Empathy, Get Some

[Berzerker]

Fun fact: East Germans are a lot more likely to help out when encountering a stranded car than West Germans. True story.
Take from that what you will.

I take from that East German cars suck

 

[warpus]

I suppose when I was in Peru, a relatively poor country, I saw that the people there have a lot less material wealth than people here in North America, but they have a much greater sense of community. They went out of their way to spend time together and socialize, and in fact their cities are built with those concepts in mind - with many public/social squares at the centres of towns and at logical meeting places, so that people could get together and socialize. I will never forget the mother's day celebration in Aguas Calientes where we ran into a random parade and then witnessed people dancing with their mothers and other people in the town's main square. The atmosphere was great, you don't get something like that here in North America.

Even when I visited some of the poorest parts of Peru (from what I could see anyway), I saw people smiling. Even though they lived in shacks, had to work for the majority of the day to support themselves and their family, they did not value material possessions as much as we do here in North America, so somehow they were able to find the good in their lives and smile about it.

Anyway, that's completely anecdotal, but it does make sense to me that poor people can be more empathic. They have less to lose as well. But.. all that seems rather culture-specific and not universal

 

[metalhead]

Not exactly a preference, just choosing the statistically most likely group to save me (young, single men are most likely to be those type of heroes, makes evolutionary sense).

What would make evolutionary sense would be for the other breeding age male to take advantage of your physical vulnerability and kill you.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I take from that East German cars suck

Come on, Trabants are the ultimate motor vehicle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant

 

[Berzerker]

I suppose when I was in Peru, a relatively poor country, I saw that the people there have a lot less material wealth than people here in North America, but they have a much greater sense of community. They went out of their way to spend time together and socialize, and in fact their cities are built with those concepts in mind - with many public/social squares at the centres of towns and at logical meeting places, so that people could get together and socialize. I will never forget the mother's day celebration in Aguas Calientes where we ran into a random parade and then witnessed people dancing with their mothers and other people in the town's main square. The atmosphere was great, you don't get something like that here in North America.

Even when I visited some of the poorest parts of Peru (from what I could see anyway), I saw people smiling. Even though they lived in shacks, had to work for the majority of the day to support themselves and their family, they did not value material possessions as much as we do here in North America, so somehow they were able to find the good in their lives and smile about it.

Anyway, that's completely anecdotal, but it does make sense to me that poor people can be more empathic. They have less to lose as well. But.. all that seems rather culture-specific and not universal

Indeed... I fear losing tradition not because of any attachment I may have (I dont) but because I'm more afraid of a world engulfed by capitalism

and by capitalism I dont mean the market or bazaar or whatever, I'm talking about deceitful corporations running all over the world raiding resources from people like the ones you've described and leaving behind their poisons.

 

[warpus]

Capitalism is fine, but a society built up around the concept of materialism and greed will probably not last as long as it could otherwise. As for corporations, they can be fine too, you just need good regulations to keep them in check.

 

[metalhead]

I'm afraid to point out that the U.S. has one political party that believes in regulating corporations to diminish the horrors of unchecked capitalism, and one which does not.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

I take from that East German cars suck

People don't drive East German cars anymore, very few exceptions notwithstanding.

 

[Narz]

What would make evolutionary sense would be for the other breeding age male to take advantage of your physical vulnerability and kill you.

Not really, if he kills me he'll be shunned, if he saves me he'll be a hero, heros get laid a lot. We're social mammals not reptiles.

 

[Berzerker]

I'm afraid to point out that the U.S. has one political party that believes in regulating corporations to diminish the horrors of unchecked capitalism, and one which does not.

Both practice crony capitalism and we have a protectionist in the WH

Come on, Trabants are the ultimate motor vehicle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant

The car was actually ahead of its time in some ways

People don't drive East German cars anymore, very few exceptions notwithstanding.

The car got 'em in the habit

 

[metalhead]

Not really, if he kills me he'll be shunned, if he saves me he'll be a hero, heros get laid a lot. We're social mammals not reptiles.

If you're injured somewhere that nobody knows about it, such that you're relying on the help of a random stranger, chances are the stranger can kill you without anyone knowing about it.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

The car got 'em in the habit

Just keep telling that yourself
Americans got worse cars. (laxer standards) Are they a lot more likely as Western Germans. As or more likely than Eastern Germans?

 

[Commodore]

I'm raising the profile of society's greatest heroes - those who gain nothing by helping other people in need. Sorry you don't like my approach.

That would be fine if all you were doing was lavishing the well-deserved praise on this man. However, it was the shot at billionaires that didn't sit well with me. It just strikes me as a bit odd that your chosen reaction to this story was to use it in an attempt to shame and insult those who have more than you.

 

[Traitorfish]

That would be fine if all you were doing was lavishing the well-deserved praise on this man. However, it was the shot at billionaires that didn't sit well with me. It just strikes me as a bit odd that your chosen reaction to this story was to use it in an attempt to shame and insult those who have more than you.

Not familiar with the Gospels, I take it?

 

[shadowplay]

Not familiar with the Gospels, I take it?

The gospels are a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.

 

[Zelig]

Honestly.. I think a lot of people are afraid of being dragged into some mess, getting sued, etc. If they just keep walking/driving/ignoring the problem, they will not be involved and it can't affect them negatively at all. There's been cases of people stopping to help, and then something going wrong and then getting sued by the family of the injured person.. People know this, and so they ignore the problem and keep moving

I think it's also a byproduct of our high-paced materialistic society. People are thinking "me me me" and have a busy life so they don't have time to think about others and to help out

Well for highways in particular, there are pretty regularly stories of people who do stop to help, only to be hit by other traffic.

 

[Commodore]

Well for highways in particular, there are pretty regularly stories of people who do stop to help, only to be hit by other traffic.

Exactly. There are also stories of people suing their rescuers because their rib got broken or some other nonsense like that. We live in a society now where the saying "no good deed goes unpunished" is more true than ever.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Exactly. There are also stories of people suing their rescuers because their rib got broken or some other nonsense like that. We live in a society now where the saying "no good deed goes unpunished" is more true than ever.

That doesn't happen too much in Canada. This is why:

http://www.cnps.ca/index.php?page=93

 

[warpus]

Most Canadians dont' know this I dont think, we're constantly bombarded with U.S.-ian media so I think most people assume they could get sued if they help out..

 

[metalhead]

U.S. jurisdictions also exempt good samaritans from legal liability. There are exceptions depending on the jurisdiction, but you typically can't get sued for rendering aid, and the cases where you can typically require that you were grossly negligent in doing so.