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comment by veen
veen  ·  1337 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Some thoughts on compassion

    because boy do I dislike some parts of it.

I did warn ya, man. I particularly hated the part where he's like "Entropy? Fuck that! We have...checks notes... biology!"

The answer I think I'm looking for, is this: given that there will be othering, that there are large forces amplifying it in society, what can we as individuals do? I don't think giving up is the answer.





kleinbl00  ·  1337 days ago  ·  link  ·  

And had you praised it I would have been a lot less savage in my assessment.

Given that there will be othering, we must all do everything we can to diminish the impact on others. Sure, "change begins within" but it doesn't end there. You can open your heart all you want to the cops of Kenosha but until you make police violence a routinely-punished felony the Jacob Blakes of the world will continue to get shot seven times in front of their kids.

The real problem with essays such as this is they're a call to inaction for people whose hearts are already in the right place. You need to do something about the people whose hearts are in the wrong place to make sure that they can't make it worse for everyone. This is where the language of warfare comes from - mobilization is a prerequisite for change.