Quote:
By Narz, Today 12:28 AM
I can't directly do anything about them I cut myself off from my emotion about them and focus it (my emotion) instead on things I can change in my everyday life. Seems practical.
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Americans are pragmatic, for sure.
Might there be pragmatic repercussions for Americans as we collectively "cut ourselves off from our emotions about the rest of the world," and focus on our little slice of it?
My European friends tell me in no uncertain terms that America is dangerously insular. I tend to believe them.
What I hear you saying is, "Yes, I would have feelings for those people if I
allowed myself to."
So, my question is, from a purely pragmatic viewpoint, is it healthy for Americans to cut off their
natural compassion for the rest of the world, since compassion would be our normal response to taking in their suffering in an engaged way?
Quote:
By Narz
Humans have primarily evolved to care about those within our tribe.
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I submit that our tribe is the human race now. Anything less is suicidal.
Quote:
Bertrand Russell: The Science to Save Us from Science
But all who are not lunatics are agreed about certain things: That it is better to be alive than dead, better to be adequately fed than starved, better to be free than a slave.
Many people desire these things only for themselves and their friends; they are quite content that their enemies should suffer.
These people can be refuted by science: Mankind has become so much one family that we cannot insure our own prosperity except by insuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must resign to seeing others also happy.
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Russell was hardly an impractical, sentimental sop.