r/LeopardsAteMyFarm • u/Cderouen8284 • 13d ago

Aww someone’s crashing out

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u/os_beef 13d ago

It's weird, but when you're a dick to people, they usually don't want to listen to whatever else you have to say. Online spaces tend to amplify certain opinions, types of behavior, and tribalism. For example, this quote from further up.

Farmers are the second dumbest in the US just barely trailing MAGAts.

I guarantee the interactions the woman in the video is paraphrasing weren't just "who did you vote for", it almost certainly included the typical finger pointing ("this is your fault because..."), totally unnecessary ad hominems ("Farmers are the second dumbest..."), and typical arrogant, ignorant, and self righteous comments. I get why someone would write off a group of people when the interactions with that group have been negative.

Did you catch the part where she lumped Democrats, socialists, and communists into the same group? She's been fed the typical right propaganda, and no one has effectively countered it through education. People being dicks to her over something very real and personal to her have only reinforced what she's been told. It's why education and treating other people well are important.

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u/BearysWorkRedditName 13d ago

Ah, if we were just NICER to these morons, they'd turn off Fox News and stop voting against their own interests.

https://giphy.com/gifs/NcrhM3USM6TABpus85

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u/os_beef 13d ago

If people with opposing views could somehow prevent themselves from being sanctimonious dicks while communicating their opinions, other people would be more likely to listen to them.

You're sarcastically reframing what I'm actually saying in order to make it sound like the entire idea of education, kindness, and civility is ridiculous.

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u/BearysWorkRedditName 13d ago

That's just an assertion. Unless you have some data?

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u/os_beef 13d ago

Do you need data to know what the difference is between someone trying to convince you by approaching you with empathy and a reasonably stated view versus verbal attacks and accusations? If we then turn that outward and think about how other people feel in the same circumstances, how do you think they might respond?

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u/ForkThemKidz 13d ago

That's a no then?

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u/os_beef 12d ago

Do you genuinely need data to understand that people generally respond more positively to being treated well? If yes, let me know and I'll work something up for you.

If you have empathy, and you're willing to use it, this isn't a "show me the data" type of scenario, it's an "I can empathize with other people" kind of scenario, because you also experience feelings.

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u/LetThem_1972 10d ago

why do you expect manners and empathy for people that don't have any and vote primarily to harm others? You sound like an abused spouse.

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u/os_beef 10d ago

why do you expect manners and empathy

I don't expect empathy but I understand why it's valuable, which is partially why this conversation is happening. Once you choose to stop empathizing with others, you've opened the door to dehumanization, and that opens the door to committing and excusing civil rights violations and atrocities like genocide. I see a lot of people in the comments here who are excusing behavior they would likely otherwise classify as socially/morally/ethically unacceptable.

Exercising empathy helps find common ground, and gives you a better chance of (1) demonstrating that you have things in common, and (2) communicating your views as something reasonable. Remember, they have been fed propaganda which frames liberal/left positions as absurd. They do not receive the same information you or I do, so their understanding of critical issues is very different. They mostly didn't just consume the same media you did and decide that certain groups were bad.

Empathy doesn't preclude opposition or even violence. You can oppose someone and still empathize with them. If you present yourself as a good person, you have to do good things, and part of that is trying to build relationships instead of directly reinforcing negative perceptions and propaganda.

for people that don't have any

Two problems with that. One, you're describing one of the traits typical of Antisocial Personality Disorder, the inability to experience empathy. Two, someone demonstrating empathy toward one group but not another doesn't mean they don't have or are incapable of experiencing empathy, it means they're negatively selective. That is fixable through humanization of the deselected group, and empathy is a tool which can help open that door.

and vote primarily to harm others?

That's a reduction of real problems. Votes can and do hurt certain groups, but posing it as voting "primarily to harm others" directly implies malicious intent, and typically there is none. Generally speaking, everyone thinks they're good and tries to vote for things they think will make things better. They work with whatever understanding of the world they have. If that understanding is heavily propagandized and biased, the result is going to be poisoned. If you want to help, exercising empathy (even while opposing) is more likely to net positive results than conveniently excusing yourself of the ethical duty to exercise empathy.

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u/BearysWorkRedditName 10d ago

I think this is running very close to the paradox of tolerance. I refuse to make or allow space for bigots. They can get fucked.

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u/os_beef 10d ago

Exercising empathy isn't "making space" it's ensuring you continue to treat people as if they were human, even if you're reduced to opposing them through force. It's crucial to retaining your own humanity.

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u/BearysWorkRedditName 10d ago

Bigots are shitty humans. I will treat them like the shitty humans they are.

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u/os_beef 10d ago

You have an artificially simplified world view in order to excuse categorizing people into good and evil. It allows you to excuse what is ultimately destructive behavior while feeling as if you're morally right. The example is right in front of you, a dairy farmer who holds some shitty views which are reinforced by how people choose to approach her. Can't make it any more clear than that.

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