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#empathy
#Empathy - the ability to understand the perspective of others - is a learned skill. Sure, some people will have an easier time than others, but it always starts with the question: "Why does that other person think and act the way they do?", and engaging with curiosity instead of sticking with one's own assumptions.
However, the problem arises when the people in our society who make the decision cannot empathize with people who are much less powerful than they are - and worse, they don't even _want_ to empathize with them. Consider space flight Blue Origin NS-31, where #JeffBezos and his cronies genuinely seemed to believe that this would be seen as "supporting #feminism " instead of the #oligarchs showing off how rich they are.
Or #ElonMusk taking the virtual chainsaw to numerous government agencies with #DOGE and then being apparently genuinely surprised that making the situation for tens of thousands of government agencies and those they support might make him unpopular. For him, all this is just a grand game - so why shouldn't it be for others?
But this attitude is nothing new. Througout the ages, the rulers, potentates, and other mighty people have looked down upon the poor and downtrodden, who are supposed to do what they are told without protest.
Which brings me to my personal subject, German folk tales. And the people who first made that subject popular - the Brothers Grimm.
For while the Brothers Grimm had all sorts of dodgy beliefs of their own, one of their stances was both radical and right - the tales and thoughts of "ordinary people" - in this case, the rural German peasantry - deserved being listened to and told. Something we can learn from, even today.
#folklore #politics #oligarchy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Grimm
“Woke-ism,” which I personally would have called “basic human decency,” has been declared Public Enemy #1.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/weve-lost-the-thread-from-trans-rights-to-trigger-warnings-76495c861eb3
> it’s clear that anti-empathy discourse can itself become an excuse for cruelty.
Or for downright atrocities.
> In fact, it’s probably a good rule of thumb that if a political movement spends a lot of energy trashing human kindness, it’s bad.
Cathy Young (whose both-sidesism taints her otherwive valuable commentary, in my view), notes,
"The term ['suicidal empathy'] is becoming a right-wing buzzword. ...
As the sexist attacks on Barrett indicate, the right’s war on empathy often has a distinctly misogynistic subtext. ...
In fact, it’s probably a good rule of thumb that if a political movement spends a lot of energy trashing human kindness, it’s bad."
I'm not religious, nor am I really a huge fan of the Catholic church, but Francis was a far better than average Pope.
He pushed the church in key ways I hope the next Pope will continue and expand.
Especially it matters that he called for urgent and decisive action on human-caused Climate Change.
It matters, too, that he sought paths to acceptance and inclusion of diversity.
I liked that he was a humble man, rejecting trappings of wealth, critical of his church's hoarded wealth, pushing for financial transparency, and focused on helping the poor. He seemed to want to be peer of, advocate for, and inspiration to regular people. Anyone, Catholic or not, ought admire such.
The contrast is especially apparent from the US, where the sitting administration makes frequent appeals to religion for exactly the opposite reasons, to profit upon the poor for the sake of the rich, to undermine and deplete what meager wealth they have (again in service of the rich), and to sow seeds of intolerance and distrust.
#israel #palestine : #war / #gaza / #hostages / #civilianwarvictims / #children / #protest / #women / #empathy / #ceasefire
»“This war is a war of denial,” Argov said. “But one day people will have to realize what we — the children of Holocaust survivors — have done, and to face ourselves.”«
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/04/21/gaza-anti-war-protests-israeli-women/
For everyone in the world outside the US starting up the isolation process...remember how well that worked in the 1930's. It left tens of millions to die, turning back refugees sent them to their deaths, and fascism still came for their countries anyway. Isolation & abandonment is not a great policy. The world is even more globalized now than it was 100 years ago. The faster we realize we can rise or fall together, the better off everyone will be.
Politics can be complicated, but empathy is not. Empathy demands that we look at what is going on in all oppressed nations and peoples, and bear witness. And no one with empathy can then refuse to help. This is why empathy is being made to be the enemy. This is why individualism is being touted.
So. Let's all climb out of this pit now, and together, as the people of the Earth.
@josemurilo "Sounds" nice. But it's such an enormous waste on #resources: #water, #energy, and money!
We do know how #empathy is build and how anti-aggression trainings work. We do know how people can train more awareness. We know it for many many years.
At the same time, the money for NGOs and groups working in this sector with success, is radically cut in so many countries.
Cheap alternative: Training communication on Mastodon.
“𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚖. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝.”
― 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘔. 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘸
Even outside of <waves at all the things going on in our country>, you never know what people are dealing with.
It takes •••so little energy••• to ask how someone’s day is going, to hold the door for somebody, to help someone put that heavy bag of cat litter in their car and push away their shopping cart.
Be kind to one another! It’s free!
Mentioning this because of all the nonsense about how “toxic” #empathy is.
An alpha asshole can bully individuals to comply. They may obey out of fear or just to avoid fighting.
But Mark Rashid watched & saw which horse the other horses followed, who they gravitated to, who they wanted to be around. No surprise if you think about it: It’s the horses that make others feel safe, respected, & maybe even protected.
Life is devoted to endless destruction in the service of an endless quest for power and admiration, unmitigated by basic empathy or guilt.
—Bandy X. Lee et al., The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump
#sociopathy #empathy
Although sociopathy always means a lack of empathy, there is one way in which severe sociopaths do have a certain, frightening type of empathy. It is the empathy of the predator.
—Bandy X. Lee et al., The Dangerous Case of Donald Trum
#sociopathy #empathy
The failure of normal empathy is central to sociopathy, which is marked by an absence of guilt, intentional manipulation, and controlling or even sadistically harming others for personal power or gratification. …sociopathy is among the most severe mental disturbances.
—Bandy X. Lee et al., The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump
#empathy #sociopathy
…the ability to sense the feelings of one another, care about one another, and try to avoid harming one another…is called empathy. It is a characteristic of all people… Unless they are sociopaths.
—Bandy X. Lee et al., The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump
#empathy
Snowflake is a word used by sociopaths in an attempt to discredit the notion of empathy.
-- John Cleese
MAGA’s attack on empathy is a thinly veiled defense of misogyny and toxic masculinity. When Elon Musk and the Christian right call empathy “suicidal,” they’re protecting their fragile power and patriarchal control. #MAGA #Misogyny #ToxicMasculinity #Empathy www.salon.com/2025/04/11/m...
Elon Musk and the Christian ri...