10/23/16 note: I only just noticed that I had previously failed to include here the followup that I sent on 3/31/16 to an earlier message of that same day. Both are included in this archive post now. The later of the two is at the top, next. LAS
---sent 3/31/16--------
The best 2 minutes 51 seconds, off the direct topic of politics! Against Empathy, or Empathy is immoral!!!
http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/474588/why-empathy-is-a-bad-thing/
I have been having a rather lengthy dialog by email with a friend of mine, about the above video by Cognitive Psychology Professor Paul Bloom. You might be aware that cognitive psychology is very much included in my fields of formal and extracurricular study. Sent 2/14/14. Sent 10/14/14.
".....Others have posited that taking on the perspectives of others (cognitive empathy) allows these individuals to better empathize with victims without as much discomfort, whereas sharing the emotions of the victims (emotional empathy) can cause emotional distress, helplessness, victim-blaming, and ultimately to avoidance rather than helping......" [emphasis added-LS]. From sent 12/16/2014.
Either way, what I said to that friend just now is totally relevant to what Glenn Greenwald had to say in the Democracy Now! section linked below.
Glenn Greenwald is amazing and right on as always. Some American politicians, including Senator Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz, Donald Trump, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are overreacting and doing and proposing things that are and would be severely detrimental to our lives. It is as if we were to look at the number of automobile accidents and decide that speed limits should be lowered even more. We risk having some suicide bombings as the price of freedom, our privacy, just as we risk some automobile accidents as the price of automobile travel. They are calculated risks.
"Glenn Greenwald: Cruz, Trump, Clinton "Playing into the Hands" of ISIL After Brussels Bombings," Democracy Now, March 24, 2016 (16 min)
Related:
sent 3/24/16 The scariest thing about Brussels is [some people's] reaction to it
sent 3/21/16 1min50sec YouTube-Tulsi Gabbard; "War, Peace, and Bernie Sanders," by Robert Koehler
sent 3/20/16 (4 related biggies) BDS; "Sanders Stands Alone as Only Candidate Skipping [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference]"
sent 3/15/16 "We" did this: "Voices from Syria: 'This camp is a paradise compared to life back home'"
Let us in America not give up either our automobile travel or our freedom to take on as our primary role in life the effort to expand Israel's borders to the size of the Promised Land in Bible times, to include Jordan, Syria, part of Iraq, part of Egypt, and part of Saudi Arabia. http://www.christianzionism.org/biblesays/sizer04.pdf Really! Let's not! But I believe that that is in the background a lot in the actions of our federal government, including but not limited to the U.S. military, the armaments industries, the National Security Agency, the various agencies within the umbrella referred to as Homeland Security, and the Central Intelligence Agency, because of the powerful role that the Israel Lobby plays, second only to the AARP. I kid you not. There is huge--unimaginably huge--money involved. Perhaps it is possible for us to get in its way, perhaps not. Perhaps if we can establish some other priorities we might slow it down slightly. They bamboozle us into thinking that education and health care for Americans cost a lot. Those two things are actually relatively tiny compared to the spending that is directed by the Israel Lobby.
love to all,
Larry
---sent 3/31/16--------
The best 2 minutes 51 seconds, off the direct topic of politics! Against Empathy, or Empathy is immoral!!!
http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/474588/why-empathy-is-a-bad-thing/
I have been having a rather lengthy dialog by email with a friend of mine, about the above video by Cognitive Psychology Professor Paul Bloom. You might be aware that cognitive psychology is very much included in my fields of formal and extracurricular study. Sent 2/14/14. Sent 10/14/14.
".....Others have posited that taking on the perspectives of others (cognitive empathy) allows these individuals to better empathize with victims without as much discomfort, whereas sharing the emotions of the victims (emotional empathy) can cause emotional distress, helplessness, victim-blaming, and ultimately to avoidance rather than helping......" [emphasis added-LS]. From sent 12/16/2014.
Either way, what I said to that friend just now is totally relevant to what Glenn Greenwald had to say in the Democracy Now! section linked below.
"You might or might not realize, just from reading this [repeating the full message sent earlier repeated again below] without even clicking links necessarily, the relevance to what Professor Paul Bloom said about affective empathy, in this case specifically the crazy emotional contagion of fear of terrorists. You might want to look, and I think that you will be able to see the relevance, fear being yet another contagious emotion in addition to neediness with helplessness[--that can lead us to turn away], and anger[--that can lead to gang or mob mentality]. Catching any of those emotional contagions, among others, can lead to stupidity. I think that now may be the right time for me to send out that Paul Bloom video.---sent earlier in the afternoon 3/31/16 ---
Glenn Greenwald is amazing and right on as always. Some American politicians, including Senator Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz, Donald Trump, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are overreacting and doing and proposing things that are and would be severely detrimental to our lives. It is as if we were to look at the number of automobile accidents and decide that speed limits should be lowered even more. We risk having some suicide bombings as the price of freedom, our privacy, just as we risk some automobile accidents as the price of automobile travel. They are calculated risks.
"Glenn Greenwald: Cruz, Trump, Clinton "Playing into the Hands" of ISIL After Brussels Bombings," Democracy Now, March 24, 2016 (16 min)
Related:
sent 3/24/16 The scariest thing about Brussels is [some people's] reaction to it
sent 3/21/16 1min50sec YouTube-Tulsi Gabbard; "War, Peace, and Bernie Sanders," by Robert Koehler
sent 3/20/16 (4 related biggies) BDS; "Sanders Stands Alone as Only Candidate Skipping [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference]"
sent 3/15/16 "We" did this: "Voices from Syria: 'This camp is a paradise compared to life back home'"
Let us in America not give up either our automobile travel or our freedom to take on as our primary role in life the effort to expand Israel's borders to the size of the Promised Land in Bible times, to include Jordan, Syria, part of Iraq, part of Egypt, and part of Saudi Arabia. http://www.christianzionism.org/biblesays/sizer04.pdf Really! Let's not! But I believe that that is in the background a lot in the actions of our federal government, including but not limited to the U.S. military, the armaments industries, the National Security Agency, the various agencies within the umbrella referred to as Homeland Security, and the Central Intelligence Agency, because of the powerful role that the Israel Lobby plays, second only to the AARP. I kid you not. There is huge--unimaginably huge--money involved. Perhaps it is possible for us to get in its way, perhaps not. Perhaps if we can establish some other priorities we might slow it down slightly. They bamboozle us into thinking that education and health care for Americans cost a lot. Those two things are actually relatively tiny compared to the spending that is directed by the Israel Lobby.
love to all,
Larry
