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this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2024
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A lot of people can't seem to fathom actually caring about doing the right thing. I'm never sure how to explain to someone that they should genuinely care about the well-being of other people.
As an autistic person, I've had to logic my way through empathy, so I'm pretty good at moral reasoning and getting past factors that make problems seem more distant. I might not give the same emotional reaction as seeing it in person, but someone "becoming a statistic" still makes me feel a little bad. Now, I definitely don't do as much as I really should, but I do at least care.
I wonder if allistic people, with their intuitive empathy, just never bother to push beyond their empathetic and moral intuition? Distancing strategies seem far too effective on them, and cognitive dissonance is great at promoting distancing strategies.
This is a very compelling idea. It seems quite plausible that an allistic person who hasn't had to navigate empathy in the same way you have might be more susceptible to fascist propaganda that portrays certain groups as a threat.
I'm not autistic, but I often wonder if the trauma I've experienced hasn't made me understand the importance of empathy on a more personal level. If I had been raised comfortably in some suburb with a two-stall garage and all my needs met, it's quite possible I'd be a completely different person.
Same tbh
I suspect autism is why I care because I did grow up in that suburb, so I'd expect me to be apathetic, but I'm not.
Side note: I think people are capable of empathy even if they live in a suburb. People are complicated. It's just probably harder if one has more privilege or is not part of a marginalized group.
I know it's not about suburbs, it's about privilege and distance from the bad