Offendees

But the point is that you are sympathising, not empathising, when you do that. It would be a pity for the distinction to be lost.

True Elegran.

But if say someone on here has a bereavement, I have not lost anyone suddenly or early particularly.
But I can take some time to imagine. And at the very least, send a message.

They cant do it 100% I dont think.
It is a difficult thing to describe. Others will be able to describe it a lot better than I can.

It doesnt necessarily involve setting aside a spare room. There are 100s of things in between.
Would you like me to list them? Some of them?

Some people are unable to understand anyone else's thought processes either, STB.

adding on from my 19.11 post
in some circumstances. Probably not all circumstances.

How can anyone ever truly 'share other people's feelings'?

I have been out this afternoon, but now that I am back I shall answer STB's question about why I added the last sentences of my OP. I am not sure, but I suspect it was because I was annoyed at the way those who defended a helpless word against an onslaught of attacks from people who didn't like it were savaged as though they were the ones doing the attacking. Neither do I like that it that is assumed that anyone who has not rushed to defend the migrants from being "compared to insects" or "to animals" is raring to move on to crushing them like insects.

In words of one syllable (more or less) a swarm is a collective noun which can be applied to all kinds of living things, from ants to human beings, who are rushing in a crowd in one direction, with a common purpose and believing this does not turn anyone into a gas chamber operative.

Now, how many of those who professed empathy with the migrants have set aside their spare room for a migrant family? I thought not.

I do think that some people are simply unable to share some other peoples' feelings.

I have long thought the same about the word 'empathy' Elegran, but was reluctant to say so on here as so many seem to think they feel it towards others they have absolutely nothing in common with. Thank you!

Thank you for pointing that out, jane My fingers were typing without my brain.

I like the final sentence - “If you agree with us and speak out, then you’re praised; if you don’t and speak out, then you’re a bigot.”

He could have added "If you are loud in expressing your empathy with the same people that I have empathy with, you are a good person. If you don't mention your feelings toward them, but argue against the demonisation of someone who has said something that I think was not empathetic, you are a bad person and hate them" No room for the least divergence.

(Empathy is more than understanding how another person is feeling. It is sharing those feelings and suffering with them. I really cannot believe that all these people living in a free country where they have safety, paid work, enough to eat and drink and somewhere to live and bring up their children are actually sharing the sensations and feelings of people who have fled persecution and are homeless and despairing. Understanding how they must feel, having sympathy for them and wishing to help them is one thing, sharing those feelings is quite another.

Lately, the word "sympathy" seems to be thought not enough, everyone must talk about their "empathy". So why are they not all weeping and having mental breakdowns with the stress of it all? )

www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/opinion/sunday/judith-shulevitz-hiding-from-scary-ideas.html

Did you read thatbags's link Jane? Apparently some passages in The Great Gatsby are especially suspect...

lilygran! Blimey are these American classes so incredibly upsetting or are the students just daft easily upset?

I will bear it in mind though.

I have given it some thought thatbags.
I will bear it in mind.

I didnt realise that I ask lots of question. Perhaps I do. I will monitor myself.
But if I do ask lots of questions, I assume that other posters and lurkers may wish to know the answers too.
And it makes us all less ignorant and naive!!

Good grief!

Good article, thatbags. I read somewhere that some colleges in the US are providing secure rooms where undergraduates can go for refuge if they are alarmed by the content of any material used in class.

You don't need to reply to that!! .just think about it!!

You ask a lot of questions too, soon. Perhaps you could ask fewer.

And this has gone way off the opening post.

For the record. If someone posts to me or about a post I have written, I am likely to reply.

I have said before that if I am not asked as many questions, there would not be anywhere as many posts written by me. Which some of you might like.

Fair enough about if someone has already made the same point.

If a person is ignorant or naive, is that their fault?

I am glad that I am not significant to your participation of gransnet.

Very often I see posters making the precise point I'd make so feel it unnecessary to post simply to say that I agree.
Sometimes I see a thread which I find interesting and if I feel I have something relevant to add I think it through before posting.
Occasionally I see contributions which are so outrageously 'naive' or manipulative or (in the true sense of the word) ignorant, that I bite my tongue no longer and express my views.
I note that I'm usually not alone in expressing these views.
Draw your own conclusions but please rest assured that you are far from being in any way significant in my participation in GN.
Having been a menber of GN from day one I have rarely/never encountered such a level of self-centredness.

Not sure if we have had one on that or not.