Lacking Empathy

• Kingofrunes wrote on 2013-04-17 15:22
  I'm not sure if I should be bothered by this but all my life I've experienced a lack of empathy.
  
  1) Grandma dies, I pay my respects but no emotions
  2) High school friend dies, I say a quick prayer and feel nothing
  3) Lots of people die from a natural disaster, still feel nothing except worrying if it'll affect me
  4) Lots of people die from something like the Boston marathon, still nothing. Just want to know who did it and why.
  
  It's always something that deep down inside has bothered me quite a bit. How to care about people who died respectfully when you lack empathy?
• Chiyuri wrote on 2013-04-17 15:29
  As long as your moral is in the right place it's fine.
• Timotei wrote on 2013-04-17 15:38
  That's normal, not much you can do about it.
• Sumpfkraut wrote on 2013-04-17 16:05
  There's absolutely no problem here. As long as you are friendly, respect- and helpful to people in life, all is well. Anything beyond doesn't bother them, only you. You don't need to feel any shame.
  
  
  Personally I could die much more happily if I knew the ones I loved would not suffer for it. I'd wager many of those felt the same way.
  
  
  Honestly, if you dig to the bottom if it piety doesn't have to do anything with respect for the dead, it's really about respect for the feelings of the people who grief. Don't smear shit on the gravestone and pay your condolences, then you've done everything right.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2013-04-17 18:09

  Quote from Sumpfkraut;1069589:

  There's absolutely no problem here. As long as you are friendly, respect- and helpful to people in life, all is well. Anything beyond doesn't bother them, only you. You don't need to feel any shame.
  
  
  Personally I could die much more happily if I knew the ones I loved would not suffer for it. I'd wager many of those felt the same way.
  
  
  Honestly, if you dig to the bottom if it piety doesn't have to do anything with respect for the dead, it's really about respect for the feelings of the people who grief. Don't smear shit on the gravestone and pay your condolences, then you've done everything right.

  
  
  Well ya, that's just common respect and decency. At the very least I have that.
• Ashikoki wrote on 2013-04-17 22:07
  You have your cat. You were visibly upset about that a while back.
  
  I don't think its abnormal. We can't force you to care about things you don't really care about.
  
  "You should care" is a terrible thing to say to another person imo. Though "You should care because <reasons>" is okay. But if you don't agree or care about those <reasons>, then that conversation needs to end, because its like arguing between religion or political beliefs. Neither side will budge since their principal beliefs that lead to their stances are different to begin with.
• Cynic wrote on 2013-04-18 02:52
  Like the others said, what you're feeling (or not feeling) is actually very normal. As long as you know that you should care and therefore try to act as empathetic as possible, then you're fine. Now, if you feel absolutely nothing towards everybody and you make no effort to act like a semi-decent human being when it comes to caring about others (whether it's faked or not), then yes, you have an empathy level akin to that of a regular psychopath.
  
  But empathy is generally just an understanding of emotion, whereas sympathy is actually feeling it. So while some degree of sympathy is needed to be considered 'normal', you aren't required to be hypersensitive to every little thing in order to have a healthy level of empathy/sympathy.
• Ashikoki wrote on 2013-04-18 07:15
  Just read some visual novels for feels and then you'll know whether you're normal or not.
• Yakumo Yukari wrote on 2013-04-18 07:17
  Can you have sympathy without empathy?
• Ashikoki wrote on 2013-04-18 07:22

  Quote from Yakumo Yukari;1070094:

  Can you have sympathy without empathy?

  
  
  Typically this is a trait found in autistic minds.
• Yakumo Yukari wrote on 2013-04-18 07:25
  That makes sense then.
  
  Can someone explain the term "Empathy" to me in a slightly longer way then? Sorry to derail.
• Ashikoki wrote on 2013-04-18 07:28

  Quote from Yakumo Yukari;1070099:

  That makes sense then.
  
  Can someone explain the term "Empathy" to me in a slightly longer way then? Sorry to derail.

  
  
  Wikipedia is the greatest collective resource available.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy
• Yakumo Yukari wrote on 2013-04-18 07:30

  Quote from Ashikoki;1070101:

  Wikipedia is the greatest collective resource available.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy

  
  
  *facepalm* I just had a severe brainfart. Someone neg me.
  
  

  Empathy is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being

  
  
  This explains a lot of my life.
• Ashikoki wrote on 2013-04-18 07:37

  Quote from Yakumo Yukari;1070104:

  Someone neg me.

  
  
  You know, I could do this. Don't tempt me!
• Yakumo Yukari wrote on 2013-04-18 07:41

  Quote from Ashikoki;1070107:

  You know, I could do this. Don't tempt me!

  
  
  

  [Image: http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/jp/image/1335/26/1335264071997.jpg]

  
  
  +Rep me for this.