Is it just me, or do a helluva lot of people out there lack sympathy/empathy?

[danmorisson]

You post your problems online and all you get is "quit the self pity" or "quit your bitching" or something along those lines. In no way do I look for sympathy, but still, you notice a distinct lack of posts expressing any sort of sympathy for that person(s)

 

You look up videos of murdered people and if she's attractive (they always are) they always talk about her looks as if to say that they only feel sorry because of her looks

 

What annoys me about this though is that a lack of sympathy/empathy is normally associated with psychopaths http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy

 

And this sort of behaviour is very common on the Internet

Edited November 6, 2011 by danmorisson

[Teknoe]

Couple things

 

1. I think for me it's harder to show consistent empathy online. In real life, I am BEYOND empathetic. Ask any real life friend and they'll tell "That Teknoe fella? Oh yeah, super patient, super encouraging, super nice." Online, it's just a different animal, and because I can't be there face to face to get down to "real business" I sugar coat less online.

 

2. Whatever lack of empathy from me or/and others most likely and most largely stem from the 'fact' that we see the same people whining and complaining, but we don't see those persons making a genuine effort to change/try something different from what they've always done (or NOT done, as the case may be). This is frustrating because we do actually develop some sort of 'care' for you, and we see how your negative thought life is just crippling you.

 

3. Want empathy? Find a real life friend to talk with, or seek a therapist.

Online, people aren't going to beat around the bush and sugar coat things, pat you on the back when it's clear you're going down a destructive path.

[danmorisson]

Exclude this forum. I've been browsing forums for a good few years now and I've never came across any 'genuine' sympathetic/empathetic people thus far. They've all needed some sort of hidden ulterior motive, like that person needs to be attractive or extremely popular or something.

 

Why empathy? A lack of empathy is normally associated with psychopaths. Plus 'hot' looking people receive tonnes of sympathy

Edited November 6, 2011 by danmorisson

[danmorisson]

The point I'm trying to make is yes people do display signs of 'empathy' but they usually need some sort of ulterior motive though. That's sociopathic behaviour because he/she needed an 'ulterior motive'. Just look at most people online and analyze their actions, they always need an ulterior motive, that person either has to be super hot and/or of higher social status to get any sort of empathy.

 

Example, they'll praise this super hot chick online for whatever but you know there's a hidden sexual motive behind their actions, they're only saying this stuff because she's hot.

[danmorisson]

So why should people online modulate their behaviour to suit you?

 

I never said they should modulate their behaviour to suite me. And why should we put serial killers behind bars then? Why should they modulate their behaviour to suit us? Hate in any form is wrong and therefore should never be accepted.