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Another way to put it...those of us who are conservative do not lack empathy, we just don't let our feelings override logic. I sometimes feel bad for people who are down on their luck, but that doesn't mean I think it's right for me and the rest of the taxpayers to pay for their food, housing, winter heat, medical care, etc.
Wow! I was just reading and thinking about this today. I was wondering about the differences in thinking styles between liberals and conservatives.
I think the ENTJ and ESTJ types which dominate in business and are largely conservative are of the mentality that all of life can be constructed into a series of rules, and if you follow the rules, you win. If you don't, you should be punished. And the same type folks usually feel very qualified to set the rules themselves for everyone else to follow. Rule #1 that I read here often is that people who concentrate on money as the chief pursuit in life are "winners." The rest are whining losers. Most of us know the world is more complex than that. I work well with such task focused types, because I like to get things done. However,it seems obvious to me that all that counts cannot easily be counted. For instance, clean air, healthy children, and conserving the tremendous diversity of life around us do not really drive short-term profits. I think a nurse or an entomologist is as valuable as a construction boss or CEO.
Empathy is not something that comes easily to the driven, self-absorbed, and highly competitive, but it is one of the highest human instincts,of course, as Jesus, Ghandi, Mandela, and many great leaders have demonstrated. Our culture, especially older conservatives like the macho, task-focused, my way or the highway style for the most part. Social workers, therapists, ministers, and idealists in general tend to take a more empathetic approach. Many more of these folks are liberals, and the have the small paychecks (or martyrdom) to prove it.
Of course, our political debate is dominated by sleazeballs, blowhards, and propaganda artists who specialize in scapegoating and hurling insults all day long. It stands to reason that folks who enjoy that style are not going to seem very empathetic. It is all rather silly, because most are probably just fine around their families. So, they certainly have empathy. Relatively few people excel at seeing the big picture and long view, at which scale our fates are linked; most think primarily of themselves, and like to listen to folks who tell them that that is admirable.
Last edited by Fiddlehead; 12-29-2011 at 10:01 PM..
Empathy allows you to completely understand the situation of another.
It can result in being unsympathetic for them because of what they are ...or aren't...doing about it.
Yet whether you believe in him or not, he's still famous for that sacrifice and a household name 2,000 years later. Who will still be talking about Donald Trump or Kim Kardashian 2,000 years from now?
Sorry folks , but I dont beleive we are all one big happy disfunctional family where the workers should pay for the slackers.
You are free to beleive that if you want , but I will do all in my power to keep me from financing your little dreamland.
I have come to the conclusion that as a society, not only are we becoming less empathetic towards others and almost robot-like, but empathy itself is becoming increasingly seen as a weakness, rather than a strength.
You need look no further than City-Data to see how empathy towards others (e.g. the poor) is frowned upon or considered left-wing, liberal or "bleeding heart" (which is a ridiculous term, IMO).
I have seen many people attacked, both online and in real-life for defending the less fortunate. I see this country leaning more towards social Darwinism / "only the strong wil survive". I personally believe that empathy towards others is a vital human trait and one we must pass on to future generations. Social Darwinism is a huge step backwards. In our society, often those who succeed financially seem to lack empathy for others, leading me to believe that financial success and lack of empathy are somehow connected to one another (I'm not saying all rich people are *******s, before anyone replies to that effect).
So as a society, are we becoming less empathetic? Also, please feel free to vote in the (anonymous) poll, along with sharing your own thoughts.
empathy isn't left wing. it seems to me that conservatives have MORE empathy because they understand the relationship between finance and freedom.
they want people to be working, free, able to suppport their families, and in control of their own lives.
that is not the liberal agenda as i see it. (at least not today's liberal agenda)
if liberals were left unchecked, they would spend this entire country into poverty. how many times can obama ask for another 1.2 trillion dollars without damaging our credibility as a country? seriously?
you cannot continue to spend, without controlling the waste and the FRAUD in the system, and conservatives are always trying to get this stopped. it isn't an objection to helping those who really need it, but rather an objection to the government's control over who gets it.
Nature has no "empathy" for the weak, it's called survival of the fittest.
"Survival of the fittest" is not scientific and not the words of Charles Darwin, its the product of conservative reactionaries intepreting Darwin as "one of them", when in reality he was a social progressive in many ways (he opposed slavery, arguing it was inhumane). Darwin did not see nature as good, the measure of what human being deserved, he saw it as often cruel (meaning we all deserve better than what nature gives us), with morality rooted in our ability to put ourselves in the place of others and feel with them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrea3821
Another way to put it...those of us who are conservative do not lack empathy, we just don't let our feelings override logic. I sometimes feel bad for people who are down on their luck, but that doesn't mean I think it's right for me and the rest of the taxpayers to pay for their food, housing, winter heat, medical care, etc.
I don't see logic as a very good guide to morality unless one is into Kantian deontological ethics, perhaps. I don't pit reasoning vs. sentiment or intuition in terms of a guide to truth, trying to be all head and ignore your heart doesn't make you a better person, it makes you impoverished.
Jesus did not preach empathy at the point of a Roman spear..
Jesus, being a rabbi, preached justice, treating other people fairly, and not exploiting people simply because one could. Many poor people are poor and remain poor because they are exploited; paid unfairly, taxed too highly without all the loopholes of the powerful and so on. In the Jewish tradition, justice and mercy are the same, it is not merely a sentiment, it's what you do. So it makes perfect sense for a just government to require some people to forgo their ill-gotten property, because it's ill-gotten. This is not theft, this is justice.
I have come to the conclusion that as a society, not only are we becoming less empathetic towards others and almost robot-like, but empathy itself is becoming increasingly seen as a weakness, rather than a strength.
You need look no further than City-Data to see how empathy towards others (e.g. the poor) is frowned upon or considered left-wing, liberal or "bleeding heart" (which is a ridiculous term, IMO).
I have seen many people attacked, both online and in real-life for defending the less fortunate. I see this country leaning more towards social Darwinism / "only the strong wil survive". I personally believe that empathy towards others is a vital human trait and one we must pass on to future generations. Social Darwinism is a huge step backwards. In our society, often those who succeed financially seem to lack empathy for others, leading me to believe that financial success and lack of empathy are somehow connected to one another (I'm not saying all rich people are *******s, before anyone replies to that effect).
So as a society, are we becoming less empathetic? Also, please feel free to vote in the (anonymous) poll, along with sharing your own thoughts.
So true.
A society that does not care for it's poor, weak, unfortunate, ill and for it's seniors and children, is a society that will eventually collapse.
Sorry folks , but I dont beleive we are all one big happy disfunctional family where the workers should pay for the slackers.
You are free to beleive that if you want , but I will do all in my power to keep me from financing your little dreamland.
You equate poor with being a slacker. I know poor people that work harder than any CEO in his air conditioned office could ever dream of.
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