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#Post#: 920--------------------------------------------------
Regarding Emotions
By: Red Date: July 8, 2013, 11:43 am
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I've been wondering recently if empathy actually exists. I feel
that when I'm supposed to empathize with someone, it's like I
have to force the reaction, it's not like I'm suddenly moved to
want to feel sorry for them. A lot of my values revolve around
solving your own problems and fending for yourself, so when
someone comes to me and wants me to, like, pity them or
something, I'm not moved with compassion at all. Back to the
question, does empathy actually exist, or is it just a
pleasantry we're required to share with people because it's just
using good manners?
#Post#: 921--------------------------------------------------
Re: Regarding Emotions
By: A Sexy Tree Date: July 8, 2013, 12:29 pm
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Personally, I'm gonna take this from a biological standpoint.
I am a very empathetic person by nature, which is partly what
drives me to choose the career I'm choosing and do the stuff I
do (volunteer work, GS, ect). But that's just me, and I know
that some people definitely don't connect as well with others.
That being said, I believe that empathy certainly exists in
everyone, though on a multitude of different levels.
I say this because of the biological idea of /altruism/. Yes,
everyone and everything in the animal kingdom should be able to
fend for themselves - that's a basic fact of life. But equally
as important as survival of the fittest is personal interest.
And personal interest, to most animals, dictates that all you
really want in life is to pass on your genes and continue both
your line and your species. But that's nearly impossible to do
on your own. Sooo, mother nature, through evolution, built this
lovely thing into us that makes us inherently want to help those
who would do that, too.
Aka, your parents and siblings are most important to you to
protect after yourself, because they have the most directly
related genes. After that would be grandparents, aunts, and
uncles, and then cousins and the like. And then after that, the
rest of your species, because even if they aren't super
genetically identical, they are your kin.
So yes, I believe that everyone is literally born with the urge
to empathize with people around them and want to help them -
just some people don't have that as strongly, or choose to
ignore it, or don't believe that someone losing their cat counts
as a species threatening problem. Hah.
Tl;dr - Yes, I think empathy exists.
#Post#: 922--------------------------------------------------
Re: Regarding Emotions
By: Red Date: July 8, 2013, 12:49 pm
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Hmm, I guess i never really thought about it like that, thanks
for the perspective! It's amazing how stripping things down to a
survivalist approach can clear a clouded mind.
#Post#: 924--------------------------------------------------
Re: Regarding Emotions
By: MisterCuttlefish Date: July 8, 2013, 1:32 pm
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Well, pitying is one thing and empathizing is another, I think.
Cause pitying is seeing someone who's more downtrodden(or the
like) than you are and then feeling kind of sorry for that
person, empathizing is more like knowing that feel man ahaha
Anyway, I guess I'm just going to say that pitying someone is
hard to do in general because you don't feel that pain or have
moved on past accepting that pain, um, haha
plus sometimes pity isnt something someone wants.. so from
experience we might just not pity because ehehye
#not gonna get fancy #tree said it all #honestly #im just kind
of #throwing an onion on the subject #literal definitions #gomen
#Post#: 928--------------------------------------------------
Re: Regarding Emotions
By: Red Date: July 9, 2013, 11:03 am
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Yeah i got my words mixed up, my bad. I meant sympathy, not
empathy, but none the less, i feel like I feel neither when it
comes to high level social situations.
#Post#: 936--------------------------------------------------
Re: Regarding Emotions
By: MisterCuttlefish Date: July 10, 2013, 11:06 pm
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That's okay, it also depends on the person you're talking to.
Say its your best friend and you've never seen them so upset
about something before, you get to talking to them and you find
out their dog has died. You may not have had a pet die in the
past, but you still want to comfort them so you feel sympathy
(not really pity, pity is a weird word). Now you see someone you
don't care for as much, they may be just someone you've started
to dislike or an old friend or family member you've never really
cared for, their dog has died. You don't care about them, so you
don't really care about their dog either. That's alright, it
happens.
Now, say your best friend's dog died and you don't feel anything
(not sad about it or whatever), it shouldn't really matter if
you couldn't care less, they're your best friend and it would
probably be a good idea to make it seem like you want to comfort
them anyway. It's just a nice thing to do idk
Now, instead of a person, it could be a topic.
Your best friend is mad at their parents because they won't buy
him/her an iPod. That's nice, you don't have an iPod, why should
you care? Trivial, you think.
Your sister's girl/boyfriend just broke up with them. That's
nice, they were kind of a dick anyway.
The people around you might think its a super big deal when it
isn't, that's because they're people and think about who they
are because they also have lives and live and stuff. (shit thats
supposed tobe funny not sarcastic)
sometimes people just like attention, i dont want to say that
its the best idea to give them that attention but who even cares
sometimes its just best to plaster on an empathetic face and nod
a lot
ps when it comes to fake people, be fake with them its what they
want and sometimes its even fun
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