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this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2024
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Okay, so we at least agree that you can feel empathy towards someone without having to understand them well enough to know how they’re going to respond to something even before they do. I'm still confused why you brought that up, since I never claimed to have 100% true™ full chonglibloodsport-certified empathy for every person on the planet.
And I'm pretty sure only a psychopath would feel absolutely no empathy towards someone they don't know - you will at least empathize regarding common human emotions, e.g. I don't need to know some random chinese couple to feel happy if I see a husband running to hug his wife in an airport.
So what's your point? You've already walked back that you need to understand them well enough to know how they’re going to respond to something even before they do.
Empathy isn’t a feeling that happens to you, it’s a skill you practice.
Everyone knows about common human emotions. What you don’t know about a stranger is when they have those emotions and when they don’t. What most people think they’re doing when they say they’re being empathetic is engaging in projection. They’re imagining themselves in that situation and assuming the other person is feeling the same way they are.
Do I even have to tell you how often that’s wrong? Many, many people think another person is angry when they are angry and they project their anger onto the other person. It totally baffles them!
Did I ever claim something different?