aberrant85
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Liberals are stereotypically "bleeding-heart" compared to conservatives, but the more I think about it the more it seems to me that there is simply an empathy gap between Dems and Repubs:
Health Care: Democrats passed Obamacare to address the millions of uninsured people across the country. Republican opposition never addresses those people and instead is framed as how it will effect those that have health insurance.
Gay Marriage: Biden, Obama, and other prominent Democratic figures have voiced their support for marriage equality. Republicans are almost lockstep against it. The only exceptions are usually Republicans like Dick Cheney and Rob Portman who have gay children. Of course that's not the same as empathy, that is rational self-interest that makes them pro-gay marriage.
There are other examples.
Is there a real difference between Democrats and Republicans in terms of empathy, and is that a good or bad thing?
Not really. A lot of liberals claim to be "bleeding hearts," but they really aren't. They simply direct their empathy towards different targets than Conservatives.
i.e. (And yes, I'm well aware that this is absurdly oversimplified) They've never met an "oppressed" minority they wouldn't go to bat for, but they basically view the unborn and those unable to survive without life support as being worthless parasitic lumps of flesh which can be justifiably eliminated at one's leisure, no matter how frivolous the reason.
The two groups do not noticeably differ in the amount they give to charity either.
Washington Post - Conservatives and Liberals are Equally Charitable but Give to Different Causes
In any case, it would ultimately appear that both sides are "empathetic." They simply differ in the manner in which they direct the impulse.
If you're talking about politicians in Washington, there's no room for empathy. If you're talking about your average person and their leanings I would say they have equal empathy and apathy. The difference is how they go about it.Liberals are stereotypically "bleeding-heart" compared to conservatives, but the more I think about it the more it seems to me that there is simply an empathy gap between Dems and Repubs:
Health Care: Democrats passed Obamacare to address the millions of uninsured people across the country. Republican opposition never addresses those people and instead is framed as how it will effect those that have health insurance.
Gay Marriage: Biden, Obama, and other prominent Democratic figures have voiced their support for marriage equality. Republicans are almost lockstep against it. The only exceptions are usually Republicans like Dick Cheney and Rob Portman who have gay children. Of course that's not the same as empathy, that is rational self-interest that makes them pro-gay marriage.
There are other examples.
Is there a real difference between Democrats and Republicans in terms of empathy, and is that a good or bad thing?
Liberals are stereotypically "bleeding-heart" compared to conservatives, but the more I think about it the more it seems to me that there is simply an empathy gap between Dems and Repubs:
Health Care: Democrats passed Obamacare to address the millions of uninsured people across the country. Republican opposition never addresses those people and instead is framed as how it will effect those that have health insurance.
Gay Marriage: Biden, Obama, and other prominent Democratic figures have voiced their support for marriage equality. Republicans are almost lockstep against it. The only exceptions are usually Republicans like Dick Cheney and Rob Portman who have gay children. Of course that's not the same as empathy, that is rational self-interest that makes them pro-gay marriage.
There are other examples.
Is there a real difference between Democrats and Republicans in terms of empathy, and is that a good or bad thing?
Liberals are stereotypically "bleeding-heart" compared to conservatives, but the more I think about it the more it seems to me that there is simply an empathy gap between Dems and Repubs:
Health Care: Democrats passed Obamacare to address the millions of uninsured people across the country. Republican opposition never addresses those people and instead is framed as how it will effect those that have health insurance.
Gay Marriage: Biden, Obama, and other prominent Democratic figures have voiced their support for marriage equality. Republicans are almost lockstep against it. The only exceptions are usually Republicans like Dick Cheney and Rob Portman who have gay children. Of course that's not the same as empathy, that is rational self-interest that makes them pro-gay marriage.
There are other examples.
Is there a real difference between Democrats and Republicans in terms of empathy, and is that a good or bad thing?
Liberals show tremendous compassion in pushing for generous government spending to help the neediest people at home and abroad. Yet when it comes to individual contributions to charitable causes, liberals are cheapskates.
feeding, clothing, and giving shelter to the poor domestic and abroad is an ideology of all Christian and Jewish faithsInteresting article. It didn't offer many specifics, so its hard to say for sure, but I think this still says something about empathy. If conservatives donate more to religious charities, then presumably they give to the church of which they belong, which while still generous, probably goes towards indirectly supporting causes tied to their own religious and moral ideology.
The pejoritive term "bleeding heart" applies to those who have a tendency to disingenuously use a fallacious appeal to emotion in lieu of sound logical reasoning to support their arguments. It has nothing to do with empathy.Liberals are stereotypically "bleeding-heart" compared to conservatives, but the more I think about it the more it seems to me that there is simply an empathy gap between Dems and Repubs:
I think you might want to read this op-ed it will enlighten you. you probably wont like what you will be enlightened to
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/opinion/21kristof.html?source=science20.com&_r=0
I just love crushing a liberals belief system
You've got a 5 year old opinion article that says one thing, and there's the Washington post article above with numbers saying something else.
In either case, sympathy is not the same as empathy. Sympathy is one-sided. You feel sorry for the man on the street. You project your emotion onto them. You are judging their situation. You can still do good things out of sympathy, but the connection is very one directional.
Empathy requires you to put yourself in the person's POV. You do not have to feel sorry for a gay couple to ask yourself how you would feel in their situation if you were not allowed to marry the person you love. From their POV you can make conclusions you might not have on your own.
There is a cognitive leap between the two. With empathy you are able to recognize diverse viewpoints in order to question your positions and to foster negotiation and compromise.
In short, you sympathize for someone, you empathize with someone.
You've got a 5 year old opinion article that says one thing, and there's the Washington post article above with numbers saying something else.
In either case, sympathy is not the same as empathy. Sympathy is one-sided. You feel sorry for the man on the street. You project your emotion onto them. You are judging their situation. You can still do good things out of sympathy, but the connection is very one directional.
Empathy requires you to put yourself in the person's POV. You do not have to feel sorry for a gay couple to ask yourself how you would feel in their situation if you were not allowed to marry the person you love. From their POV you can make conclusions you might not have on your own.
There is a cognitive leap between the two. With empathy you are able to recognize diverse viewpoints in order to question your positions and to foster negotiation and compromise.
In short, you sympathize for someone, you empathize with someone.
what difference does it make if it empathy or sympathy if your goal is to help and that is what you do and the end result is the same it doesn't matter now does it
it doesn't matter where you been unless your looking for an excuse what matters is where you are going
also sympathy and empathy is a two way street how does the poor know how some one rich feels if that pool person has never been rich or how does a black man know what a write man feels or thinks because he never was write. how does a gay man know what a straight man is like if he never was straight so you cant use that as a one sided excuse like your implying
see you want to use empathy so to cause others to bend to your ideology but wont do the same in return so to come to a compromise
I would like for you to step out of your shoes and do a little POV as you call it. I want you to show some empathy for this scenario
You have this business owner that stays up late at night worrying if he made the right decision on some new contract knowing his and his employee future depends on that decision to be the correct one.
lets say after he makes his car payment on two cars, his house payment, braces on his kids teeth, putting money away for the kids college fund and retirement not relying on the government for any of it and pays close to 50% of his income in taxes. is in line at the grocery store with a basket full of hamburger and not the steaks he wanted so not to dip into the kids college fond and the person in front of him has the basket full of steaks and whips out a snap card to pay for it. why don't you show A little empathy in that situation
republicans do show empathy but they show it to every one not just to the ones you want to label as oppressed
If the end result were truly the same then it wouldn't matter if it were sympathy/empathy, but the end results between Repubs and Dems are different.
The whole point of empathy is that you can't literally know how a person feels but that you use logic and imagination to try to.
Listen, if you were that person and you practiced empathy, you might realize that a poor person who had no cars, no house, no health care, no education for their kids, and no savings would love to be in your position. That's how empathy works: you get to see their side of the picture and you get perspective about your own side.
The argument that people are living rich off of food stamps because of this straw man that buys lobster/steak/caviar in front of the struggling middle class man is a convenient way of avoiding empathy. Have people abused the system? Of course, any system has abuse. Your reasoning is that because some people abuse it, nobody deserves that program. You have displayed the lack of empathy towards the truly needy that I am trying to illustrate.
see you want to use empathy so to cause others to bend to your ideology but wont do the same in return so to come to a compromise
Yes to compromise! But compromise between someone with power and someone without power means giving more power to the latter. Otherwise it is simply widening the power gap.
the middle class man that pays 50% of his income so the ones on snap can go buy steak and lobster if they so do choose doesn't have any more power then the poor he only has one vote just like the poor
he actually has less power caused by the decades of being brow beaten being called a racist, not caring, and greedy if he ever speaks up about any injustice has silenced him
1. 50% of income goes to the poor? You have no idea how little of your taxes go to programs for the poor and how much goes to stuff like the defense budget.
2. You think the poor are responsible for the middle class struggling? You have totally misdirected your rage. It's millionaires and billionaires with business interests at stake that have f***ed over the middle class and created more poor.
3. On second thought, empathy is not enough. Empathy and enough objective common sense to be able to tell who has more power is what matters.
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