That’s exactly why a return to status quo is no resolution. Every loophole, every cash pipeline, every representative that failed their constitutional duty must be closed, sealed off, and banished in primaries.
Ash, these are different evolved traits, one type of person sees community as the best survival option and hence empathy is a parmount evolved trait, but another see self interest and exploitation as the best survival strategy. The empathetic people cannot allow those lacking empathy to take over
For if they do, and when they have, you wind up with some form of despotism, Fascism, Authortarianism, and none of these systems favor people with empathy. You cannot teach them to be empathetic, but we can make it illegal to act without empathy.
It's the fundamental flaw in western philosophy, to be concerned only with yourself. Our entire society and economy in western cultures is based on self. Capitalism is the philosophy of economic greed, and is encouraged. That needs to be broken.
The further the hard-right leans onto religious "ideals", the further they taint it for their own use. It's ironic that Trump has so many qualities considered deplorable by many bible verses yet he is still cherished for this blaspheming.
I'm not religious, but I can see this despicable behavior.
I believe being cruel gives them pleasure. To be as hateful as the orange rat face, muskrat, Noem and the rest, you have to be seriously damaged inside to enjoy inflicting pain on others. The thought of the young gay man taken to El Salvador because of his tattoos and crying for his mom haunts me.
The ‘survival of the fittest’ crowd really forget that our ‘fittest’ traits are our empathic and social abilities. Taking care of eachother, connection and community are what made us thrive.
It's both. There are two qualities that define MAGAs. Cruelty AND selfishness. They relish in deportations, threats to foreign countries and bombing of innocent civilians. But they hate when their own lifestyle is threatened by government job cuts, ending Medicare/caid and social security 1/
So this should inform the attack profile for Dems. Focus on the issues that impact MAGAs selfishness and dial down the issues that excite their cruelty. Doesn't mean those issues aren't important but they aren't winning arguments
I was just rereading this article a few days ago. It reminded me so much of the very aggravating conversations I've had with family friends that are unfortunately, right wingers.
Tabloid journalism & social media has created a society of rubberneckers who eagerly flock to watch the latest crime/disaster. The mentality of "better you than me" was fostered by lawmakers' "thoughts & prayers" response. When people believe they're on their own it becomes every man for themself.
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness"
The cruelty, in the end, really is the point for most of MAGA (voters and regime members). That is their self-interest — the superiority and smug satisfaction they feel, knowing they are making others live in fear.
Republicans are under the spell of a PROFESSED PREDATOR incapable of empathy (without a capacity for shame, an even less regard for godliness.) He’s the cold GOP standard bearer for Republicans.
Evil is the new norm.
Better angels must keep speaking out. There’s more good in us than doom in them.
Exactly. They only ever care about something when it benefits them personally. Once one of them need a ‘handout’ suddenly it’s ok and they aren’t like the lazy entitled fraudsters. 🙄
I ask myself every day how to get people to start caring about their victims. It is truly a great difficulty to try and make people have empathy for those they exploit or harm. All people have as a justification is weak reasoning; some benefit they derive which they need not.
At the top, they're the same thing. The sociopathy enables someone unleashing their 'me first' desires. The chronic emptiness makes enjoying others' pain and distress enjoyable. Different manifestations of selfishness
Their dysfunctional cult leader, and his alter ego Elon, are both depraved, damaged men - toxic narcissists greedy for power, money, & attention. They lack a functioning conscience, and are too damaged to care about the harm they do or the people they hurt, including babies & children.
I hate to tell you this, but it very much is the point. The sooner people accept that and start fighting back, the better chance of you or someone you know not being shipped off to a foreign prison.
I get the most frustrated with people who call themselves Christians who want all the awful things that we're going through. It is SO hypocritical. And they can't even see that.
We haven't even crossed the "first do no harm" ethical boundary. Where we're at now is "I don't how to explain to you it's wrong to bomb people's homes". People are deluded into believing they owe nothing not even sympathy to victims of war crimes that are perpetrated by their govt with their tax $
Individualist ideology can only be sustained by disregard of ethics and any system of justice other than might=right, and/or ignorance of history, economics, and sociology. Though that said, even in a perfectly systemically just and equal world, it would still be crucial to care about other people
'Conservatives' suffer from something the rest of us don't; they have NO imagination. They can't imagine anything. It's why they have no art, no music, nothing.
To have empathy, you have to imagine being in someone else's place.
Conservatives are, simply put, lesser beings than the rest of us.
I'm starting with the idea that if everyone is happy, safe, secure, and wealthy then all businesses will have more customers. If no one has to worry about housing, food, or medicine, then more businesses can exist (and more products/services as well).
These white folks on the hill; are just crazy as hell. Even, the white folks watching this know is crazy. So, it's not a race thing; but a right thing. IMPEACH - this whole administration, before things can't be undone 🤡🙏.
People don't need
fables to have morals
hell to fear death
to buy forgiveness with $
Schools should teach children about
learning
reading
writing
math
history
life
health
balance
planning
goals
science
reality
responsibility
commitment
budgeting
honor
truth
Agree. This are not about "political" policies anymore, this is about abusing authority to hurt fellow humans. This is about ethics and morals and why each of us believe we are here. Are we here to help each other or to fuck up other people's lives.
Exactly! And the obscenely rich want even more money so they don't have to care about anyone but themselves. They don't need any explanations, just more wealth.
Exactly. These are not policy differences. These are differences of humanity versus inhumanity. People say dont judge me for how o voted. My response is, how can I NOT? #maga #resist
Cruelty is absolutely the point for these people. Cruelty is a flex and a display of strength and power by those who harbor incorrect, chauvinistic ideas of what "power" is.
The Republicans are the institutional form taken by sociopathy. Trump and MAGA are that institutional sociopathy allied to hatred and cruelty. They are the opposite of Christian and Jesus would not recognize them as followers of his.
It's not just that they don't care about others; it's that they want to see the "other' in pain. They derive pleasure from it. Let this fact sink in and then double down on caring for others. They're counting on us to become exhausted and start sounding and behaving like they do. Disappoint them.
We live in a system that is a zero sum game. Capitalism requires an underclass of subhumans. We can hardly be surprised that some people have decided that winning the game is more important than trying to change the rules to make them fairer. I don't agree with them but I get their fearful reasoning
The Protestants brought the concept of poverty being a sin that you bring upon yourself
and the concept of the worthy poor
The Catholics policy was for those who have been blessed should hop those who have not (in theory of course)
But this idea of god condemning the sinful to poverty is big
If you have to explain to someone why they should care for others then I’d seriously consider crossing them off my list of family, friends, acquaintances, etc. They’re clearly hopeless…and useless
Yes, it's called otherizing. It's how humanity allows the holocaust of some trillions of sentient beings every year for taste pleasure. Every form of exploitation comes from otherizing.
"They're a different gender"
"They're a different race"
"They're a different species"
Many cruel and hateful and bigoted people feel empowered by the actions of the hard-right, this is why they are suddenly so wildly inappropriate and vitriolic and also, successful.
Compassion was never the goal, rolling in their own filth and saying "you can, too!" has always been.
It is a sad, sad, sad time when you bump into a conversation involving the INS and the justification of the acceptance of tattoos as showing proof for deportation. When you point the lack of justice and human right violations, it doesn’t seem to ring.
Where are our American principles?
Also, normal people just have a hard time grasping that people with psychological disorders- Musk and Trump - actually lack the capacity to understand or care about -or even consider, for that matter - other people’s needs and concerns.
We all are morbidly familiar with this exact brand of fear, please be careful not to accelerate that with even tiny amounts of doomerism.
Do not be fooled by how little you may see of protests and resistance. More of it is at work than it may seem. We cannot let this fear simmer into inaction.
I keep saying that this is about love and empathy. People who can’t get there are too scared, or too scarred. They operate out of fear and that if they treat people with kindness it won’t be returned. They are afraid they’ll get what they’ve given all along.
The irony of course is that these same people don't see cruelty as a two way street. They have the *privilege* of cruelty (because they're "special") while the rest of us are coerced to be "emotional bellhops" forced to carry all of their *baggage* for them.
I struggle with this given my being trans andhaving in-laws all aboard the Trump train. Of course, to them I’m “one of the good ones.” My MIL is afraid of trans people in bathrooms except me. Like, how does that compute?
I’ve tried over the years, but gave up, I can’t overcome the lack of empathy.
Absolutely agree. I say this as an introverted, essentially shut in. Any time someone in my community or neighbourhood needs help though? I help. Because it’s the right thing to do if we want to live in a civilised society. I’m also child free by choice and don’t mind that my taxes support families
I’m not American but it always struck me just how much people really hate anything that resembles ‘handouts’. I say that because that’s the perception. When really it’s about treating humans with dignity. It’s not a handout. We owe it to each other to take care of one another.
Comes down to literal genetic structural differences in the brain between Republicans and Liberals as it pertains to Empathy Quotient (EQ) (representing empathy intelligence - cognitive based (perspective taking intelligence) and emotional intelligence.
You learned that being like that wasn’t stainable for a happy healthy life. You basically woke up!! Became self aware and saw where you were in the big picture.
Not entirely deterministic*. It's possible to have external factors (conditioning, learning, training) influence transition and alignment from 1 ideology to another - if you're biologically prone to high or low EQ - expect cognitive dissonance (strain) in a transition (if applicable).
Absolutely great point. Hard to compromise with a group that thinks you exist to serve them. And your existence should be on a subsistence level. While they live in opulence.
Caring for others and avoiding cruelty is the survival basis of human existence. You don’t need religion to be kind or care, it’s simple basic human nature if you allow it to be.
Exactly!
To me all this Hate isn't at the Party, although they Earned it.
It is about what people are doing to other people in the name of turning the Gov into an Efficient Business model - which it cannot be, and Function as a Gov - Literally killing people to do it! The Sociopaths/Psychopaths.
Trump already took the US to shit hole country status that is pretty much attempting to resemble third world countries in less than three months. We are no longer first world. If he is not stopped, we will be third for a while. Just as corrupt.
We see this from Canada and the wiser among us realize we are only a few short months or years ahead of this spiral. It's terrifying to see. All the power in the world to help others just instead putting them through the wringer. It's absolutely heinous.
This, friends, is evil.
Largely, yeah. I mean, looking at Russia, a country that US had a NOTORIOUSLY UNFRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP WITH, but saw things that they could benefit from by helping.
There are no "bad" countries, only bad figures, bad government, bad interference, bad actors, bad policy.
Hence why the USA and Canada erase or ignore a lot of the devastating tragedies we've invoked on people, and why the USA is going HARD on attacking DEI and banning books.
Yep, an excellent wat h.
It is as it was in 1930's Germany. Finding a group within your country to blame and hate, and widening that margin to fracture and terrorize your people.
Trump getting elected first time was concerning. Him getting re-elected, triply so. "Oh no. Now they 'deserve' power".
Indeed. But living in NA, they're the only countries I can really speak to - I wish I were in Europe now, apart from the dawning realization of what's happening again across the ocean.
Countries with strong social programs have long placed top of the list of Best places to live in the world year after year. those that don't aren't even in the top 10.
You can't make people believe truth. When you boil it down, you don't necessarily have to care about other people, but supporting a system that targets certain people for oppression, means you'll eventually be in one of the oppressed groups. Caring for others is self preservation.
I don’t know how to explain to you that the individual financial mismanagement or problems of someone 4000 miles away is neither my nor the governments responsibility to ameliorate
I've been in that conversation more time than I can count and every time, I'm just stunned. I don't know how to proceed with people that think it's ok to not care about anyone but themselves
It's easy to understand when you realize that the #1, #2, and #3 priorities are "owning the libs". As long as we get angry (or "cry", in their words), they have won.
What's Evil? What's Christianity? Did God send Trump and Musk to save this world? Does Christianity reward those who treat poor people with cruelty?? Do I read this wrong? Love your neighbor as yourself.Love your enemies. Do to others as you would have them do to you! Am I a Christian or am I a fool
If you have to EXPLAIN that someone should CARE about other people they’re obviously morally bankrupt, and most likely you won’t get through to them. In rare cases you may be able to REACH younger people under 30. Once people become entrenched in their ways it’s more difficult for them to change. ☮️
People are animals at heart. Working together to survive makes sense. We’ve surrendered to a small group of mentally aberrant individuals born without an ability to feel emotions like empathy. Obviously not working well in public service roles. Incapable of serving anyone’s interest but self.
I will never go out of my way to be cruel to another human. However, I am not anywhere near ready to make nice nor help anyone who voted to destroy all of our lives to "own" the opposite political party. I hate it, but my empathy was slaughtered on November 5th.
The cruelty gets votes. A certain subset of ppl even today would attend gladiator matches if they existed. The sad fact is, a large % of humans are not very humane.
The truly deeply EVIL creature margret thatcher proudly proclaimed there is no society only the individual. This is the cancer these creatures believe.
Comments
Morality is made up of three pillars: judgment, consequence, and empathy. If people aren't balanced in each one, they're easier to corrupt.
In Christian terms, that's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit... but i guess that's too "woke."
I'm not religious, but I can see this despicable behavior.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/i-dont-know-how-to-explain-to-you-that-you-should_b_59519811e4b0f078efd98440
John Kenneth Galbraith
This encapsulates it for me.
This is the core of caring about people too.
and not scrooge 🦋💙🪶
Evil is the new norm.
Better angels must keep speaking out. There’s more good in us than doom in them.
There's a belief that all the extra help someone else gets means there's less for you.
That's why so many people cheer about ripping down the federal government and ending beneficial programs.
They think it'll give THEM more money.
It won't.
Worst kind of people. So selfish.
Watch Fellow Travelers to find out what happens when McCarthyism takes over again...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/30/just-like-mccarthy-trump-spreads-fear-everywhere-before-picking-off-his-targets?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
___________
"Trump won't do a deal unless there's something extra—a kind of moral larceny—in it," one of his rivals once said of him.”
After the Gold Rush
Vanity Fair
1990
https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/1990/9/after-the-gold-rush
And now this.
To have empathy, you have to imagine being in someone else's place.
Conservatives are, simply put, lesser beings than the rest of us.
I'm starting with the idea that if everyone is happy, safe, secure, and wealthy then all businesses will have more customers. If no one has to worry about housing, food, or medicine, then more businesses can exist (and more products/services as well).
fables to have morals
hell to fear death
to buy forgiveness with $
Schools should teach children about
learning
reading
writing
math
history
life
health
balance
planning
goals
science
reality
responsibility
commitment
budgeting
honor
truth
peaceful coexistence
Just sayin'
"Without Due Process by the government for everyone, then what did our grandparents fight for in 1940's?"
“Leadership” is setting an awful tone. It’s up to Americans to course correct.
https://bsky.app/profile/deonandan.bsky.social/post/3llkie3verc2z
and the concept of the worthy poor
The Catholics policy was for those who have been blessed should hop those who have not (in theory of course)
But this idea of god condemning the sinful to poverty is big
If you are on the right wing of politics you care for no one.
If you are on the left wing of politics you care for all.
"They're a different gender"
"They're a different race"
"They're a different species"
Compassion was never the goal, rolling in their own filth and saying "you can, too!" has always been.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-of-destruction
Ghouls get off on the suffering of others.
Where are our American principles?
But- What if Trump STOPS ELECTIONS?
PLEASE, PLEASE find a plan for That Scenario- or WE WILL have Guns in the Streets and it WON'T BE PRETTY!
Do not be fooled by how little you may see of protests and resistance. More of it is at work than it may seem. We cannot let this fear simmer into inaction.
I’ve tried over the years, but gave up, I can’t overcome the lack of empathy.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656612001158
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19379034/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43783740
https://gspp.berkeley.edu/assets/uploads/research/pdf/jost.glaser.political-conservatism-as-motivated-social-cog.pdf
To me all this Hate isn't at the Party, although they Earned it.
It is about what people are doing to other people in the name of turning the Gov into an Efficient Business model - which it cannot be, and Function as a Gov - Literally killing people to do it! The Sociopaths/Psychopaths.
This, friends, is evil.
There are no "bad" countries, only bad figures, bad government, bad interference, bad actors, bad policy.
It is as it was in 1930's Germany. Finding a group within your country to blame and hate, and widening that margin to fracture and terrorize your people.
Trump getting elected first time was concerning. Him getting re-elected, triply so. "Oh no. Now they 'deserve' power".
I see a tainting of the waters here in Canada too, we're slipping right on the same slope as the US.
Don’t believe the negative hype - good movie good theme kindness wins
https://bsky.app/profile/taffymarlington.bsky.social/post/3llkbuzbz7k2n
GUARD YOUR EARS
#whenisthegeneralstrike
But how to close the divide?
The bitter fruit of "It's the economy, stupid."
I think those that care need to help. There are more of us than the ones who hate others.