Empathy where has it gone

I searched empathy on this site and there where more than 6000 hits so I guess it must exist as a word but how much more than this? I'm by no means a saint, I've done some bad things but I read posts and replies to posts on certain subjects and am bewildered by the callousness of the written word here. Nationalization, rampant spiritualism or political ideals seem to eventually destroy most threads and we're left with slinging mud or comparing sad military facts and figures. The individual is lost. Who's pushing these agendas is it the wash from the media, or something more insidious and direct, probably both. I'm not 'ranting' about ATS but rather every written word that overlooks the individual for the hoard. I would love to see a sci fi doc prescribe a 24 hour course of empathy medication to drop us all in the shoes of the ones who are most unlucky in this world. I live in relative comfort and peace and I feel guilty for this when I read the news but for the sake of my children I hope it never changes. I believe though something has to change, and not just by bombs or guns otherwise eventually the small paradise I have on this world will no longer exist. If we can't give doctors the power to offer universal empathy, then perhaps the next option is to provide those individuals with empathy the personal strength to fight this unbalanced power structure. Surely if everyone who can feel this injustice cemented their wills we couldn't lose.

a reply to: generalspecific

Unfortunately we live in a world where empathy is so often just a false emotion used by many to pretend to themselves and the outside world that they care when in fact it is used to promote the image of the self.

When push comes to shove, you will find out more often than not that the individual has little or no understanding of what they pretend to empathise about and their words and actions are just apeasing knee-jerk reactions to satisfy the ego.

Empathy takes thought. Who TRULY has the time, will and ability to spare such a thing that only comes with age once the innocence of a child like mind has been grown out of. Life's troubles, heartaches and all the crap that many of us go through prevents us from being genuine and therefore the world is filled with fakes. Also, there are many psycopaths out there and empathy is one thing they just cannot do except when it serves their agenda, hence the pretending and apeasing.

Synical perspective from someone who has close family who cannot empathise but I'm just trying to be honest.

ps, empathy is not a biological condition, it is a state of mind leading from emotion so cannot be prescribed like you say (or joke).

It's a dog eat dog world and most of us are wearing milkbone underwear.

It is disconcerting to see that so many lack such an attribute these days. Seriously. It amazes me at times how little other people think of others. As long as they have their own creature comforts, they could not care less what other folks are doing/going through.

If there was one thing I could choose for my child to learn well and practice daily... It would indeed be empathy for those she walks through life with daily.

"Kill 'em all and let God sort them out" seems to be winning the day these days more of than not. It's a bit scary to see that so many folks live in a way that they think nothing can ever knock them out of their ivory towers. It doesn't take much in my experience from one to go from top dog to homeless. People have forgotten that in the last generation or so.

If it's ever to make a comeback in a real way that will make a difference, it will take a cataclysmic event of biblical proportions IMO and even then....

That will bring out the absolute best and the absolute worst in all of humanity.

A house divided can not stand. We see the results of that daily but continue to ignore it.

I try to let my natural neutrality and empathy shine through here on ATS. It's always been very difficult to convey those more subtle emotions over the web without emoticons...

So at least you know that I'm here? :waves: I'm sure there are many more of us who still possess the trait!

It's visible less and less in the real world. It's not unusual for people to bump into me and I apologize and smile and get a glare in return, as though I were to blame. Even some of my friends have burrowed into dark holes of "I hate everything". I do it too.

I've got to hold out hope that human decency and empathy are still real things to people other than myself.

I think the lack of empathy nowadays is due to people living in their own "worlds".

For the most part, it seems that people are glued up on social media or celebrities that they don't really think any other way.

As we rely more and more on technologies, people become less and less in touch with their emotions.

Or so it seems.

It's very hard for sick, emotionally constipated, one dimensional thinkers, to have any emotion other than anger.
In their confused mind they see empathy as a sign of weakness.

They confuse anger with being tough and a hardass; when in reality it just exposes their feeble intellectual condition and when adversity affects them they morph into little scared, pathetic crybabys, playing the victim card.

originally posted by: generalspecific
I searched empathy on this site and there where more than 6000 hits so I guess it must exist as a word but how much more than this? I'm by no means a saint, I've done some bad things but I read posts and replies to posts on certain subjects and am bewildered by the callousness of the written word here. Nationalization, rampant spiritualism or political ideals seem to eventually destroy most threads and we're left with slinging mud or comparing sad military facts and figures.

There are certainly those who don't seem to have the very human ability to understand another's loss by experiencing the feelings of someone else's loss. I know at least one post here telling....not asking, the rest of us why we should not be 'sorry' for all those who died on 9/11 since we didn't know them, by default making anybody who may have genuine feelings about those people more or less hypocrites. I don't know what the game was, maybe someone on a mission to tell us all to move on and forget 9/11.
Whatever, that person carries a large protuberance on the top of the head. Don't listen the cocky Feckdogs.
Empathy is real, not simple sentiment, or just feeling sorry, something much deeper.

"The ability to identify with or understand another's situation or feelings: Empathy is a distinctly human capability."

Hahahahaaa! Please, my sides are gonna split open if you carry on like that any longer... Empathy? A thing of the past, my son. Behold! The wave of the future... It's called "What's in it for me?"

We can only give what we have to those who dont and hope that good is planted. Go out and be the person that you want to see in others. Give them an example of the empathy and compassion that still exists in the world. Maybe some will follow suit, who knows?

People need to know that there is good in the world. They have already grown bitter and have become isolated in defence of themselves. It's understandable in a world its current condition to take such a position against it, but they need real evidence of good. Give something that wont be depleted in you but will multiply. What they need is love and the few who have it are responsible for giving it to others. What else could change the world for the better? What else can you do personally? It's all the hope we really have now that all else has failed - like religion, for example. Religion has become a competition for the title of most righteous and obedient. Even those that teach of love are used as a tool for all things contrary. So we're left with the only good thing there is. If you want to see it in the world it must come from within you in its true form.

Even I need to practice what I preach because the truth of the matter is obvious and doesn't require intellect or religious practice. And forget "ego death"...even that notion is dogmatic and striving to achive such is redundant.

People interact in person less. Empathy happens through things like facial expression, tone of voice, body language, scent.... without those, it is just a voice in our head and imagined personality we create around written words.
You aren't likely to find a lot of empathy on the internet!

a reply to: Bluesma

Of coarse you're right I don't expect to see empathy in it's purest form on an internet site, just a sense that the majority or even a large minority (is there such a thing?) might be trying to feel the world in another persons skin. I guess I didn't mean for the rant to only encompass the internet, my motivation for the thread was a simple interaction which took place on a plane yesterday. A baby was crying whilst we where coming in to land (I'm guessing her ears where adjusting) and a man in front of the mum and the baby turned around after a few minutes and asked quite rudely and agressively, if she could quiet the child.
I asked the man to show a little patience and to turn around as he was making the situation worse. My ears often take a long time to adjust to the pressure difference and it can be quite painful so I new how the baby was feeling.
Of coarse I don't know his situation or what motivated him to turn around and complain with such hostility but it just got me thinking is all.
Then I have a few beers, jump on ATS and a few other sites, read some crap, have a few more beers and next thing you know I've ranted. Thats how I got here its a terrible, terrible thing

a reply to: toxicspikes

Maybe you're right, everything seems to happen through a screen these days or a large proportion anyway. I don't think that's gonna change in a hurry though, not until they jam the computers into our BRAINS!

a reply to: generalspecific

I see...... having taken my babies on planes, I know there is nothing you can do!

I often find myself thinking that our extreme value on individualism can easily cause people to slide into the extreme of egotism, and narcissism. I don't know what country you're from, but in my native US, the concept of collective bonds and recognition of interdependence too often gets labelled as "socialist" or "communist" ideology (the big bad evil ).

Empathy is for the weak and the only Darwinism Americans believe in is social Darwinism

originally posted by: woodwardjnr
Empathy is for the weak and the only Darwinism Americans believe in is social Darwinism

The problem I see in that is that states like childhood (youth), sickness, injury, handicap, old age, maternity, caretakers of those in such states, are all states of weakness, and ALL humans go through.
So without empathy for the weak, you get a degradation of the society as whole (let your children perish, the population extinguishes itself, let the aged perish, you lose valued sources of wisdom and experience, let your caretakers die, you can lose individuals of various value if they get injured or sick temporarily).

The lack of appreciation and value on states of weakness and vulnerability is self destructive in the long run, for both individuals and the society as a whole.

a reply to: woodwardjnr

Empathy is for the wise, no one can be called weak for seeing or feeling what another person does. What a person does with this knowledge determines if they're weak. Darwinism isn't social, you live or die, and eventually die :-) I like what you're saying though an apex predator doesn't fear darwinism but that doesn't just apply to just america, it applies to any first world country where you're biggest concern is the size of your morgtage or your televison not whether you'll be able to feed your family or stop someone from stealing them away