Empathy is no virtue, usually. What we actually need more of is *compassion*. Anytime when the stakes are high: you want a surgeon not to feel your pain (empathy) but to treat you well (compassion). The reason we identify with 1 poverty stricken person but not millions is empathy
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For more on this see, for example https://www.amazon.com/Against-Empathy-Case-Rational-Compassion/dp/0062339338 … by
@paulbloomatyale and various talks he's given (especially to@SamHarrisOrg who has likewise spoken and written about this crucial topic to get clear. :) - 4 more replies
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It's a hard balance between opening yourself to other people's emotions and being flooded and overwhelmed by them to a point where you're unable to take any action. Pema Chodron would call it "idiot compassion". Here's my recent post about this: https://madeincosmos.net/no-one-really-means-to-be-mean/ …
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Was gonna say this - it’s possible to be too sensitive to function, overwhelmed by the cruelty and chaos into helplessness. Have a couple of friends like this. I wonder if it’s something that catalyzes the suicides of good people
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