Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Hundreds of awful things happen in the world every day. We're only capable of paying attention to a fraction of them. The filter most of us use is proximity. Physical proximity, social proximity. And yes, cultural proximity. I don't think it's bigoted to recognize we have stronger empathy for people who are like us.
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If so, I don't know how to explain the much stronger empathy for gorillas and lions. It seems to me that it's a matter of expectation. Peoples' intuitions about horrible violence taking place in the Middle East, Africa, etc. is that "this stuff happens there all the time".
