Two common and stupid ideas:
1: empathy is for bleeding-heart liberals who don't get reality
2: the world would improve with more empathy
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There is nothing dysfunctional about feeling empathy (duh). But it breaks down and becomes worse than useless past a few individuals.
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Mmh. People high in empathy can be quite insensitive, which makes sense: they take your suffering personally, so they make it about them.
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I don't know, my experience of "empathic" people tends to be that it's based on commonality in some way. So, you end up with absurdities...
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... like a subset of social justice types demanding empathy, without displaying any understanding of the others position.
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I'd reckon that a notion of basic dignity is a better starting point (a-la Trungpa) but there's a small issue of changing culture to suit.
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I mean I act compassionately but when people take advantage I find it easy to tell them to fuck off. It's harder if your empathy takes over.