#empathiisms

[aphel1on]

i have such a love for characters who descend into madness or villainy out of deep, deep empathy. characters who fundamentally cannot cope with the cruel realities they find themselves in and blow up about it in spectacular fashion. fallen angel type characters with tears of outrage in their eyes. characters who break before they bend, and break so badly they splatter blood all over their noble ideals. every variation on it gets me so good

[asonr]

Autistic spaces are getting so much more hostile towards people with low empathy, and it sucks

There was a subreddit I really liked, people were chill, and then there was a sudden influx of people making posts like ‘Autistic people have empathy! Saying we don’t makes us seem like monsters! Thats not a symptom!’ And people making posts explaining that no, actually, some of us do have low empathy got attacked and told they were wrong or ableist? And it sucks, because its just so hard to find a place to exist where you can be seen as not evil? I don’t know, it just hurts a lot to be told that

[solarwreathe]

in another universe they could have been playing at the beach

[thoughtstherapy]

Empathy Burnout Is A Real Thing | Follow us on YT

[shining-dawn]

The way the government treats homeless people and panhandlers ought to be evidence enough on its own that empathy doesn't always lead to ethical behavior. Middle and upper class people get uncomfortable seeing homeless people because seeing someone in a bad state triggers an uncomfortable empathic response. They feel bad seeing people suffering. But people respond by trying to remove the source of their discomfort just as often as they respond with compassion.

That's why cities respond with hostile architecture and brutality. They just need to make the problem invisible, and people stop complaining.

Empathy is very useful, but it's no substitute for actual ethical principles.

[astearisms]

catalysts, protectors

[bamsara]

I love blocking people I've never interacted with based off their replies on some random popular post. Wow random user on a post with 50k notes with the worst take ever, I hope I never meet you and will make sure we never do

[pjharvey-moved]

i think having worked a retail or food service job actually is more important to not being a loser than doing drugs or having sex. the poll that showed so much of this site has never worked one of those jobs was actually way more concerning to me than any of the celibacy sweep polls

[apollos-boyfriend]

they hated him for his low-empathy autism swag

[prideprejudce]

this whole oceangate submarine fiasco has actually led to a lot of interesting talks and debates about the grey area of human empathy vs the inclination to recoil at the bizarre behaviors of the ultra wealthy and how people struggle with both ideas and is actually very interesting to watch play out in different types of people

[stil-lindigo]

an ex-zionist jewish man recently went a bit viral on tiktok for sharing exactly how he sees zionism tie israel to the jewish identity and his personal experience with breaking away from it - I think it’s a really great watch.

He also made a follow up talking specifically about how he learned to humanise Palestinians, and a really integral part of it was his school, which would often bring in Palestinian speakers who’d share their perspective (here’s a link to it).

[knownoshamc]

proof that they were together in the past or... it could all mean nothing

[jacobnordby]

Message of the year:

“How do you spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel. The kindest person in the room is often the smartest.” — Gov Pritzker

[perplexingly]

I kinda wish they bonded over their dead man walking like behavior…

[youlookkindadead]

i've seen quite a bit of confusion about this, so let me attempt to clear things up :

empathy is the ability to feel somebody's emotions as though they are affecting you personally. for example, somebody tells you "my dog died last night!" -> you now feel as though you've lost a pet personally -> you feel grief and sadness just like the other person. not everyone has empathy. it's a trait some people develop and others don't. some have high empathy, some have low empathy, some (like me) have none.

sympathy is the ability to understand and care about somebody else's struggles, even if you don't feel them yourself. so, somebody tells you their dog died -> you realize how this affects them emotionally -> you care about this person, and are upset that they are suffering. not everyone has sympathy either! it's a scale, just like empathy.

compassion is doing something to relieve another person's suffering or make them feel better. somebody tells you their dog died -> you don't want them to remain upset -> you come up with ways to help them feel better, like offering comfort and distractions, or other forms of support. compassion is a learned trait, not something you can be born with like empathy or sympathy. anyone can learn to be compassionate, although some may struggle more with it than others; it's a skill, just like anything else.

however, none of these are required to be a good person. that's a choice you make on your own accord. i hope this clears things up!

[worldwright]

still so incredibly not over how season 1 "I'm sorry I left you alone" Martin became season 5 "why won't you kill the guy I'm romantically jealous of???" Martin and how they are so clearly The Same Martin and we just did not see the deranged depths of his soul until then