• TotallyWorthLife (She/Her)@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The lack of it is not a trend, but a consequence of a deliberate effort to keep it that way.

    I want to believe capacity for empathy and sympathy (both for good and bad) are inherent to us all (with some exceptions), even if clouded or even manipulated by the lack of critical thinking, which I do consider a skill one has to train (and not related to being smart/intelligent or dumb/stupid).

    I believe, if we all had enough critical thinking (I know I don’t fully have it, even if it has gotten better with time), we would have been working together for each other instead of fighting and fucking over each other for the benefit of people in positions of power.

    So, hoping for an “empathy and critical thinking” trend isn’t going to save us the same way hoping for a “cancer suddenly disappears” trend won’t save someone with cancer. It is like this by design, not by coincidence, and we must do a deliberate effort to change it.

    As suggestions I know of or have heard of:

    • Bear in mind others might have gone through shit that made them the way they are right now (different culture, different conditions, trauma, indoctrination, etc.). To realize that no one is inherently evil, but the conditions we are given (our genes + our enviroment) shape us, has helped me stop hating others for their way of being, and instead wonder what led them to be like that. I never became more or less empathethic, I just changed my POV.

    • Read and write more to train the brain to take information, process it, and send it in or out, more effectively. And be more mindful of what you do write. (It also helps train the brain against degenerative diseases. Won’t stop them, but might still slow them).

    • Check facts on more than one source to avoid biases, left-out info, or straight up lies or manipulation. Don’t just read headlines and keep scrolling. Helps get a wider view of the world, know what goes on more precisely, and, like reading, trains the brain. (Also, bear in mind some articles are more about giving opinions or uncomplete information, than stating proven facts)

    • BonsaiBoo@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      The funny part is it would be more profitable than what’s happening now as the ultra wealthy have convinced a majority of voters to keep wages low, keep taxes low for the wealthy, higher for the non wealthy, turn the US into a purely service and gig economy, and so now the economic system is slowing and grinding to a halt as fewer and fewer people can participate in all sectors, from necessities to leisure spending.

      • ThePyroPython@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Exactly, if an economy is an engine then money is the oil; if it pools (by a few people hoarding it) then there’s less flowing through to lubricate the engine turnover and it ceases up.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    “More people should think more critically”

    Monkey’s Paw Curls

    Everyone gets into fights with you because they’re second-guessing every damned little thing

    Nobody gets anything done because they’re overanalyzing

    Nothing actually improves, because nobody’s priors changed and they all come up the same conclusions anyway

    Heuristics exist for a reason. You’re not supposed to be doing deep analysis all the time. It’s exhausting and does not reliably improve your life unless you’re generating real new useful insights.

    If you can’t trust anyone else, you can’t rely on common wisdom or instinct, and you’re constantly in positions to make costly errors because of trick questions, critical thinking isn’t going to save you.

    • Kanda@reddthat.com
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      2 days ago

      They pay for chatbot? The thing everyone is furious to get when they’re trying to reach customer service?

  • AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net
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    2 days ago

    I have never heard a person talk about empathy introspectively. Invariably it has been about how someone else needs to be more empathetic, and almost always, the speaker would hypothetically be the beneficiary of this increased empathy.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I have never heard a person talk about empathy introspectively

      Happens more often than you might think, but rarely in online discourse or Internet blowharding.

  • elbiter@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The current global trend of fascism and cheap individualism is not spontaneous. It has been promoted with billions of dollars.

  • nialv7@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    everyone thinks themselves as empathic and thinking critically, in their own mind, it’s everyone else that is wrong…

    • Rothe@piefed.social
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      2 days ago

      Elon Musk literally said he thinks empathy is a weakness. So no, the greedy ghouls running our modern civilisation don’t think they are empathic, and they have no desire to be. And a lot of poor temporarily-embarrassed billionaires emulates them in that regard.

    • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Critical thinking must include critically questioning one’s own thoughts and behaviors as well. That’s the only way forward.

      Question everything, especially the things you’ve always thought were true. People would be surprised if they realized just how many false ideas and urban legends they’ve been taught by people they thought were credible.

      • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyzBanned
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        2 days ago

        The person who downvoted you clearly doesn’t like to think critically about their own assumptions or be reminded that they should…

    • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyzBanned
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      2 days ago

      No, I guarantee you some people don’t think about those things at all, or are even actively hostile towards them as concepts.

      And then there are people who only focus on one at the expense of the other, under the assumption that they’re mutually exclusive.

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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      2 days ago

      In my mind it’s a very specific set of people who are wrong, and I do not have empathetic thoughts towards them.

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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      2 days ago

      Not really, most people who are lacking Critical Thinking Skills, aren’t aware of Critical Thinking Skills, and if they were aware of them, they’d say that they don’t need those gay-ass liberal Critical Thinking Skills. They prefer to be told what to think.

  • Fat Tony@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Don’t worry guys I’ll comment something relevant as soon as I find out what’s going on in that picture.