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Comment on A little memorial at the local dump

The man simply didn’t understand the word at all. Empathy is our capacity to understand the minds of others. It does not convey approval or agreement, simply understanding. Psychopaths have empathy; it’s how they’re good at manipulating others. You have to understand someone to manipulate them effectively. All humans possess some degree of empathy, as do most animals.

There is an affective (emotional) component to empathy that effectively causes your mind to conjure the same emotion you perceive another person (or animal) to be feeling. This is why you cry when watching an emotional scene in films sometimes. Psychopaths do not have this component, which is why they seem emotionally cold to people sometimes. Psychopaths have to fake this in order to blend into society, and they learn to do so over the course of their lives.

Charlie Kirk simply didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about in this instance, and Elon Musk doesn’t either. As someone on the autism spectrum, I’m not surprised Musk has some difficulty with the concept.

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fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
He understood empathy. They all do.

They understand since they were kids, it’s started being taught in schools to have empathy for others not as fortunate as you. They understand young kids strive to get the Empathy award in Kindergarten.

Can’t have “certain” kids (theirs) growing up that way.

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- Tedesche@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Then please explain the quote above.
  
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  - ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I knew one girl with Narcissistic Personality Disorder who realized she didn’t have empathy (her words) and specifically stated that she thought developing it would be detrimental. She thought lacking empathy gave her an advantage, straight up. This is actually common among pathological people like that.
    
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    Tedesche@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Then she too wasn’t using the word correctly. She may have meant the affective portion of it, which she probably didn’t have.
    
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  - fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    IMO he and others like him are attacking the word empathy because they think how it is being taught will make boys act weak, along woth all they believe that leads to.
    
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    Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    they attack empathy because it inevitably leads to people supporting each other and fighting against fascists.
    
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    Tedesche@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    There’s nothing in the context of this quote or Elon Musk’s that suggests they’re talking about empathy being taught in schools and it making boys weak. In both cases it’s more a response to Democrats using the word a lot in their political speech to try to bring coalitions of people together.
    
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  - prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Sociopathy?
    
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    kieron115@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    That term isn’t really used anymore due to the stigma attached to it. Anti-social personality disorder is the term. It’s also clinically different from NPD.
    
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