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I also thought the article had interesting information, and the brisk "I'm just being honest about how things are in the world" tone was initially fun but was d

I also thought the article had interesting information, and the brisk "I'm just being honest about how things are in the world" tone was initially fun but was darkened by the hints of callous bias that bled through: > Compassion gets burned out of the owner and burned out of the clerk in basically the same ways that it gets burned out of everyone else in the neighborhood. This reflects a false belief that people who live in poor neighborhoods are less compassionate. In fact research suggests that people living in poverty tend to be more compassionate towards each other than rich people are toward the impoverished. It's comforting for wealthier people to hold this belief, because it makes us feel less bad about our own lack of compassion. And the point of the below paragraph seems to be that it's difficult or unpleasant to think about systemic injustice, so let's avoid it? > And, not to put too fine a point on it, it’s really hard to expressively, passionately hate this business and not hate the young lady working in it, the decisions and life challenges of its customers, and similar. And if you hate one particular building in a poor neighborhood, and then start rigorously thinking about the liquor store, or the police station, or the supermarket, or the church, or the public school, or the home in the poor neighborhood, I think your mind will start going to some pretty dark places.

e63f67dd-065b 3y ago
> This reflects a false belief that people who live in poor neighborhoods are less compassionate. In fact research suggests that people living in poverty tend to be more compassionate towards each other than rich people are toward the impoverished. It's comforting for wealthier people to hold this belief, because it makes us feel less bad about our own lack of compassion. From what I recall, its less that the poor are more compassionate, instead they participate in _reciprocal altruism_ as a form of insurance against further loss. I remember this talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AchISJUKfH4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AchISJUKfH4 -- poor people make seemingly dumb decisions because if they don't help their social network when it comes knocking, they're in effect _cutting themselves off_ from said network. The middle class is more insulated from this effect because those with emergency savings don't often need to borrow $500 because of a broken car or need to house their recently homeless sister and children, so capital can accumulate more easily.

e63f67dd-065b 3y ago

> This reflects a false belief that people who live in poor neighborhoods are less compassionate. In fact research suggests that people living in poverty tend to be more compassionate towards each other than rich people are toward the impoverished. It's comforting for wealthier people to hold this belief, because it makes us feel less bad about our own lack of compassion. From what I recall, its less that the poor are more compassionate, instead they participate in _reciprocal altruism_ as a form of insurance against further loss. I remember this talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AchISJUKfH4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AchISJUKfH4 -- poor people make seemingly dumb decisions because if they don't help their social network when it comes knocking, they're in effect _cutting themselves off_ from said network. The middle class is more insulated from this effect because those with emergency savings don't often need to borrow $500 because of a broken car or need to house their recently homeless sister and children, so capital can accumulate more easily.