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Why don't we care more about whether people in positions of power have empathy? (rachelgilmore.substack.com)
submitted 5 days ago by to c/canada@lemmy.ca
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[–] 2 points 3 days ago (1 child)

You have a very valid point. In 1970, the American population was just over 180 million. Today it is almost double that. It would not be a stretch to posit that American empathy at the voting booth has decreased over progressive US Presidents since then, as the population increased.

It is also interesting to note that empathy in Canada (a much smaller population) at the voting booth has historically been and is still a lot stronger than it is in America.

But I would also suggest that democracy in general weakens the larger the voting population becomes, and it would be fair to say that democracy does not scale.

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  • [–] -1 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    Oh yes, I’m a firm believer that democracy is bad, and people know this intuitively but they forget because they’re taught to reflexively support democracy and criticize everything else.

    People love to trash capitalism on Lemmy but praise socialism and democracy. When it comes to which t shirt style I get to wear, I vastly prefer capitalism. If that were a democratic choice we’d all be wearing the same t shirt!

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  • [–] 2 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    Or maybe we would be wearing the shirt that helped twice as many people as there are Americans out of poverty in one country - the socialist system of China. China actually has a system of democracy that scales perfectly, unlike the American system that flounders at scale.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 days ago (2 children)

    China is the place where, if someone hits you with their car by accident, they’ll stop and run you over to finish you off, in order to avoid paying your family for caring for you and your injuries.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 days ago (1 child)

    Racism is where you blatantly paint an entire race pejoratively, spreading factually false stereotypes just because of their race.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    It’s nothing to do with race and everything to do with ideology. I have close friends whose parents survived the cultural revolution. They would tell you the same thing.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 days ago (1 child)

    So if you do not like their ideology, you get a free pass to be racist?

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  • [–] 0 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    Nope. I’m not racist, and fuck you for even suggesting it!

    You’re doing the same shit people do to defend the government of Israel! Accusing anyone who criticizes the country of being an anti-Semite.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    You are not criticizing the county, you are typecasting and criticizing the people of that country. And you are criticizing them because they are Chinese. Your comment was aimed at all Chinese citizens in China, typecasting them as all behaving in the same derogatory fashion, because they are Chinese. You obviously consider all Chinese citizens in China as inhumane murderers who put their own interests above the sanctity of a human life. Really? Every person in China would kill an innocent victim by running over them again and again to make sure they are dead? Exactly what is that supposed to say about a Chinese person? Your comment was nothing more than a typical racist joke. Does your racist 'joke' have anything to do with your display moniker?

    Yes I would also call someone an anti-Semite who says 'All Jews want to exterminate the Palestinians just because Jews hate Palestinians' just as I would call an Israeli or anyone else racist for saying 'The only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian'.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    You ought to educate yourself on the difference between the general and the universal. A society can have serious ideological, legal, and social problems without those issues reflecting on the people or their culture.

    I think this is too sophisticated an argument for someone like you, though, so I won’t waste any further time on you. You think everything in black and white terms, ready to pounce on anyone you think is the other team. Good day!

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago*

    if someone hits you with their car by accident, they’ll stop and run you over to finish you off,

    That is a deliberate condemnation of the Chinese peoples themselves. That is not an ideological statement, that is a statement clearly portraying the Chinese as homicidal maniacs who have no more moral scruples but to 'finish you off' for their own gain if you were hurt. It is a targeted racist 'joke'. That is not 'too sophisticated'. it is blatant.

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