Like the poor lack empathy and then as you go up the bell curve empathy rises, maxing out at middle class, and then again falling as you start hitting being rich?

  • yesman@lemmy.world
    3·
    16 hours ago

    It’s really hard to hurt another person when you feel their pain.

    Consider the sadist. How can you enjoy someone’s suffering if you can’t recognize it?

    The most wicked people are advanced empaths.

    • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
      2·
      15 hours ago

      I’m on the fence here. I won’t rule out your claim, as sadism could be a perversion of empathy.

      But, I think they recognize and enjoy the suffering BECAUSE they lack empathy, and it’s the feeling of power over another that drives them.

      The human mind is a messy place, especially when you start analyzing psychopaths.

    • anonymouse2@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      14 hours ago

      I’m not sure that recognizing someone’s suffering is the same as feeling that suffering. Empathy is feeling another person’s suffering as if it were your own. So, to hurt that person would be to hurt yourself.