“A human being without the proper empathy or feeling is the same as an android built so as to lack it, either by design or mistake. We mean, basically, someone who does not care about the fate which his fellow living creatures fall victim to; he stands detached, a spectator, acting out by his indifference John Donne's theorem that "No man is an island," but giving that theorem a twist: that which is a mental and a moral island is not a man.” MenGivingHumansMeanDoeFeelingsCareFallHuman BeingsActingMistakeMoralFateDesignCreaturesEmpathyBuiltFellowsVictimIndifferenceIslandsTwistsSpectatorsDetachedLiving CreaturesTheoremsAndroidsActing OutDonne Author:Philip K. Dick
“After the Ankara bombings on October 10, people were asked to hold a minute of silence, but many refused. Our society can't even unite in grief to honor the victims. We've lost our empathy. That's maybe the worst.” PeopleLostGriefSilenceMinutesWorstHonorEmpathyVictimOur SocietyOctoberBombingAnkara Author:Elif Safak
“But all liberals only have empathy for the exact same victims - always the ones that are represented by powerful liberal interest groups.” InterestPowerfulGroupsEmpathyVictimInterest Groups Author:Ann Coulter
“There is a real comfort with the position of the victim, which can either result in true empathy or deep paranoia.” RealResultsPositionComfortEmpathyVictimParanoia Author:Jill Soloway
“I have empathy towards bullying. Not about punishing the bully but empowering the victim. We have a tendency to use the word "bully" and other words in the wrong situations, thus desensitizing and lessening the impact of the true situation.” UseSituationEmpathyVictimImpactTendenciesEmpoweringBullyingBully Author:Renee Lawless
“We don't want to blame the victim. The civil rights movement had a profound effect on the United States and on the American mind, maybe unique in the world. Once we realized how victimized people of color had been, an honest empathy went out and that's how we got civil rights legislation.” PeopleWorldMindHonestUniqueEmpathyVictimBlameProfoundCivil RightsCivil Rights Movement Author:Jerome Kagan
“When people want to inspire you to turn against some group of people, they'll often use empathy. When Obama wanted to bomb Syria, he drew our attention to the victims of chemical warfare. And in both of the Iraq wars, politicians said, "Look at the horrific things that are happening." I'm not a pacifist. I think the suffering of innocent people can be a catalyst for moral action. But empathy puts too much weight on the scale in favor of war. Empathy can really lead to violence.” PeopleThinkingWarActionSufferingAttentionMoralViolenceInspirePoliticianEmpathyVictimInnocentSyriaIraq WarHorrificPacifist Author:Paul Bloom
“What do you want with these special Jewish pains? I feel as close to the wretched victims of the rubber plantations in Putamayo and the blacks of Africa with whose bodies the Europeans play ball… I have no special corner in my heart for the ghetto: I am at home in the entire world, where there are clouds and birds and human tears.” WorldWantFeelsHumansHeartPlayHomeBodyPainSpecialTearsMy HeartEmpathyBirdBallsVictimCloudsJewCornersWretchedGhettoRubberPlantations Author:Rosa Luxemburg
“Empathy, he once had decided, must be limited to herbivores or anyhow omnivores who could depart from a meat diet. Because,ultimately, the empathic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated.” SuccessfulEmpathyDecidedVictimBoundariesMeatDietsDefeatedHunters Book:Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Source: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
“Speciesism is a failure to empathize with those outside one's group. In general, speciesists simply disregard the myriad nonhumans whom humans intentionally hurt and kill. Who cares if millions of mice and rats are vivisected? They're 'only rodents'. What does it matter if billions of chickens live in misery until they die in pain and fear? They're 'just chickens'. They aren't human, so they don't count. Victimizers lack empathy for their victims, but absence of empathy doesn't justify victimization, whether the victims are human or nonhuman.” IfsHumansDoeMatterCarePainDiesHurtMillionsGroupsEmpathyVictimMiseryAbsenceBillionsJustifyChickensMiceRatsWho CaresDisregardDoes It MatterVictimizationSpeciesismRodentsIntentionally Hurt Author:Joan Dunayer
“Torture presupposes, it requires, it craves the abrogation of our capacity to imagine others suffering, dehumanizing them so much that their pain is not our pain. It demands this of the torturer, placing the victim outside and beyond any form of compassion or empathy, but also demands of everyone else the same distancing, the same numbness.” PainFormSufferingCompassionImagineDemandEmpathyCapacityVictimTortureCraveNumbness Author:Ariel Dorfman