Conservatives and Empathy

[uscitizen]

For conservatives, of course, there is a reason.

The prospect of an American citizen starving, going without healthcare, or living in squalor acts as an incentive for all to do better. It’s the conservative doctrine of fear, the only real motivator.

Fear does seem to be the major right wing motivator.
Just watch the upcoming presidential campaign for further proof of this.

Is that why the left keeps trying to scare seniors every time a realistic approach to reforming medicare is proposed?

Sure, the left were the ones who came up with the "death Panels" term?

 

[Unkotare]

You probably missed the 2010 elections.

I remember those. Those were the midterm elections where the entire country expressed its outrage at obama and the democrats controlling both houses of Congress for ramming a bullshit 'healthcare' bill down their throats (which even the democrats hadn't bothered to read) through locked-door backroom deals, corrupt shenanigans, and utter disregard for the will of the people or any semblence of good goverance.

And when dishonest liberals like you lie about "ending" medicare any time a serious proposal to save it from its inevitable doom is offered, you remind the people why we kicked your asses in 2010 and will do so again in 2012.

 

[Unkotare]

Fear does seem to be the major right wing motivator.
Just watch the upcoming presidential campaign for further proof of this.

Is that why the left keeps trying to scare seniors every time a realistic approach to reforming medicare is proposed?

Sure, the left were the ones who came up with the "death Panels" term?

They were the ones that came up with the idea.

 

[uscitizen]

I seem to remember Death panels being an anti health care reform mantra from the right.

 

[GWV5903]

Think UHC. Extrapolate UHC.

"[T]rying to measure a life of poverty as a collection of stuff isn't really going to come close to measuring that same life as a whole life."

Category: But we knew this already, why does it now matter?

Note my new category of thought, I have always wondered what goes into making a person of conscience and what goes into making a conservative? So the piece below struck me again as well, 'I already knew that.' But a Fox conservative talking head learning something still is worth a thought, if only to say why did she not know that before she knew that. How is it we know anything.

'Falling into the empathy gap'

"Fox, of course, would be the very same news network that endorsed a comparison between birth control and "pedicures," so this is no small change of heart on Kelly's part. The Family and Medical Leave Act, under which she received her post-birth benefits, was introduced by a Democratic representative, approved almost entirely by Democratic legislators (with Republicans voting almost entirely against it*), and signed into law by a Democratic president - and Kelly, believe it or not, doesn't think the bill is liberal enough. As tempting as it is, though, just to deride her for lacking the sort of minimal empathy that we expect from children, I want to add a little bit of a wrinkle to Savage's analysis."

Rust Belt Philosophy: Falling into the empathy gap

You obviously do not understand the meaning of empathy, you infuse people to help themselves, not remain Dependant on others, I know very few people in life that would not help another human being lift their lives up, somehow the liberal ideology continues to only know how to divide...

 

[Unkotare]

I seem to remember Death panels being an anti health care reform mantra from the right.

You misremember. The term was coined in response to proposals in the clusterfuck obama healthcare bill.

 

[Greenbeard]

I remember those.

Are you sure? Those elections in which Republicans ran against death panels and those evil, scary cuts (that somehow found their way into the Ryan plan/FY12 budget proposal)?

Shameless, but it worked:

In the 2006 midterm election, seniors split their vote evenly between House Democrats and Republicans. This time, they went for Republicans by a twenty-one-point margin. The impact of that swing was magnified by the fact that seniors, always pretty reliable midterm voters, were particularly fired up: nearly a quarter of the votes cast were from people over sixty-five.​

I'll admit, following up a big win that was achieved largely on the backs of the elderly with a direct assault on Medicare is ballsy.

And when dishonest liberals like you lie about "ending" medicare any time a serious proposal to save it from its inevitable doom is offered, you remind the people why we kicked your asses in 2010 and will do so again in 2012.

Ah yes, again with the vacuous claims that Ryan is somehow "saving" Medicare with his plan to prevent anyone from ever enrolling in it in the future and phasing out its responsibilities for paying hospitals and other providers to provide services to the elderly.

"No Medicare, No Problem" will make a great campaign slogan. Good luck with that.

 

[uscitizen]

Think UHC. Extrapolate UHC.

"[T]rying to measure a life of poverty as a collection of stuff isn't really going to come close to measuring that same life as a whole life."

Category: But we knew this already, why does it now matter?

Note my new category of thought, I have always wondered what goes into making a person of conscience and what goes into making a conservative? So the piece below struck me again as well, 'I already knew that.' But a Fox conservative talking head learning something still is worth a thought, if only to say why did she not know that before she knew that. How is it we know anything.

'Falling into the empathy gap'

"Fox, of course, would be the very same news network that endorsed a comparison between birth control and "pedicures," so this is no small change of heart on Kelly's part. The Family and Medical Leave Act, under which she received her post-birth benefits, was introduced by a Democratic representative, approved almost entirely by Democratic legislators (with Republicans voting almost entirely against it*), and signed into law by a Democratic president - and Kelly, believe it or not, doesn't think the bill is liberal enough. As tempting as it is, though, just to deride her for lacking the sort of minimal empathy that we expect from children, I want to add a little bit of a wrinkle to Savage's analysis."

Rust Belt Philosophy: Falling into the empathy gap

You obviously do not understand the meaning of empathy, you infuse people to help themselves, not remain Dependant on others, I know very few people in life that would not help another human being lift their lives up, somehow the liberal ideology continues to only know how to divide...

Even help a Muslim or Black, Mexican, etc up?

 

[uscitizen]

I seem to remember Death panels being an anti health care reform mantra from the right.

You misremember. The term was coined in response to proposals in the clusterfuck obama healthcare bill.

Umm you just said exactly the same thing I did, only in rwspeak.

 

[Unkotare]

I remember those.

Are you sure?

Yes, I'm sure I remember how pissed everyone was at the democrats who controlled both houses of Congress and the White House and used every corrupt trick in the book to 'pass' a bill they hadn't read despite the objections of the American people (including the elderly). I'm sure it was one of the worst electoral ass-kickings in American history. I'm also sure, and so are democrats when they are being honest (excludes dishonest weasels like you), that medicare cannot survive unless it is reformed and soon. I'm sure that the fact that democrats resort to trying to scare the elderly any time real reform is proposed (really proposed, in writing - which was the "party of no" again?) means they couldn't give less of a shit about said elderly if it will earn them one frightened vote. I'm sure that makes that kind of democrat a scumbag. Which kind are you again?

 

[Unkotare]

I seem to remember Death panels being an anti health care reform mantra from the right.

You misremember. The term was coined in response to proposals in the clusterfuck obama healthcare bill.

Umm you just said exactly the same thing I did, only in rwspeak.

Brush up on your reading skills, champ.

 

[Greenbeard]

medicare cannot survive unless it is reformed and soon.

As already noted, Medicare reforms became law in early 2009 and early 2010.

You'd better hope that curve doesn't continue its bend--you might not get your wish of dismantling Medicare. And we know that would be tragic.

 

[mudwhistle]

I remember those.

Are you sure? Those elections in which Republicans ran against death panels and those evil, scary cuts (that somehow found their way into the Ryan plan/FY12 budget proposal)?

Shameless, but it worked:

In the 2006 midterm election, seniors split their vote evenly between House Democrats and Republicans. This time, they went for Republicans by a twenty-one-point margin. The impact of that swing was magnified by the fact that seniors, always pretty reliable midterm voters, were particularly fired up: nearly a quarter of the votes cast were from people over sixty-five.​

I'll admit, following up a big win that was achieved largely on the backs of the elderly with a direct assault on Medicare is ballsy.

And when dishonest liberals like you lie about "ending" medicare any time a serious proposal to save it from its inevitable doom is offered, you remind the people why we kicked your asses in 2010 and will do so again in 2012.

Ah yes, again with the vacuous claims that Ryan is somehow "saving" Medicare with his plan to prevent anyone from ever enrolling in it in the future and phasing out its responsibilities for paying hospitals and other providers to provide services to the elderly.

"No Medicare, No Problem" will make a great campaign slogan. Good luck with that.

Lies...all lies.

We ran against the Democrat's policies.....and won.

 

[Greenbeard]

We ran against the Democrat's policies.....and won.

It's certainly no secret that Republicans ran heavily against the ACA's Medicare savings, and then endorsed them after the election. Well-played.

 

[Unkotare]

medicare cannot survive unless it is reformed and soon.

As already noted, Medicare reforms became law in early 2009 and early 2010.

Trustees Report Summary



Idiot.

 

[freedombecki]

Dear Fellow Conservatives:

It pains me to write that our more liberal (generic) brethren seem afflicted with some sort of permanently ingrown blinders that causes a kind of bitter tunnel vision.

They empathise with the poor man who has no job and see the only solution as to buy him groceries and pay his rent to be accomplished by taking the richer man's money and giving it to the poor. They perceive that as the righteous path.

They can't comprehend empathy that feels s man's longing for self worth and dignity that can be restored with a paying job best produced with policies that encourage the richer man to create more jobs. They perceive that as the path of the hard hearted, greedy, and uncompassionate.

Is there anyone with a remedy for this affliction?

Sincerely yours,

Yes. Put the military in charge of the political science brainwashing academies that are teaching flag-burning and hatred of conservatives. That'll do it.

LOL. Well I was thinking maybe something just a weeeeeee bit less extreme. Maybe mandating that honest curriculum in Constitution, the Founders, the concepts of unalienable rights, self governance, and uniquely American values be taught from kindergarten through highschool might turn things around? I honestly think those folks with the blinders don't have a clue what all that is about.

If they did, they would know that empathy that misreads the problem is not a virtue; that extended sympathy that aggravates the problem is a vice; and that modern American conservatism has produced perhaps the most genuinely caring, accepting, and benevolent society that world has ever known.

First Amendment privileges extend to University professors. The way to fix it is to let the military educate the people majoring in history and poli sci. These men and women know how the cow ate the cabbage in practice and in logistics if they went to West Point, Colorado Springs, Great Lakes, or Annapolis. The current poli sci folks went to "Communism sensitivity training," "Saul Alinsky said so school," and "Conservatives deserve all bad things University." I prefer the No-bs-from-the-peanut-gallery military be placed in charge of history. I know it sounds bad, but it's the only way we can fight back the brainwashing kids are getting in their college years nowadays. *sigh*

 

[Bern80]

Fear does seem to be the major right wing motivator.
Just watch the upcoming presidential campaign for further proof of this.

Is that why the left keeps trying to scare seniors every time a realistic approach to reforming medicare is proposed?

Sure, the left were the ones who came up with the "death Panels" term?

Do the two of really think either of you can actually win the fear mongering argument? Again usually your a bit better than this citizen. Why is it that it is so hard for either of you to admit that both sides are equally guilty of this vote getting tactic?

 

[midcan5]

A word on empathy. Empathy is an extremely hard concept to nail down for some people, they see it as a weakness. If, for instance, you are a Social Darwinist (SD) much of your thinking about any event is how you react to it, do you rise up and overcome any obstacle. While SD died as a scientific explanation of human behavior, it lives on in the ideology driven minds of modern American conservatives. How much it is just a piece of rhetoric is hard to say, but their constant use of government as 'nanny' demonstrates their thought patterns. Government rather than being an essential political entity for both creating a workable environment and also for settling and managing diverse and contradictory values and uses of property becomes a bogeyman. Bogeymen are always necessary for some as complexity often leads to anxiety. Now let me review replies.

 

[midcan5]

Dear Fellow Conservatives:

It pains me to write that our more liberal (generic) brethren seem afflicted with some sort of permanently ingrown blinders that causes a kind of bitter tunnel vision.

They empathise with the poor man who has no job and see the only solution as to buy him groceries and pay his rent to be accomplished by taking the richer man's money and giving it to the poor. They perceive that as the righteous path.

They can't comprehend empathy that feels s man's longing for self worth and dignity that can be restored with a paying job best produced with policies that encourage the richer man to create more jobs. They perceive that as the path of the hard hearted, greedy, and uncompassionate.

Is there anyone with a remedy for this affliction?

Sincerely yours,

I loved the military reply, can anyone spell fascism? Thought that idea died but I guess not. Boot camp for the mind, Mao among other dictators would love the American right.

Your dilemma is why I have to sometimes sort out the modern American conservative from the conservative in all of us. But given the many choirs singing the same song that distinction is often not needed. Corporate think tanks, republican K street representatives, social Darwinist nationalists and racists, tea party whiners, big money wingnuts, right wing media, and young people who believe the poor are lazy and the rich not - if only we showed people tough love, life would be hunkey dory - are too prevalent to ignore and too obvious to not call out for the mess they make and the mess they leave.

 

[editec]

Empathy is the ability to imagine the plight of another.

You'll no doubt note that most of the self proclaiming cons on this board display a complete lack of empthy.


Now whether these folks are just trying to sound like tough guys, or they're truly incapable of getting outside of their own shoes, is anyone's guess.

But one does frequently encounter people who are permanently stuck in their own heads who truly cannot remotely imagine another's POV, and almost without exception those types tend to be dogmatic cons.

oh give me a break with the fucking melodrama. You are so full of shit ed. A problem with obamacare now equals a lack of empathy? Come up with something a little less transparent.

Note, that I never mentioned Obama's health care? In fact, amigo, I am on record on this board as being in opposition to that policy.

The healthcare issue has NOTHING to do with empathy or a lack of it. You are all deluded if you think the right doesn't want the same thing you do. We all want access to health care.

You are PROJECTING, here sport.

This is not an example of a lack of a lack of empathy from the right. It is a display of a lack of integrity of the left and a ploy that is as old as time. Dress up government sanctioned theft and redistribution of wealth and abolishment of freedom in the robe of 'empathy'. No incredibly weak argument you make (and this is a weak one) explains why your health is my responsibility.

Still projecting.

On top of that you can't even be honest. Empathy is an emotion, not an action.

Now you're attempting to REWRITE my POV, too.

And that is what your are really after, not empathy. What you really want is for that empathy to translate into freely giving money to every poor soul you think deserves it.

I really struck a nerve didn't I?

You cannot even understand my POV when it is laid out for you in text.

Empathy is the ability to imagine the plight or POV of another...even if you DISAGREE with it.

What YOU just did was show us your near complete lack of EMPATHY.

Not only do you not understand words I wrote, but your lack of empathy forced you to INVENT what you imagine my POV is.

THANK YOU for completely proving my point, Bern.