Poll: Do you feel empathy for people you do not know?
- Thread starter Riding on Thermals
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Well the human mind is unequipped to imagine, remember and care for more than a hunderd persons, so it can be a 'that's so sad'-reaction, but it will never be genuine empathy for EVERYONE. Indifference is just being a dick though.
Captcha: for Sihav
Well alright then. FOR SIHAAAAVVVV!
Captcha: for Sihav
Well alright then. FOR SIHAAAAVVVV!
It depends. In order to feel empathy for someone, I have to understand the situation they're in, who they are as a person, and of course, find their perspective agreeable. I'll always try to understand the situation, though.
Depends what happens to them. Things like death don't usually bother me at all, it's sad but it happens all the time.
I do feel empathy for people I feel have been treated incredibly unfairly, such as innocent people being put in prison, or anything that involves someone's life gets completely fucked over for no good reason.
I do feel empathy for people I feel have been treated incredibly unfairly, such as innocent people being put in prison, or anything that involves someone's life gets completely fucked over for no good reason.
Nope. If I don't know them I don't give a shit. I don't like it when people die, but I didn't exactly weep during 9/11.
I don't particularly care about people dieing, I will laugh though if they died from some stupid reason.
I do feel a little bad for people, but not bad enough to what I would call literal empathy. I think true empathy can only branch off from being close enough to a person to at least know their real life circumstances. This of course is only an opinion and about how empathy works within myself as a person, not something that can be proven.
I try to be empathetic, I just don't know well I succeed. As someone who fears dying, I don't wish death easily upon others. All human life should be sacred, and to me the killing of another person has to be strongly justified.
Sometimes I can feel empathy for people that many others would not. For example, I watched a video of two Libyan policemen being hanged by protesters, and the comments on the video were vile, disgusting, and full of bloodlust. We don't know their story. People's number one driving factor is self-preservation, and faced with the very real threat of summary execution by their comrades, maybe these police officers reacted out of pure fear and fired on the crowd. Or maybe they enjoyed it. Either way, they should have received a fair trial.
EDIT: After reading some of the other responses to this thread... I have to say I am quite disturbed. But I think that the Escapist tends to draw a certain element that is not indicative of the general population: socially withdrawn nihilists who have been desensitized by the internet and have never experienced or witnessed violence first-hand.
Sometimes I can feel empathy for people that many others would not. For example, I watched a video of two Libyan policemen being hanged by protesters, and the comments on the video were vile, disgusting, and full of bloodlust. We don't know their story. People's number one driving factor is self-preservation, and faced with the very real threat of summary execution by their comrades, maybe these police officers reacted out of pure fear and fired on the crowd. Or maybe they enjoyed it. Either way, they should have received a fair trial.
EDIT: After reading some of the other responses to this thread... I have to say I am quite disturbed. But I think that the Escapist tends to draw a certain element that is not indicative of the general population: socially withdrawn nihilists who have been desensitized by the internet and have never experienced or witnessed violence first-hand.
Yeah, I am very empathetic; especially to the suffering of people in poor countries since I am from a 3rd world country.
No. I'm generally not an empathic person, even with some people that I know.
Part of it may be intellectual, or it may not. I just go on with my life. Maybe I read too much Emile Cioran as a kid, but people dying doesn't seem tragic.
I'd rather feel sympathy for someone crippled in an accident or the ones who mourn. I rarely pay more than a second thought, though.
Part of it may be intellectual, or it may not. I just go on with my life. Maybe I read too much Emile Cioran as a kid, but people dying doesn't seem tragic.
I'd rather feel sympathy for someone crippled in an accident or the ones who mourn. I rarely pay more than a second thought, though.
I do, very strongly. I cannot bear to see another human being in any sort of pain or serious distress. It either makes me sick or makes me want to cry. I would say I'm empathetic to a fault.
I voted yes, but I don't think you're a monster if you don't.
I'm told I can be overly empathic. (Not boasting) It's actually detrimental to my mental health. I worry too much about others, and let myself get taken advantage of.
I think you need to find a "balance in the Force," so to speak.
I'm told I can be overly empathic. (Not boasting) It's actually detrimental to my mental health. I worry too much about others, and let myself get taken advantage of.
I think you need to find a "balance in the Force," so to speak.
Of course I do! I'm proud to have feelings.
Its part of the really depressing reason I wear all black almost everyday, because someone, somewhere, will die and this happens everyday
Its part of the really depressing reason I wear all black almost everyday, because someone, somewhere, will die and this happens everyday