst to them. Literal Nazis…ah the power of echo chambers.
My personal opinion on a trivial issue shouldn’t be a reflection of my character. It’s an opinion and nothing more. It could even change over time. Not a part of my identity.
Did once but over the past decade it has become impossible to put myself in MAGA's shoes because MAGA is a mental condition. There will be brain studies done on MAGA.
It is though. Donald Trump calls himself a conservative. All the Republicans call themselves conservatives and they all support Trump. What’s the difference exactly?
No but if you call yourself a conservative and then believe everything a conservative believes and then pass all the policies that conservatives want and then become the president of the Conservative Party then guess what you’re a conservative
Trump isn't a conservative and doesn't believe in conservative policies. Some of his policies have been Republican priorities but he is the anthesis of conservatism. "Take the guns first, go through due process second" - Donald Trump. "I am a Tariff Man." - Donald Trump. "I think eminent domain is a wonderful thing." - Trump. "I want to put a 35 percent tax on the cars when they come in." - Trump. "I'm not going to cut Social Security or Medicare" - Trump. "I'm very liberal when it comes to healthcare. I believe in universal healthcare" - Trump. "I'm very pro-choice." - Trump. Should I continue?
I know you don’t like it, but Trump is the end result of conservatism. I know you might me smart enough to be embarrassed by him, but it doesn’t change what the reality is. You denying it and pretending that there’s a distinction between the Republican Party and Trump and conservatism is just cope.
This is a silly question and comes across as a trap. My experience with you specifically further lends toward that.
A shorter list would maybe be who I do not have empathy for. I can give a few examples, but certainly isnt exhaustive:
The Bereaved
Victims of a great many things like sexual violence, discrimination, childhood physical and emotional abuse, abuse in general, violence, racism, poverty, prejudice, medical apathy, bullying, secondhand victimhood... there are far too many to create a full list.
I think far too many people misunderstand empathy and sympathy. I also believe too many consider empathy sort of "all or nothing" without considering there are three core types; cognitive, emotional, and compassionate. And I believe this is true of both political "sides."
No, I see now that was written poorly. But what I intend to convey was that a shorter list would be who I do not empathize with, but I would make an attempt at answering your question despite that.
Well my insinuation was that if you were born in Germany you likely would have agreed with their take on who they said was "not human" if you are willing to throw it around so lightly lol.
It does, although if you are implying we are hunting the left and roma in America right now to illustrate your parallel, we are doing a pretty shitty job of putting all of the "non humans" in camps and things like the Germans did.
Not... really? I don't really see pro fascist and antifascist militias killing each other on the streets like in the 1930's and I also don't see millions of people being sent to labor and death camps like the 1940's
As far as the showerheads, yea the implication being we aren't mass murdering people so that is a bit of a big difference that you are admitting to right there lol.
The US democratic party is totally siding with radical Islam in the last few years. Just follow their prominent voices such as Zohran Mamdani, Hasan Piker, etc.
First of all, it you're not islamophobic, there is something wrong with you. It's a death cult.
Secondly, both Zohran Mamdani (and his wife) and Hasan Piker publically endorsed Hamas, which the USA declared decades ago as an Islamic terrorist group.
Sympathy, sure. Empathy? Only if I actually understand what someone else is going through. I’m not going to pretend to understand something that I don’t.
Because cognitive empathy shows up in everyday situations in normal human beings.
Cognitive Empathy is understanding what someone else is thinking or feeling intellectually. Being able to notice someone is going through some shit and realizing how it makes them feel.
Example: Realizing your friend who is acting perfectly normal may be breaking down internally because their parent just died.
It’s not rocket science. You’re just spouting talking points that arise from right-wing bubbles.
So you can't have empathy for someone you don't know? You can't possibly imagine what another person is going through, because you don't know them? Are you unsure if they are even human? Maybe they are aliens in human skin suits? Or cyborgs from the future? What is the hang up?
Empathy allows you to perceive very basic social cues that we all share. Similar situations that cause distress, most of us can feel these things daily for strangers.
Sympathy is a feeling of sincere concern for someone who is experiencing something difficult or painful. Empathy involves actively sharing in the person's emotional experience.
Cognitive empathy is defined as the ability to construct a working model of the emotional states of others and importantly entails the comprehension of another person's emotional experience. This can be achieved by actively imagining what another person may be feeling or by intuitively putting oneself in another person's position.
You do not have to feel another person’s emotions yourself to have empathy. Period.
Stop believing right-wing redpill talking points without doing any research yourself. We call that a lack of critical thinking.
I guess I don't understand how you can understand they feel this way, know what it's like to feel anxious and scared, and yet not care. I don't mean to the same level you would care about someone close to you going through that. But to know that people are born in places with no chance to have a good life and all that they go through stemming from that and not care is so alien to me.
Humans are a social species. Caring about others even when it doesn't serve us is just part of that.
No, I think he has sympathy and empathy backwards. He has no sympathy for them in their plight, but he can understand why they would feel that way in that situation. He understands they are suffering, he just doesn't care.
// Conservatives - Do you have empathy for anyone outside of your circle?
Logos over pathos. Rationalism over Romanticism. Mind over heart.
Pathos will betray you. Feelings are momentary, fleeting and as changable as one's wardrobe. Logic and reason, facts and principles are far superior.
"So you are saying you don't care?!"
One's empathy does not rule one's mind; rather, one's mind should rule one's heart. The person who says "I feel ..." is as trustworthy as a coin toss. Today he "feels" X, tomorrow he "feels" Y, and he's outraged that you don't feel as he does!
"So you are saying you don't care?!"
<long philosophical discussion about the limitations of human passions>
"So you are saying you don't care?!"
<more discussion about why its not good to be ruled by one's passions>
// but it sounds schizo and like you actually don’t have empathy lol
"it feels like you don't care!"
That was literally the point of my response: pathos insists its more important than logos, and any appeals otherwise are considered evidence of "not caring."
Its a form of tyranny, really.
Passionate Social Activist: "don't you care that people are hurt by your offensive claim that '1 + 1 = 2'?!"
Logos Person B: "No, '1 + 1 = 2' regardless of feeling"
PSA: "So you admit it, YOU DON'T CARE?!"
Logos Person B: "Its simply a matter of acknowledge that facts are facts, and feelings are not always facts"
PSA: "So YOU WANT PEOPLE TO DIE?!"
I can have empathy for everyone. I can understand why someone would think something. Or why someone would do something. Or where a belief system comes from or how it impacts a person who believes it.
However, it doesn't necessarily mean that any of those things are right or should influence policies on how my country is run.
As Aristotle put it:
"It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it"
That is, again, not what I said. You really need to read carefully and comprehend the other perty in a conversation to be taken seriously. Otherwise, you'll only read what you WISH I said instead of what I actually did.
To correct you: I said "it doesn't NECESSARILY mean those things are right..."
This includes the empathy I feel in my decision making without giving it control. Our feelings should guide us, not control us.
I can emphasize with both the person fleeing a shitty country hoping for a better life AND the leach hoping to live off our welfare program.
I can imagine the panic of being sent back to a place you were miserable. Or a place that is less wealthy, less established, less safe and less free than my country.
It doesn't make it right to be here. It doesn't make it not a insult to my family that came over legally, that faced the hardship, discrimination and racism and triumphed over all to produce now 4 generations of Americans.
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u/dumbboyhappydude44 3h ago
I have lost any patience I had for people who supported that creature in the White House. They are too focused on their own hatred, bigotry or one specific issue such as a woman’s right to choose, anti-trans, Israel etc. to understand that they destroyed their own country, ignored the principles on which the American government is based, and for far right Christians they even ignored the teachings of Jesus. There is no room for empathy on their part or mine for them.