People need to understand that there is a difference between empathy and sympathy, and the former does not imply the latter. Empathy simply means understanding where a person is coming from (i.e. their motives), it does not require that you agree with them.
Precisely. Like I realize that people who want my family deported or murdered are fully human and have a similar experience of physical reality as I do, but that understanding their perspective doesn’t mean I agree with them, or lead me to believe I shouldn’t defend myself against their intolerance.
Great idea! Here, I’ll start:
People need to understand that there is a difference between empathy and sympathy, and the former does not imply the latter. Empathy simply means understanding where a person is coming from (i.e. their motives), it does not require that you agree with them.
Precisely. Like I realize that people who want my family deported or murdered are fully human and have a similar experience of physical reality as I do, but that understanding their perspective doesn’t mean I agree with them, or lead me to believe I shouldn’t defend myself against their intolerance.
Understanding that everyone else is also human is really just the ground floor of empathy. You can go so much further than that.
If only more people understood this, the world would already look so much nicer.
I’m not sure it would look nicer, but at least it’d be more honest.