Why aren't we more empathetic towards each other?

Question

There is some serious woman on man, man on woman, woman on woman and man on man hate in this world and this board in particular.

I know we all get b*tchy at each other sometimes when someone says something particularly stupid but seriously we each have important jobs to do.

No two people, no matter which s*x, are exactly alike. Each person has their own job, their own function, their own place in life but we are all of equal worth. Because we are of equal worth we should be given equal opportunity, equal chance to pursue our dreams in life no matter if you're a man who wishes to stay at home and care for your kids or a woman who wants to run a multi-billion dollar company.

Like all sentinent beings we have the unyielding desire to pusue happiness and overcome suffering. We have the right to fulfill this aspiration.

Answer 1

I am so sorry your rant is the result that you cannot see your feet anymore. :)

I did well in sales because I was told I am empathetic, but I really hate people and hate listening to them. So to me being empathetic has a different meaning to me.

Answer 2

I dont believe in mind reading.

Answer 3

Im actually very much an empath...

i just dont always use it coz sometimes i may be preoccupied with my own issues..but when i do realize how someone else feels..

its really intense... like if they are really hurting about something...i feel really really sad...like so sad it almost kind of physically hurts ...like in my chest..where my heart is..

wierd huh?

Answer 4

That was very well put, Sham.  Have a star, you and the Dalai Lhama deserve it.  :)

(I STILL can't call you Shamu.  Sham is as close as I can get, lol)

Edit: Ok, that's fair, Chris.  :)

Answer 5

Shuma your so sweet...prego hormones must be getting to ya ; )

thought gsw was for war...and the chat was for empathy and connection.

Answer 6

Some people are more empathetic than others. And some have found that to be empathetic can lead to being hurt. Others believe that being empathetic is a sign of weakness.

And there are people who simply do not have the capacity to be empathetic because they are damaged or overly self focussed.

People have different reasons for pulling up the defences and hiding their gentler selves from the world.

Cheers :-)

Answer 7

I think that in part, you are extending your own view on life to all people. Not everyone aspires for happiness, some people aspire for wealth, fame or health. Some people simply aspire not to be unhappy, which is different than aspiring for happiness.

Not everyone thinks people have a purpose in life. I for example think that every individual alive today is here due to a complex and seemingly infinite chain of events that happened by chance, and therefor, there is no purpose or job to carry out. That idea is backed up by the fact that we can make choices for ourselves; our path is not laid out before us.

Equal opportunities would be great, but it can't be a reality. Even 'equal opportunities employers' can't help but exclude people who are too similar to a companies current staff. It is more 'dog eat dog' than 'live happily ever after'.

Almost all people are arguablly egocentric; they only care about and view the world through their own eyes. That is why we aren't empathetic with each other. If a person in Singapore gets beaten up tonight I wouldn't care, not because i'm a bad un-empathetic person, but because I live in a fishing village in England. I'd rather people didn't fight but it is beyond my control and I don't have the time or enough oportunity to do anything about it and as a result, I do not care. To truly 'care' is to take action to resolve or to feel strong emotions, if you can not carry out that action or you don't feel particularly strong emotions then you can not 'care'.

Answer 8

Actually, I don't think the concept of empathy has been introduced on this forum yet. You're performing a public service.

Answer 9

Some people on here are just ignorant and close minded.  I can't believe the immaturity sometimes.  It's pretty pathetic.

Cheers to you, I love that question!

Answer 10

Fear?  Maybe failure to accept responsibility for our actions.  We want to project our fears and failures onto other people so that we don't have to look in the mirror.  We do need to get away from categorizing people and using identifiers like "stay-at-home-mom."  There are plenty of fathers out there staying at home too.  I think there is an assumption that somehow women are born to be mommies when that really isn't the case.  I like the phase "full-time parent" but that does I guess sound insulting to parents who work outside the home.  I think that the simplest things like that can infuriate people and they just don't want to try to understand that we are all different but most of us are trying to do the best that we can.

Answer 11

you mean they were really serious about all these hate issues?

i thought we were all just having fun..