Genuine or Biased?

• Ithiliel wrote on 2011-09-08 04:43
  Do you believe people sincerely care about one another or are we all huddled with personal bias and selfishness? For example, does a person sincerely care about another or rather were they just brought up with that idea thus making it a personal bias.
  
  For my own answer I said this: It depends on the individual person. There are many cases in which a person does care about others, but at the same time there is a lot of selfish bias happening as well. To me it depends on how a person was raised and the experiences that they learn from. Sometimes those experiences can make a person have a stronger outlook on how others should be treated or it could turn a person into an uncaring prick.
  
  Now when I mentioned this to my friend, he asked me this: But wouldn’t that be a bias? That you were raised to care about another. You do it because you believe it is right, and not necessarily because you are doing it for the good of the individual?
  
  To which I responded with: It could be seen as that but I believe there are still others out there that genuinely care despite what they’ve been taught. Say if someone had originally been taught to hate a certain group, but they still end up caring for those people nonetheless. Would you say they’re being genuine or biased?
• Cynic wrote on 2011-09-08 04:46
  I believe there are some who truly do care for others without it having to have strings attached or a deeper meaning. My Mom is a great example of that, which is probably why I too can love her so unconditionally.
  
  Most people however, are the complete opposite of what I just mentioned. Just to varying extremes.
• Navy wrote on 2011-09-08 04:51
  I believe there are truly people who care for another, some you don't even know.
  Though it's rare.
• Skye wrote on 2011-09-08 04:53
  [SIZE="1"]easy +1[/SIZE]
  I've gotta say I agree with everything you said, Ithi.
  
  Just as my own [S]poor[/S] examples...
  
  I was raised by a mother who dislikes cats. So now I dislike cats. Sure, there are things I find wrong with cats on my own accord (them jumping all over everything after having been in a litter box, for example...), but no matter how hard I've tried to like cats, I can't. I mean, some of them are cute, but I'd never have my own cat.
  
  On the other hand, my mother has always loved dogs and had many throughout her life before having children. So, being raised by someone who loves dogs that much, I grew to love dogs, and now I want 3 when I get my own place. |D
  
  Also, my mother is by no means homophobic, but she doesn't like seeing men kissing. She doesn't hate it, it just makes her squirm a bit. And I used to be the same way. However, after meeting so many gay and bisexual people, both in real life and on the internet, it doesn't bother me at all anymore.
  
  So, yes, you can be genuine or biased or both when caring, it just depends on how you were raised, how you turned out, and what you've gone through.
• Kueh wrote on 2011-09-08 04:56
  I don't understand the question. Are you asking whether genuine altruism exists?
  
  I think it does. But I also don't think that's the important question.
  
  What you should be asking is, "Does it really matter?" If I hold the door open for someone else, something I do quite often, sometimes I'm muttering in the back of my head what a disgusting slob I think the person is. But why does it matter? No one's going to hear that except for me, so to the recipient of the altruistic act, it might as well be genuine, even if it is really biased.
  
  I'm also not saying that biased altruism doesn't occur. I'm sure that there are plenty of people who do good things for others only with the expectation that they will receive something back. Now the question from before still applies. Does it really matter? If they do a good deed expecting something in return, it doesn't change the deed. And if the recipient of the deed feels so inclined to pay the deed back, then two deeds have been performed instead of just one. That's even better! If the person doesn't get a good deed back, and they go out and do bad deeds because of it, it still doesn't change the fact that they did the good deed in the first place. The only thing that's different is that the person is an idiot.
• Ithiliel wrote on 2011-09-08 05:01
  I'm not necessarily talking about altruism, or even one person doing a favor for another. But rather I'm asking is it possible to truly care for someone else without having the biases that have been ingrained in us get in the way. For example- Do you truly care about your siblings, or do you just care because you've been raised to? If they weren't your siblings would you still care?
• Cynic wrote on 2011-09-08 05:21
  I wonder.. what would you classify those people who simply don't care by nature? Those who are detached from humanity by genetics, mindset, whatever..
• Sekwaf wrote on 2011-09-08 05:25
  I think we can truly care about people, but for a large majority of us, only a few people. An ethics assignment I read recently was talking about this a bit and that it's our instinct to care for our familiars (family and close friends usually). Anything outside of our familiars we tend to distrust a bit but we can still care about them, just more biased because we tell ourselves "I really should care about these people".
• Claudia wrote on 2011-09-08 05:43
  I think, for some people, yeah, I do care about them. Not because i'm obligated to, or society expects us to.
  
  It makes me really happy that I have people that I care about, it just makes me a little happier for some reason.
  I like how unconditional it is.
  
  I mean, my family, I do love them. I like to think, if we were total strangers, i'd grow to love them, but I figure if they weren't my parents or my brother wasn't my brother, I don't think i'd love them as much.
• Armi wrote on 2011-09-08 07:27
  You help others to serve your own needs. It is selfishness plain and simple.
• Cynic wrote on 2011-09-08 07:28

  Quote from Armi;581928:

  You help others to serve your own needs. It is selfishness plain and simple.

  
  
  Except helping =/= being friends.
  This also does not apply to everyone.
• Adelynn wrote on 2011-09-08 07:35
  I'm a mix of both, although probably mostly bias. There's at least one person I love for who they are, and not because of circumstances. As a matter of fact, I can think of at least two, but the others I'm not so sure about.
• Zid wrote on 2011-09-08 19:33
  Since I unexpectedly get attached to people I meet and spend time with (without even thinking initially I want to care), yes, I believe there can be genuine caring.
• Claudia wrote on 2011-09-09 02:02

  Quote from Armi;581928:

  You help others to serve your own needs. It is selfishness plain and simple.

  
  
  Not always.
  Sometimes I help people just because I a.) have nothing better to do, and b.) I simply feel like being nice/kind/helpful.