Comic Strips

Empathy is the reason we didn't go extinct at the peak of the afro/eurasian bottleneck when we numbered less than 2,000 individuals.

True, but it'll the current manosphere chud-driven narrative around this it's also worth mentioning that empathy is not itself an emotion. It may result in an emotional response, but empathy itself is an cognitive process through which one person considers the perspective and emotions of another. Consciously turning off your empathy literally just makes you dumber and less rational.

You see this all the time with prominent Republicans who suddenly become pro-gay rights as soon as their own kids come out. Bruh, gay people didn't suddenly start deserving rights just because your kid happens to be gay, so you were either being irrational before or you're being irrational now. The cognitive process by which you could have avoided irrationality was by engaging in empathy - consider the perspectives and feelings of others, consider how and why they come about, and incorporate that into your thinking.

I have read that domestication of horses was an inflection point for the economics and violence in the bronze age societies. A horse makes raiding distant villages a possibility as a horse can outrun humans. These tribal raids turn into organised warfare to the extent that steppe cultures had one of the first cities to be built with fortifications. And all of this happened only the last 5000 years ago.

The history of violence isn't as old as it's claimed to be and it is definitely not innate but something we discovered on the way. I am also not trying to argue that all humans aren't violent but maybe the steppe people are. You find various examples of guest-host relationships in steppe cultures. Even the word guest and host etymologically traces its roots to Proto Indo European, the language of steppe nomads!

It's present in numerous species. It's a very useful survival trait.

They are. Humans are social creatures, the survival of our species depended on the success of group work. A single human can't survive on their own, and so you need to be a part of a collective that's organized by a social hierarchy that divides people up into small roles achievable by individuals. In the primitive days of our species, all the tasks were dangerous and difficult, and so we evolved empathy as a way to minimize losses and ensure maximum cooperation. If our ancestors didn't have empathy or compassion, we would've died out a long time ago because nobody would've stepped in take care of the injured, elderly, young children, or women during child labor.

And that for one to become a billionair, one must be completely lacking empathy and compassion.

Same

Aferican painted dogs prop up the weak in their pack and are one of the most successful hunters on the planet.

You're like the only person in the comments who understand something this basic. Props to you

It's crazy how in the 80s and 90s the US was literally the peak of the world, and now it's struggling to stop a senile pedophile as president from going rogue.

USians are so disconnected from the whole world they think this is a wholesome comic

The thing is that there was never point in American history where any of these things were true. These dingleberries are talking about a time that didn't exist.

I'm aware that the role of the US on the international stage is often not that of the good guys, but I'm not sure how you could argue that USAID and taking care of injured veterans are not examples of empathy.

Keep in mind that there are voters in the US who think that we should take care of our veterans, but somehow agree with Musk when he says empathy is bad. I think it's important to show those people some examples of empathy that they would support.

Joe Rogan always has a surprised face. He’s just totally clueless all the time. That’s why he’s so gullible.

This comic is show individual solders who can be pretty diverse. I know a few combat vets who ended up being good people.