3 ms·
> If there were places IRL where the average person is subjected to a constant barrage of callousness it wouldn't continue to exist, would it? Did you not go t
by dkarl 5y ago
> If there were places IRL where the average person is subjected to a constant barrage of callousness it wouldn't continue to exist, would it?
Did you not go to school with other children? Name-calling, exclusion, and what adults would call assault and physical abuse are par for the course among small children. Human beings have an instinctive ability to empathize with other people, but consistently applying that to all other people, even when it conflicts with other desires, is not part of our genetic programming, which is why it is a backbone teaching of all major religions. We start as tiny children who reflexively, instinctively hit and call names to express their desires, and we don't grow out of these tendencies so much as reduce them (on the one hand) and refine them.
Habitual bullies discover that they enjoy it when their bullying earns positive attention from other people, and they adjust their targets and tactics accordingly. In a setting where people like seeing sexual minorities persecuted, that's who they will target. In a setting where people like seeing racial minorities persecuted, that's who they will target. If you harbor any aggressive itch you are too timid or too "civilized" to scratch, you can bet the bullies in your social milieu will seek your approval by scratching it for you, and if we're against bullying, that's who it matters to call out, the people who are working for our approval.