• kautau@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    “I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil. I think I’ve come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants. A genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.”

    – Gustave Gilbert (After interviewing Nazis post-WWII)

    • plyth@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      A genuine incapacity

      This is borderline using genetic arguments, ironic for Nazis. If people have learned to suppress their feelings the incspacity can be strong but is not genuine.

    • DominatorX1@thelemmy.club
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      If you want to understand evil you’ll need to observe it in yourself. Secondhand observations will not do.

    • leftytighty@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      an empathetic society is a cooperative society, a socialist society.

      capitalism is completely indifferent to the human factor, competition is about few winners and many losers. unemployment is desirable, poor people must be allowed to die.

      people think economics is a science but it doesn’t consider human nature, “everyone tries to maximize their personal profit” isn’t an anthropological statement it’s capitalism restated.