Is it empathy to sit on our high horses and deem what's best for those less fortunate than us? Or is it empathy to wish for those less fortunate than us to have what we have?
How do you mean this, Denny? Are you talking about how materialistic our country is opposed to third word ones? Are you talking about how much more money we have over most other countries? Are you talking locally, as in those that have jobs as opposed to those that don't? Are you talking about specific tragedies as in Japan and what those people are going thru?
I think it was Sug who posted that there's a lack of empathy in the OT forum threads. I'm wondering what he means by it.
He might have been referring to rich people whining about being taxed a little to provide basic life needs to the less fortunate. I'm just guessing. Is it empathy to sit on your pile of cash and hoard it while millions go hungry and suffer illnesses?
It was I, not Sug unless he also said something, which mentioned there is a lack of empathy by some posters who frequent the OT section. Empathy in your question is to wish those who are less fortunate than us to one day have that which we have been blessed. Empathy, however as you should know, is not the act of wishing something for another person. It is rather the act of understanding and feeling their misfortune. I think many people often misplace or confuse sympathy for empathy. Pity, I find, is not what most people in unfavorable situations wish. They wish for their fellow human beings to understand their plight, to understand the pain they go through and if able lend a hand in any way possible. Not out of pity, but out of understanding. If you wish to see the lack of empathy on this portion of the board, read any race-related thread, any gay-related thread, any homeless related thread, any mental disease/disorder/illness thread. Any thread relating to religions outside of Christianity - the threads on Islam/Muslims being a prime example.
I agree the less fortunate (especially poor people) get little sympathy from some posters, but I do at least try to see that Christianity gets abused as much as all the other idiotic nonsensical religions people glom onto to make themselves feel important. I really haven't noticed much bashing of race at all, and very little gay-bashing either. Maybe you're hyper-sensitive to those particular issues.?
Agreed. You went on a long rant, only to show in the end, that you are just on your high-horse and preaching while not practicing. It makes you look worse than those not even trying to pretend.
It's impossible to truly understand another person's misfortune. No two situations are identical, no two persons' experiences are identical. I think the best we can do is provide comfort to those who are down, and opportunity for people to change their situations. I believe every single person has has some skill that they can exploit to build a good life around, it's a matter of finding it and ways to exploit it. This section of the site has a lot of political discussion. It is unfortunate that the talking points of both parties are of fear and boogeymen. One party's icon is a man who rounded up 100,000 Japanese AMERICANS during WW II an put them in concentration camps. It preys on the elderly ("they'll take away your social security!"), women ("they'll take away your right to choose!"), and minorities ("those tea party people are racists!"). The other is no better. It thrived for years on fears of the communists, and now is thriving on fear of immigrants and Muslims. It's all part of the lexicon, unfortunately. Everyone's experience is different, as I mentioned earlier. My own is that I've met gay people or Muslims or "illegal" immigrants and they're all downright good people. I'm sure there are bad apples in any group if you look at a big enough sample, but that's no reason to use a broad brush and say the whole group is bad apples.
You're right, it is impossible to truly understand another person's misfortune. It isn't impossible, however, to feel the pain of your fellow human beings. I agree with everything in your first paragraph. Sometimes, though, people can't find their own skills. They need help, understanding, cooperation and adjustment from other people. An example would be homeless people. A lot of homeless people suffer from mental disorders, disease and illness - but the topic of mental disorders, disease and illness remains taboo in our country and around the world. People feel uncomfortable speaking about it because it is unseen, there is much which remains unexplained and unknown, so there is generally an exchange of "Oh, I'm so sorry, that's sad/unfortunate. So, the weather seems to be clearing up" and we move on. There's too much to read, too much to try to understand, too much stigma left in a society which thinks it is weak to have an illness which can't be seen with a scan or the naked eye. So there are so many who feel they can't get help, because they can't talk about it because they don't know how family/friends/coworkers will react and there is only so long you can cope with it yourself. So those people turn to alcohol and drugs, and then many of them become homeless. And then they're called sad, pathetic, worthless because they turned to drugs and alcohol. Without trying to understand the problem how we as a society function in this regard 'helped' lead them there. Instead we just give them side-eyes and make our way, and so many offer pity, and so many feel disgust at them.. instead of just feeling FOR them. Trying to understand their plight. I'm not talking about politics or figureheads. I think you would be surprised at how I vote, despite being a registered democrat and a minority in regards to sexual orientation. You can discuss policies, theories, laws and all manner of notions in a respectful way. Differing opinions in this regard offer insight into one another, and they help us grow as people. I'm talking about when someone tells a gay person that them being gay is a choice, and they aren't born that way. I'm talking about when someone is saying victim of rape is at fault for other people being raped. When some people can't understand why asking Obama for his birth certificate is a big deal. When someone calls homeless people sad sacks of lazy shit. You speak of not painting everyone with a broad stroke of the brush, and I completely agree. In an attempt to not sound so painfully obvious, words are very powerful. How you arrange them changes the meanings of sentences and arguments in even the most subtle of way. Even if we cannot see them with the naked eye and they bounce around our subconscious shifting our thoughts, feelings and how we perceive them. I will end my post with this, a very valuable lesson I discovered through countless minorities - of color, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, etc - 'The majority are free to be individuals regardless, the negative actions of a minority are often attributed to an entire group'. When I say some people here lack empathy this along with my points above the previous paragraph is to what I am referring.
I've known a few gay people and they all tell me they were born that way; that when they reached puberty, pictures of girls didn't do it for them, but they got turned on by guys. I don't have a reason to doubt them that they were born gay as they claim, nor do I really care. It's not a disease, and it's really none of my business what anyone else does (outside my family and friends). I have one friend who I knew for 10 years. One day he asked me to help fix up his computer and I ran into a bunch of gay porn he'd downloaded. I never knew he was gay, and it didn't change our friendship. He is the same guy the day before I found his pictures as he is the day after; still my friend. On the other hand, he later got to be good friends with a guy that came over to help him work on his house. When he told the guy he was gay, the guy split and was never seen again. To each his own? For what it's worth, I was upset with my friend for only a short while. It was because he lied to me for those 10 years. Discrediting the president by attacking his character or morality is nothing new. Republicans went overboard with the slick willy stuff, among many other things. Democrats went after W for his younger days when he partied hard (as if clinton didn't!), his being a religious man, the 2000 election made him somehow illegitimate with all the lawsuits, etc. As I see it, Obama's getting the same treatment. I have my gripes with Obama and speak out about them frequently. It has nothing to do with his skin color, which matters not a lick to me in any situation. It is about the reckless spending and spending well beyond our means. He sure seems likable enough in interviews on TV. His wife is beautiful and his kids look happy. He's achieved the presidency, which is no small feat. There's no excuse for forced rape, period. This is a sports site with a lot of basketball fans whose heroes are minorities, and filthy rich, and have good exposure on TV via commercials and so on. After reading it for 4 years, I've only seen one guy (banned) who was an outright racist. Everyone else seems to be pretty mature about discussing things.
