Comment on The only difference between a monster and a decent human being is the privilege of a support network.

• Anuttara@leminal.space ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  omg thank u!!!

  i was bullied for being “evil witch” when i was in school cuz i was autist and there was the meme that autists “can’t feel empathy”. i was like… watching cartoons and saw the “bad guys” and i thought i wasn’t like them… but then at school they told me i was?? it was awful

  thank u for saying this

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  • SenK@lemmy.ca ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Yeah I have read on empathy and mental health issues. Good vs. Evil aside, it’s a terrible and ableist lens to view people through. Sorry you had to go through that.

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• Protoknuckles@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  They may experience it differently, but if they can act on it, they will be good people. Without being able to act on empathy, no matter how you perceive it, you cannot be good, and refusing to act with empathy towards people and other lives on earth is bad.

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  • SenK@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    So if someone literally cannot “act” in some way, you get to decide if they are good or evil?

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    • ageedizzle@piefed.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      How else can you judge someone’s character if not by their actions?

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      • SenK@lemmy.ca ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        How about not judging? How about just asking if they cause harm or not, and how to prevent that harm.

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    • Protoknuckles@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      🤷‍♂️ Yeah, kinda. What metric are you using?

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      • SenK@lemmy.ca ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        First I can look at my own values and discover that I happen to value human well-being. I like it when people are happy, healthy and free of suffering. It doesn’t make me a “virtuous” person, I’m a human too so I could be purely guided by self-interest.

        Then I can look at science and reason and conclude that by those things, I can generally figure out what kind of things impact human well-being and how.

        Then I can look at someone’s behavior and conclude that it’s either beneficial or detrimental to human well-being.

        Then I can look at science and reason again to find out how to address that behavior in order to reduce (or even entirely prevent) harm.

        I don’t need a moral framework for any of that, and I certainly don’t need to judge people as essentially “good” or “evil”.

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