In defense of empathy

Another reason why I harp on about the sociopaths & their way of thinking, is that it helps clarify things. Once you have identified something as being underpinned by sociopathic thinking, you can deal with it with more understanding. It means that it is not encumbered by empathy. It means it can not be reasoned with using appeals to humanity, decency. It can be negotiated with, but they will seek to break the agreement, if it is useful to them. They cannot be trusted, since they do not consider you human, just a consumer, employee, victim, enemy etc. Its only goal is its own survival.

This focus is not useful in itself, rather it is a way to identify organizations, projects, systems etc. that are harmful. It is a way to help you understand how not to deal with them. Maybe also the opposite. They value power, status, hierarchy, facade. They might pay lip-service to “soft” values, but only for the public relations. There is very little that they would not do, to get ahead and they can rationalize even that away. Especially if they are unchecked, by the public, by the press or the state. Sociopathic thinking can creep in anywhere, but it is embedded in things like corporate capitalism. Knowing & remembering this, means that you know to never trust a company, no matter how convincingly nice they might seem. They might have good intentions, lead by good people. They might even be useful. Just keep in mind that shareholder value is sacrosanct. Eventually it will swallow its prey. There might be a few that can withstand the pressure and we also have to live in the world as it is, so this does not necessarily mean complete decoupling, just to be weary. To be aware and look out for any shenanigans, any degradations of our human rights.

Keeping at least a little focus on sociopathic thinking also helps people & organizations avoid the pitfalls of asshole-creep. When you are bound by a common goal, when you are excited about the same thing, malignant group-think becomes a real danger. If someone starts talking about people in the out-group, as objects or less-than, then it might be good to have a think. If the goal starts to justify some pretty heinous means, then maybe its time to step back & get the overview. If breaking consent does not seem evil, then you might be the baddie.

And as always, sometimes, a small evil is needed, in order to avoid a greater evil. But if your circle, your in-group, starts celebrating the small evils, instead of recognizing the evilness of it all, then that should give you pause for thought.

By knowing what to look out for, you might be able to avoid some trouble. At least you will be able to have a back-up plan, to not fully trust these entities. Ideally it might also help you not to support these organizations and systems. It can be hard & we all do what we can, but divestiture can work. It does not take many percentage points off the old GDP, to spook the system. They all fear a cratering. Support is not just financial. By participating in their markets of discourse, you seed the battleground to them. The algorithm is just an extension of the market. It serves one purpose: To drive engagement. This is pure sociopathic narcissism & it is purely for the benefit of the corporation. Single-mindlessly sociopathic. Another warning sign. Singular thinking, with only one victor, one winner.

Empathy always have at least two viewpoints, two considerations. It is concerned with all of the stakeholders, it is searching for a win-win solution, so to speak. You do not have to like everyone, or anyone, but you do have to take their consent into consideration, if your actions affects them. At least if you expect the same from them. So if you see someone knowingly break consent, you know what you are dealing with and can act accordingly. What that means is, of course, up to the individual and their groupings. All we can do is try, although it would be nice to eventually succeed 🙂