Do Conservatives Have Any Empathy At All?

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MachZer0

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What's that got to do with perks? And guess what? I think an additional perk is for her to make suggestions ("tell us" in your mind) on how to have healthier lives. That's any and all First Ladies.
Just for the record, her "suggestions" on being forced on our children :wave:
 
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wintermile

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That's a terrible article.

The author utilizes perhaps the most common informal fallacy by generalizing conservatives based on one picture, which is highly subjective in itself, and a handful of responses, three, to that picture.

I found out it hardly worth reading past the authors statement regarding George Will's response. This,



is more a statement of arrogance by the writer of the article. I would ask her to please do provide a lengthy essay on Will's statement. An essay about reading more into a person's thoughts and the fallacy of projection would be interesting when written by the person doing said thing.

The rest of the article was pointless emotional appeal given that the beginning of the article failed to put forth a valid argument.

I'm reminded of the social activism when the stories of Trayvon Martin and Shaima Alawadi first became popular. People across the country and in other parts of the world joined the "Hoodies and Hijabs" activist campaign. Of course, the complete media [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] up of the Trayvon Martin case gave us useless dialogues about race relations and Shaima Alawadi? Her husban was convicted recently for her murder. The activist crowd essentially shrugged their shoulders and walked away with the smug self importance I feel the author of the article possesses by throwing up an easy target that makes it's living inviting controversy, Ann Coulter, and failing to paint how her actions are representative of an entire group of people.

I thank the person who posted the OP for presenting us with another fool blogger to avoid.

You posted before that you smoke. Did you step outside to smoke a cigarette before or after you posted this? You know, cigarettes are maxed out with laced chemicals.

I have read the intentions of the author differently then you. KCW wants to know if conservatives can express empathy. Emotional intelligence on KCW's part leads to a discussion based on the title of her article. Compared to KCW's EI, a few conservative CF members haven't as much tact. Their use of loaded-brushes is evident when they role with the influential mockers and dastardly, not tactfully, mock using phrases such as "Moochelle".

Using an atrocity to mock the First Lady is cowardly.

KCW states she is at a loss with Coulter and her ilk The title of her article makes that clear.

Are conservatives going to hold cowardly conservative mockers accountable for their influence? KCW listed examples of conservatives growing in numbers continuing the mocking. Let's here it from those who won't mock.
 
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sniperelite7

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Hash tags are annoying. Adults who use them even more so. Probably not a lack of empathy, most likely the sensibility to believe that its fake and dishonest to pretend you care when you actually don't and that hash tags and photo ops don't bring back innocent girls.

A tragedy occurs every day. I won't waste my time hash tagging sympathetic garbage. Its fake. If I can effect good in the strangers around me it is enough. No need to chase ambulances.
 
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TomLine

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I thought this was an excellent statement:
People often complain that we have a tendency to dehumanize and separate from people who are ideologically divergent from us, restricting ourselves to rigid boundaries that never allow us to change our minds and gain new experiences. We throw around words like “evil” for ideas that are different from ours.

Who made this statement?
 
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SummerMadness

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Hash tags are annoying. Adults who use them even more so. Probably not a lack of empathy, most likely the sensibility to believe that its fake and dishonest to pretend you care when you actually don't and that hash tags and photo ops don't bring back innocent girls.

A tragedy occurs every day. I won't waste my time hash tagging sympathetic garbage. Its fake. If I can effect good in the strangers around me it is enough. No need to chase ambulances.
Hash tag campaigns do not work until they do. This campaign was successful. The Nigerian people started this campaign to get their government to do something about finding these girls and that message spread around the world. Failure would have been continued lack of government response, but the opposite occurred, the government increased its efforts and solicited outside help from nations like the United States.

These girls may be saved or may never be saved. Their safe return is probably the ultimate goal of the families, but that's not what the Twitter campaign was about, it was about getting their government to act. It worked.
 
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MachZer0

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Hash tag campaigns do not work until they do. This campaign was successful. The Nigerian people started this campaign to get their government to do something about finding these girls and that message spread around the world. Failure would have been continued lack of government response, but the opposite occurred, the government increased its efforts and solicited outside help from nations like the United States.

These girls may be saved or may never be saved. Their safe return is probably the ultimate goal of the families, but that's not what the Twitter campaign was about, it was about getting their government to act. It worked.
It worked in the fact that it made people like Michelle Obama feel good about themselves
 
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gnomon

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You posted before that you smoke. Did you step outside to smoke a cigarette before or after you posted this? You know, cigarettes are maxed out with laced chemicals.

I have read the intentions of the author differently then you. KCW wants to know if conservatives can express empathy. Emotional intelligence on KCW's part leads to a discussion based on the title of her article. Compared to KCW's EI, a few conservative CF members haven't as much tact. Their use of loaded-brushes is evident when they role with the influential mockers and dastardly, not tactfully, mock using phrases such as "Moochelle".

Using an atrocity to mock the First Lady is cowardly.

KCW states she is at a loss with Coulter and her ilk The title of her article makes that clear.

Are conservatives going to hold cowardly conservative mockers accountable for their influence? KCW listed examples of conservatives growing in numbers continuing the mocking. Let's here it from those who won't mock.

It's an exercise in a common logical fallacy. A rather pathetic one as well.

Another form of this exercise I often see on web forums is the argument that black people are more violent and more prone to criminal behavior. Racists especially will take the actions of a minority of a population and use it to paint that large brush across the majority. The sad thing is that those racists can pull out reams of data to attempt to support their argument.

KCW uses one example and the comments of three people on that one example and attempts to describe millions based on it. That's just stupid.

As to the OP and its author......poor job so far. Talk about using a tragedy to push your own political view for the sake of you political view......
 
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SummerMadness

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Of course it's not every conservative thinks this way, but it's a sizable number. As evidenced in this thread, how many conservatives denounced Coulter and Will? I can think of only one. More people supported them and attacked "teh Left."

Many conservative media websites jumped for glee at the "takedown" by Coulter and Will. And I didn't even get to the comments section.

The Daily Caller | George Will Mocks #BringBackOurGirls: 'An exercise in self-esteem'
Conservatives4Palin/RCP | George Will: Hashtag activism won't "have any effect on the real world"
Daily Surge | George Will Destroys "Hashtag Activism"
The Real Revo | George Will is not impressed with 'hashtag activism'
RealClearPolitics | Hashtag Diplomacy Makes Liberals Feel Good
BizPac Review | Ann Coulter tweets her own brilliant picture of 'hashtag activism'
The Right Scoop | George Will Mercilessly Mocks Hillary and Michelle Over #HashtagActivism
The Right Scoop | Ann Coulter: Bring Back our Country
IJ Review | You'll Love Ann Coulter's Funny Impression of Michelle Obama's Hashtag Activism
Young Conservatives | Ann Coulter's EPIC tweet in response to Hillary Clinton's #BringOurGirlsBack tweet

Of course this isn't every person that identifies as conservative, kind of like the South during segregation, it was extremely racist. That does not mean that every Southerner is racist, but there were a sizable amount that demonstrated the racism of the South. Conservative media (and this is not even an exhaustive list) applauded the likes of Will and Coulter. They used this Twitter campaign as a vehicle to attack their political enemies.

It's not just three people, it's not all people, but it's a lot of them.
 
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DaisyDay

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I don't think it's a good idea to stereotype a whole group of people like conservatives!
You're right, of course. I know I don't like it when liberals are treated like that. Criticism should be directed at the particular parties who do indulge in such behavior as noted in the OP.
 
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katautumn

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As evidenced in this thread, how many conservatives denounced Coulter and Will?

You know, it really bothers me when liberals say things like this, because by golly when a prolific liberal does/says something wrong and conservatives ask why they aren't denouncing them, you always get, "why should we have to? They don't speak for us" as a response. I seem to recall getting that response when I asked why the left accuses conservatives of "waging the war on women", and yet give Bill Maher a free pass when he called Sarah Palin a foul, sexist name. Everyone was like, "I don't even watch Maher, so what difference does it make?"

Coulter doesn't speak for me, as a conservative. I have my own thoughts and my own voice. I'm not a fan of Coulter. What else can be said?
 
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SolomonVII

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I enjoy some of the things that Coulter says.
Sometimes she gets on my nerves.

I doubt that there is anything that she says that wouldn't get under a liberal's skin. That is her sole intention after all.

If she wasn't doing that, she wouldn't be dong her job.

If course, it is not just the rabble-rousers that liberals find obscenely heartless. It is the default position for liberals to define all conservatives as heartless, because it saves losing argument after argument actually debating what sober and thoughtful conservatives such as, say, a Thomas Sowell, or a Charles Krauthammer have been saying for years.

Anne Coulter fights like a liberal. She makes it all about mocking liberals rather than dealing with their positions. To the extent that the only position on the left has become denigrating the right, she has been spot on nevertheless.
 
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Ringo84

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It is the default position for liberals to define all conservatives as heartless

Probably not worth my time to point out, but what the hey:

Ringo84 said:
I'm uncomfortable making blanket statements about conservatives, liberals, or any other group.

Joykins said:
There does appear to be a certain subset of people who call themselves conservative who seem to take delight in being jerks. On the other hand, I don't think most thoughtful conservatives are really like that.

DaisyDay said:
This tends to be true of people in general. I don't know that conservatives are particularly susceptible


Kat said:
You know, it really bothers me when liberals say things like this, because by golly when a prolific liberal does/says something wrong and conservatives ask why they aren't denouncing them, you always get, "why should we have to? They don't speak for us" as a response. I seem to recall getting that response when I asked why the left accuses conservatives of "waging the war on women", and yet give Bill Maher a free pass when he called Sarah Palin a foul, sexist name. Everyone was like, "I don't even watch Maher, so what difference does it make?"

Coulter doesn't speak for me, as a conservative. I have my own thoughts and my own voice. I'm not a fan of Coulter. What else can be said?

I don't disagree with this.

However, a distinction should be made between a "foul, sexist name" and actually warring against women. Not to derail, but here's how I explained it elsewhere:

When Democrats speak of a "war on women", they don't mean opposition to abortion or single mothers, but enacting policies that target and (perhaps in some cases, unintentionally) hurt women.

Abortion is a great example. I find most of the arguments against abortion to be persuasive and do not like the practice any more than you do. If I got a woman pregnant and later found that she had had an abortion, it would upset me to know that my progeny was never born.

However, if a woman must have an abortion, I would prefer that they have it in a clean, reasonably regulated clinic overseen by an accredited doctor. The alternative is women hurting or even killing themselves through the use of cheap, unregulated abortion medication from Mexico or using unsanitary and non-medical procedures to induce an abortion.

This is what politicians who work so hard to close abortion clinics don't seem to understand: they're winning the battle but not the war. They think that if they simply regulate abortion clinics out of existence, the practice of abortion will simply vanish (this is where I part company with the so-called "pro-lifers"). But If you make it harder for a woman to receive the medical care that she needs, you only drive her to dangerous, unregulated methods that could seriously endanger her health. THAT is waging a war on women.
Ringo
 
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SummerMadness

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You know, it really bothers me when liberals say things like this, because by golly when a prolific liberal does/says something wrong and conservatives ask why they aren't denouncing them, you always get, "why should we have to? They don't speak for us" as a response. I seem to recall getting that response when I asked why the left accuses conservatives of "waging the war on women", and yet give Bill Maher a free pass when he called Sarah Palin a foul, sexist name. Everyone was like, "I don't even watch Maher, so what difference does it make?"

Coulter doesn't speak for me, as a conservative. I have my own thoughts and my own voice. I'm not a fan of Coulter. What else can be said?
I don't think your statement about Bill Maher is true:

Mediaite | Kirsten Powers - Bill Maher Degrading to All Women
Alternet | Unacceptable: Sexist Bill Maher Calls Sarah Palin the C-Word
Daily Kos | Why we must defend Sarah Palin
NY Times | Letter: Maher's Attacks on Women

I am not expecting people to roundly criticize them, but there have been two responses, cheering (a lot of cheering) and silence (except for the crickets). Silence is fine, but cheering is another thing altogether. When so many people are cheering this on as a "takedown" and referring to their statements as "epic," it certainly looks like their views are accepted and promoted. Do I expect every conservative to demand that Will lose his job? Of course not. But I also don't think they should be promoting their ideas as right (as seen in this thread).

I agree with your point about people having a tribal mentality where they seek to protect those they consider their own. But the big difference between this story and Maher? Liberal media sites weren't posting videos of his stand up and cheering it as epic.
 
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SolomonVII

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The thread starts out asking why conservatives don't have any empathy at all.
This is not an unusual response. Dennis Prager still chuckles about how he was on the Larry King show, with Larry King asking him sincerely pretty much the same thing.
Then there is the Howard Dean statement defining his cause as "unlike conservatives, we don't think that children ought to go to bed hungry at night".

There was one thread started by a liberal atheist, ironically amusing, basically noting how conservatives were condemning themselves to hell, because of their uncaring attitude toward the poor.

I would have been wasting my own time, but offering any kind of argument against that one.

It is not the only position that liberals have of course. But it is the default position, and inevitably it is the fallback position that makes any real discussion a waste of time.

It is the one constant of the liberal position, that they are the ones who just care more, and that is why they are liberal and not conservative, because they care.
 
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wintermile

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It's an exercise in a common logical fallacy. A rather pathetic one as well.

Another form of this exercise I often see on web forums is the argument that black people are more violent and more prone to criminal behavior. Racists especially will take the actions of a minority of a population and use it to paint that large brush across the majority. The sad thing is that those racists can pull out reams of data to attempt to support their argument.

KCW uses one example and the comments of three people on that one example and attempts to describe millions based on it. That's just stupid.

As to the OP and its author......poor job so far. Talk about using a tragedy to push your own political view for the sake of you political view......

KCW's intention to direct others to stop mocking a form of activism that benefits Nigerians is in no way self-serving.

In the future, KCW may roll up her sleaves and wittingly take down Coulter and her ilk.

Most who do not use Twitter are reserved with their intentions not to tweet. Some of these individuals were prompted to act because of the #Hashtag even though they do not have a Twitter account. There is no reason why Twitter can not be used for social concerns.

One of my favorite writers, Jamelle Bouie, wrote about the 'myth of black-on-black crime'. Quoting Bouie, "There is nothing about blackness that makes violence more likely."
 
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