#against empathy

[criminalistictalk]

Different psychological approaches about Empathy

Different psychological approaches about Empathy

Empathy is the psychological process through which we can imagine and experience how others might feel or think in a particular situation; this process encompasses both cognitive and emotional dimensions: Cognitively, as it involves the specific ability to use existing information to make a judgement about what others might be experiencing, this is also called ‘Perspective taking.’ Emotionally,…

[morpsychology]

We often think that empathy, our capacity "to feel someone's pain," is the ultimate source of goodness. Nothing could be farther from the truth, argues psychology professor Paul Bloom. Scientific studies show that empathy is a capricious and irrational emotion that can cloud people's judgement and even lead to violence and cruelty.

[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).

[cephalopodinspace]

When I finished reading Against Empathy week ago, I thought it was a pretty good book that didn't affect me at all. It must be a complete coincidence that now I care about myself less (and I think that's a good thing) and feel the urge to "um, actually" every time I see someone talking about how great empathy is.

[frodo-a-gogo]

Let us be brutally honest with ourselves and with eachother for a moment. If he weren't obese you motherfuckers would be capable of percieving evrart claires sexy sexy moral ambiguity and complex charms

[panakina]

I find it really funny when any fic has Cass convince Jason that killing is wrong. Her whole stance is based on not wanting to see anyone else experience what she saw when she killed a man. Jason experienced it himself. He's decided its okay actually.

[tea-cat-arts]

Shen Yuan getting transported into pidw isn't "the system punishing him for being a lazy internet hater," but instead representative of "step 1 of the creative process: getting so mad at something you decide to go write your own fucking book" in this essay I will

[turbo-tsundere]

Kokichisake-onna

*Happy anime narrator voice*: “And thus, Kokichi has once again successfully evaded the dread of emotional openness!”

Also here’s a random selection of derpy concept doodles for this comic :)

Thank you byeeeeee

[mecachrome]

Alex Albon for High Performance

It was this weird thing, because — for example with Yuki, I wanted to take his seat! He was a potential candidate that I could replace. And I remember having that chat with Helmut Marko, and he told me at the time, "You need to driver-coach this guy." And I was like, "I'm not going to. That's a potential seat." And he said, "No, he's already signed. He's guaranteed." So I was like (throws hands), "Okay, fine. Then I'll help him."

[watcherintheweyr]

desperately need people to understand that alicent is a victim but she’s also an abuser and a perpetrator

that she actively makes choices to harm other women because of jealousy and envy and the greed deep in her bones because submitting to suffering didn’t get her what those women fight to grasp for themselves.

she is absolutely a victim, in show.

that doesn’t change that she abused rhaenyra and her children, her own son, most likely helaena given how she flinches every time her mother touches her, and is actively weaponizing the patriarchy of westeros against other women- rhaenyra primarily, but also mysaria and dyana.

she isn’t the moral, righteous force of good that even she thinks she is, she’s a wounded woman directing all of the rot, pain, and fury inside her at the wrong people and forces.

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids,

Any variant of "Human beings are by default bad" has the same problem: it actually protects those who choose to be bad.

Let's look at some examples:

"Straight people just can't relate to those who are different" actually gives those people who choose to say homophobic stuff a perfect excuse to do so. After all this means it's not their fault, straight people just are like that, there is nothing they could do about it! ... which obviously isn't true.

"Men are designed to be aggressive and violent, it's their nature" actually gives those men who choose to act violently a perfect excuse to do so. After all this means it's not their fault, men just are like that, there is nothing they could do about it! ... which obviously isn't true.

Your behavior isn't determined by your sexual orientation or your gender. People of all sexes, genders and orientations are capable of behaving in compassionate, calm and kind ways.

Men are perfectly capable of treating women with respect. Straight people are perfectly capable of being allies for gay people. Acknowledging that doesn't take away from the fight for equal rights - far from that, it actually highlights that equal rights are possible.

People can change their attitudes, people can change their behavior.

For some people it's easy to behave that way, others actively need to work on it and of course there are internal and external factors that can influence this - but we want to encourage them to work on it. We don't want to hand them a golden excuse not to work on it.

With all my love,

Your Tumblr Dad

[utilitycaster]

You know what's interesting to me? For all people keep claiming at every juncture that perhaps Bells Hells will come around on the gods and see the harm they do (which, as discussed extensively, is, half the time, simply not intervening) not only have they never done so, but also they never quite cross the line into saying the party should join the Ruby Vanguard or aid them - and indeed, they defend against it - so what does this achieve? It feels like they're asking for a story in which the party stands idly by, which isn't much of a story nor, if I may connect this briefly to the real world, a political stance anyone should be proud of.

That's honestly the frustration with the gods and the "what if the Vanguard has a point" conversations in-game. What do we do then? Do we allow the organization that will murder anyone for pretty much any reason that loosely ties into their goals run rampant? The group that (perhaps unwittingly, but then again, Otohan's blades had that poison) disrupted magic world-wide, and caused people who had the misfortune to live at nexus points to be teleported (most, as commoners, without means of return). While also fomenting worldwide unrest?

Those were the arguments before the trip to Ruidus; with the reveal of the Vanguard's goals to invade Exandria, the situation becomes even more dire. Do you let the Imperium take over the planet?

And do the arguments against the gods even hold up? If Ludinus is so angry at them for the Calamity, what does it say that he destroyed Western Wildemount's first post-Calamity society for entirely selfish means? (What does it say about the validity of vengeance as a motivator?) What does it say that Laudna told Imogen she could always just live in a cottage quietly without issue before the solstice even happened? (Would this still be true if the Imperium controls the world?) What does it say that when faced with a furious, grieving party and the daughter she keeps telling herself was her reason for all of this, Liliana can't provide an answer to the question of what the gods have done other than that their followers will retaliate...for, you know, the Vanguard's endless list of murders. (That is how the Vanguard and Imperium tend to think, huh? "How dare your face get in the way of my boot; how dare you hit me back when I strike you.") She can't even provide a positive answer - why is Predathos better - other than "I feel it", even though Imogen and Fearne know firsthand that Predathos can provide artificial feelings of elation. Given all the harm Ludinus has done in pursuit, why isn't the conclusion "the gods should have crashed Aeor in such a way that the tech was unrecoverable?"

Even as early as the first real discussion on what the party should do, the fandom always stopped short of saying "no, Imogen's right, they should join up with the people who killed half the party," it was always "no, she didn't really mean it, she just was trying to connect with her mother." Well, she's connected with her mother, and at this point the party doesn't even care about the gods particularly (their only divinely-connected party member having died to prevent the Vanguard from killing all of them). So they will stop the Vanguard; as Ashton says, the means are unforgiveable. As Laudna says, it's not safe to bet on Predathos's apathy. As Imogen says, she's done running; the voice that she used to think of as a lifeline belongs to someone she doesn't trust. So I guess my question is: if they're stopping the people who are trying to kill the gods (and defense of the gods isn't remotely their personal motivation)...do you think the next phase of the campaign is Bells Hells personally killing the gods? Reconstructing the Aeor tech and hoping none of their allies notice? How does this end? Does your ideology ever get enacted? Or is this entirely moot and pointless and the story ends with Bells Hells saying "well, I'm really glad we stopped the people who [insert list of Vanguard atrocities from above]; none of us follow the gods or plan to, but honestly, the status quo we return to is preferable to whatever nightmare Ludinus had concocted in his violent quest for power and revenge"?

[edwardshundredyearoldspunk]

dot and bubble might just be my favorite episode this series. it's safe to say there have been NAUR bad episodes but the futility of dot and bubble, the slow realization that these young adults (who have been chosen as the final vestiges of this civilization) aren't just rich and beautiful, they're also ALL white. the subtle, unexplained hostility lindy pepper-bean has for the doctor. the way she listens to only ruby, addresses only ruby even when it's the doctor who is talking to her. and then. that ending. the doctor's disbelief. he can't believe these people aren't letting him save them just because he's black. and they could have gone the allegorical racism, the whole sci-fi alien bigotry. but I'm glad they didn't. the doctor has never encountered this problem before and what does he do? he screams. he cries. because if there's anything the doctor will always hate, it is the meaningless loss of life. and that's exactly what will happen to lindy and her friends. they will die. and as audience members there is some part of us that enjoys that, because we hate bigots and we love the doctor. but the doctor cares, so part of us cares, even when we don't want to. and that's the beauty of doctor who. I truly don't believe a piece of media has had more of a hand in making me as empathetic as I am and for that I love it. best episode so far this season for me. rtd at his absolute best!

[o-vera-nalyzing]

sometimes i feel like the people who are saying the bad kids should have tried conflict resolution instead of fighting are watching the same show i am. first off every single season thus far with the ih has ended with a huge battle so why would you expect this one not to? secondly like i like the rat grinders as much as the next person but you can’t negotiate with people that are canonically 100% blinded by rage. like i would consider the idea of some other resolution than killing them if it seemed possible but like put urself in their shoes? they’re a bunch of teenagers who have been tormented by other teenagers and told that they’re the privileged ones by people getting power leveled by teachers. i’m certain they all know the ‘big bad’ is porter (and jace but he was also shatter starred so idk) but that doesn’t change the fact they’re also fucking mad. but like totally genuinely if someone explained to me a plausible situation where porters plan gets thwarted without a fight i might be able to see it but all i’ve seen is people saying ‘conflict resolution’ and ‘talk it out’ like we’re in kindergarten and the other team doesn’t have ninth level spell slots. maybe that sounds harsh but i’m open to listening if someone actually thinks there’s a plausible way for it to end without fighting/without killing the rat grinders. cause i can’t see it unless the entire season changes from like basically the beginning.

[furiousgoldfish]

abusive parents: in the 'real' world--

me: ah yes, because your house where you force children into submission is an imaginary land, devoid of reality, a fantasy place where nobody has experienced an actual real-life event, and you yourself have transported this place out of reality only for me to be able to experience this imaginary world where you are the god and decide whats real and what isn't, as well as what past events can be revisioned to your liking. Which one of us isn't living in the real world again.

[lupuslikethewolf]

something something daemon was sixteen when alyssane made him marry something something he was uprooted from his home and forced to live in an entirely new kingdom with someone he hated and who hated him back something something every time he did something that viserys didn't like he was kicked out of the only home he had and sent away something something daemon fought for viserys but viserys never fought for daemon something something daemon has targaryen daughter syndrome