Quote (Handcuffs @ Jun 9 2023 04:54pm)
I suppose that's where we differ, in that I view empathy and dehumanization as choices that we each make--irrespective of whether the immediate context of communication (ie. The Internet) is associated as a dehumanizing environment.
It's also likely a difference in our worldview, as I don't see society as part of a culture war in which there are major adversaries around every corner. I think humans, at our core, are much more similar than we are different and that there's a great deal we can learn from people with whom we disagree. There are likely things that you know that I don't, that I could learn from you, or could be convinced to shift my perspective on. I think it would be hard to access that possibility though if I felt we were in some kind of culture war.
I can empathize with someone and still disagree with their actions or their beliefs though. For example a suicide bomber, I can empathize with them in that they view their actions as the only way to fight a war they have no other tools to fight, but I don't agree with it nor would I probably agree with most of the suicide bombers views. Were I to live the suicide bombers life, maybe that would be different, but I haven't and I can't so I have to base my views off of my own experience.
I think dehumanization is more complicated than simply choosing to dehumanize a particular group or person, it is tied in with culture and environment to a large degree in my opinion but I would need to think about it more to word it the right way. I think of it as sort of a defense mechanism built into the human brain to allow it to do things it wouldn't be able to otherwise. IMO it is the part of the brain that let's someone decide to persecute an entire group mercilessly, but it is also the part of the brain that let's you read about a bus load of kids crashing and dying without being mentally destroyed by it.
I believe humans are more similar than different as well, but that is partly why I hold the beliefs I do, I think we are as similar to one another as we are to medieval peasants going to war over whose God is the best.