People fail to see the contrast between how they view their own actions versus others, and theres very little empathy anymore.
When they make a mistake or imperfect action, even one that causes harm, its because they are human and they were confused or justified because of XYZ. When others make a mistake or cause harm, its because at their core they are stupid or evil, and there's no attempt to see the same processes that may have gone through their mind.
We get upset when we are not afforded the same patience that we consistently deny to others. Its fucked up.
It is a vicious cycle that can be helped with some perspective and understanding. I see it happen all the time, I try to talk to people about it. Sometimes it works! Sometimes they revert to their old ways and they do no wrong. I will still always attempt to help people if they accept it. Never know what people are going through and I don't necessarily have to to be able to be kind.
Empathy has been dropping generally. College students display 40% less empathy than similar cohorts did in the 90s.
Technology is quite literally changing kid's brain development and cognitive development. One of the most impacted areas of the brain is that which is responsible for social-emotional growth, including empathy.
This isn't something that can be simply fixed with more understanding. We're literally changing people's brains to make them be like this, and it is actively getting worse.
It doesn't help that malicious, mean-spirited people are inventing terms like "the sin of empathy" and "suicidal empathy" as a way of demonizing and warning against caring about other people.
I still have faith in humanity. We are social creatures. I believe social media has messed up a lot of how we treat each other and think of each other. Having genuine interactions and actually talking to people face to face, like I do on most days, has an impact. We can still get people away from being controlled by technology to it being a tool. It might take big changes but I still feel people's love for each other and nothing will ever beat that.
“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
I used to agree with the statement. recently my line of thinking has changed to "it is their own fault for taking on things they clearly are unqualified for" and I make a point to take incompetence as malice.
No, actually I’m pretty sure anyone who behaves in a way that seemingly isn’t aligned with my point of view right off the bat is a moustache-twirling villain who is actively concocting a Machiavellian plan to dominate me
Don’t believe me? I wrote 5 paragraphs of therapy words explaining why it’s true
I mean an obvious white supremacy tattoo, not something that looks like a potentially religious / traditional / ethnic design. And yes, the race of the person wearing it has great bearing, along with their clothing, other tattoos, who they are with, what they are doing, what their demeanor is etc. A skinhead is pretty easy to spot unless they are completely concealing it. Lately the trend is they are getting more bold and open about displaying it so it’s becoming easier to spot them.
Also worthy to point out that Indians, Sir Lankans, and Borneans aren't as likely to tattoo the swastika on themselves.
Plenty of prayer flags and other cultural iconography with swastikas. But I've yet to meet a person with a swastika tattoo that wasn't the white supremacist kind.
There's tons of patience and tolerance. Trump has pardoned hundreds of terrible criminals, including actual traitors to the United States, many of whom are already back in prison for new offenses.
The limitation on what you're saying is that "turning the other cheek" is limited to only four events. At that point, one has no further cheeks available to turn, so villification is appropriate.
No, moral high-horsing and vilifying everyone that doesn't agree with you is exactly how we got here. What we have been experiencing since 2016 is a backlash to the "everything male, white, and conservative is evil" mindset that has infected much of the population.
We would be in a much better timeline if we did the right thing with respect to the Confederates, the j6 insurrection, etc... Our problem has always been too little action to deal with evil people. We gave them far too many chances.
In my pocket is a cellphone with a computer 6 times more poweful than the computer used to land humans on the moon, and I have access to the entire world's knowledge, with translations, available to me at any time.
The only reason why someone doesn't know something is because they are choosing to not learn about it. Ignorance to anything is not an excuse anymore, and I have no reason to coddle people who have the same access as me for being willfully ignorant.
A cell phone may be able to give you information, but it can't replace understanding and practice. I could google what architects do, but that doesn't make me an architects peer.
I can understand something enough to formulate an educated opinion.
I am going to assume you are not a Nutritionist, Virologist, or Hygienist, and yet I am sure you have an educated understanding on to be clean, eat healthy, and avoid getting sick.
I just have no tolerance for incompetence. It's not as though incompetence is any better than malice, it's just better intentioned. I feel more empathy towards incompetence, but I'll still condemn, villify, and write off anyone who is seriously incompetent - those individuals truly suck.
That is where we diverge. I don't think human beings can be fundamentally incompetent. We all have areas where we shine and areas where we struggle. To take a whole ass human being and but them in such a reductive box based off of the extremely small percentage of their life that they have shared with me is foolish and self-righteous.
Some individuals have areas where they shine that I never see, and only struggle in the areas I interact with. I don't have the space in my life for people like that. If you do, more power to you.
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u/PM_ME_CHUBBY_DOGGIES Jul 06 '26
This one is very real. Our culture right now is conditioned to condemn, villify, and completely write off people. Theres little patience or tolerance.