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About 15 years ago, I saw on the news in Europe that 8 students had been shot at some random high school in a random US state. Having been conditioned by my en
by p-e-w 6mo ago
About 15 years ago, I saw on the news in Europe that 8 students had been shot at some random high school in a random US state.
Having been conditioned by my environment to perceive such events as important, I turned to my friend and said “Man, 8 students were shot at a high school in the States!”
He asked me “What am I supposed to do with that information?” That response changed my life.
- threethirtytwo 6mo agoHow did it change your life?
- p-e-w 6mo agoIt made me realize that “important events” are meaningless empathy theater, with the goal of desensitizing people until they care more about random folks dying on the other side of the planet than about the person sitting next to them on the bench.
- threethirtytwo 6mo agoIt’s almost theater to care… the car accident rate is mass slaughter on a scale that dwarfs every school shooting on the planet yet nobody gives two shits. A lot of it is posing.
- Arodex 6mo agoSo, of course, after that "realization", now you do care about the person sitting next to you on the bench?
- Arodex 6mo ago>“What am I supposed to do with that information?” ...Feel some sorrow? Think a bit about what could cause such a thing? Because one day, it may happen at your kid's school... And it may be your own kid. An absence of both empathy and curiosity aren't exactly a response to be proud of. An unconscious life. The kind that leads to, one day, spouting the standard response: "I never imagined it could happen to me".
- p-e-w 6mo agoSorrow for people you don’t know? That’s a category error, and soundbites like that are a big part of the reason why many people now find it difficult to feel genuine sorrow.
- Arodex 6mo agoSorrow for your human brethren isn't a category error or a soundbite. It is basic decency. Or do you care only about your tribe? You can even feel something for animals. But thank you for another confirmation that the prevailing mindset in America today isn't the Western tradition of Humanism, but a regression towards raw egoism and naked psychopathy. Elon "Empathy is a weakness" Musk, Kristi "I shot my misbehaving puppy" Noem, Trump...
- threethirtytwo 6mo agoStop posing and pretending you care. You don't have the basic decency to care yourself. Don't go accusing others.