I think that my ability to empathize with something is mostly based on its similarity to myself, and the more I understand particlar things about people, the less I empathize with those things.
That being said, when I better understand something I identify with, my empathy is fairly undiminished. When someone complains about “not fitting in” because of their interests, and I know that they’re not signalling affiliation with others becaue they allocate attention and determine beliefs to be more truth-oriented or sciencey because of their upbringing and various quirks, I still feel empathetic.
For some reason, novelty can also make me try to feel sympathy for something. Like, trying to understand how a foreign group feels on the inside can still motivate empathy, for me.
I think that my ability to empathize with something is mostly based on its similarity to myself, and the more I understand particlar things about people, the less I empathize with those things.
That being said, when I better understand something I identify with, my empathy is fairly undiminished. When someone complains about “not fitting in” because of their interests, and I know that they’re not signalling affiliation with others becaue they allocate attention and determine beliefs to be more truth-oriented or sciencey because of their upbringing and various quirks, I still feel empathetic.
For some reason, novelty can also make me try to feel sympathy for something. Like, trying to understand how a foreign group feels on the inside can still motivate empathy, for me.