How is kindness a bad thing? I thought that was universally agreed to be a good message to have in a piece of media. I guess the excuse is they don’t want media to have messages at all but like, how would you even have a movie where the hero has no values that they stand for?
I really don’t know how to convince people they should care about others.
I don’t know how to teach empathy.
You cannot. It’s either felt, or they’re shitspawn to be flushed.
A few slaps on the butt (assisted by a carpet beater when the occasion demands it) will usually do it. At least that’s how my mom did it with us.
“You! Have! To be! Good! To! Your! Sister/neighbor/dog!”
(EDIT: /s if not clear)
People care about their in-group. Make being human their main identity.
we can purge those filthy xenos from the galaxy!
Captain Archer had some good ideas. Turns out he really doesn’t like bullies.
That’s the thing, isn’t it? You either have empathy, or you are the other species. The one that can’t comprehend that there is anything wrong with them, but the world would be better off without them.
Oh fuck off would ya? Every time I test my empathy, I am basically shown to be simply unemphatetic. Doesn’t make me a monster - simply instead of feeling something is wrong, I have to think shit through.
And trust me, it’s even easier that way. Would I like someone to kick me? Maim me? Deport me? Does the net good outweight both the general consequence and the consequence for the other party? No? Then don’t fucking do it. Whether I like other party doesn’t take part in the process, which isn’t true for empathy.
Empathy can absolutely develop over time. This rhetoric is not useful. Even dumb fucking right wing pieces of shit feel empathy when their in-group is affected.
If hate can be learned so can empathy, what you’re suggesting is dehumanizing
I am absolutely with you.
Also people should learn the difference between empathy and sympathy, the latter not as fatiguing and difficult to develop and often more useful.
Empathy can be developed over time by MOST people.
Also, performative empathy can be developed.
But then ALSO, anti empathy seems to be developing in society? Which is wild.
Well, I have neither empathy or sympathy for those anymore. They dehumanized me first, after all.
I’m with you brother. They have dehumanized so much they are no longer human themselves. Right wing ideology is subhuman ideology, in all forms.
This includes liberals.
There’s an underlying care instinct that needs to be activated. Its emotional; you can’t explain it, they have to experience it… There was a post years ago supposedly describing the empathic awakening of a white supremacist, which occurred as he was waiting to harm or harass a father and son on a bus, and the moment of awakening happened as he witnessed the father expressing his love for his son and something clicked for him, probably because he wanted that sort of affection from his dad and never got it.
By exercising it at a young age in public schools.
And judging those without more harshly.
If you can’t learn empathy, learn to spite the enemies of empathy