Empathy is bullshit. I can't literally feel what the other guy feels; I can sympathize. I can imagine what it must be like having experienced similar things. But I cannot literally feel exactly precisely what anyone else is feeling.
I feel like I can, but I'm also a selfish prick. I think that's a relatively healthy state of being. I see some begger in the intersection on my way home from work I know that shit must suck and is probably degrading. I also want to plow into him with my truck. Gotta shoot down the middle and just turn the radio up. It's usually classical music, I think they hate that.
I dont think its so much the precision of thought, but rather the fact that you apply it to yourself in your mental simulation thereby transferring the 'feels' to "your own shoes". You could also call it self-reflection or plain self-awareness.
Being changed by things that change others or being numb to it. For example, nigger shoots and robs a guy, he will never ever sit down and cry thinking about that mans family and how he never came home. He's indifferent and certainly isnt going to apply the pain of being shot and dying to himself, he will avoid this thought like the plague, pretend it cant happen and when it does, they will still cope as they bleed out. It's the hill they've chosen.
[ + ] lord_nougat
[ - ] lord_nougat 3 points 1 monthMar 30, 2024 01:04:01 ago (+3/-0)
I can't literally feel what the other guy feels; I can sympathize. I can imagine what it must be like having experienced similar things. But I cannot literally feel exactly precisely what anyone else is feeling.
[ + ] PeckerwoodPerry
[ - ] PeckerwoodPerry 2 points 1 monthMar 30, 2024 09:27:31 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] purityspiral
[ - ] purityspiral 1 point 1 monthMar 30, 2024 11:38:57 ago (+1/-0)
Being changed by things that change others or being numb to it. For example, nigger shoots and robs a guy, he will never ever sit down and cry thinking about that mans family and how he never came home. He's indifferent and certainly isnt going to apply the pain of being shot and dying to himself, he will avoid this thought like the plague, pretend it cant happen and when it does, they will still cope as they bleed out. It's the hill they've chosen.
[ + ] lord_nougat
[ - ] lord_nougat 0 points 1 monthMar 30, 2024 12:46:52 ago (+0/-0)
That's called sympathy.
[ + ] purityspiral
[ - ] purityspiral 1 point 1 monthMar 30, 2024 12:53:35 ago (+1/-0)
Synonyms fellow feeling, sympathy
among other things
[ + ] purityspiral
[ - ] purityspiral 0 points 1 monthMar 30, 2024 11:34:56 ago (+1/-1)
OP is right though, we do have empathy, but it has backfired on us in this case.