Is compassion a Strength or a weakness?

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by Challenger78, May 3, 2009.

?

Compassion is a..

  1. Strength

    21 vote(s)
    87.5%
  2. Weakness

    3 vote(s)
    12.5%
  1. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    43,184
    It can be either. It depends on the situation and the time frame you're looking at.
     
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  3. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    From the 1st site I got from googling "idiot compassion" :

    Idiot compassion invents Miranda rights to protect criminals from prosecution rather than allowing police powers to protect innocent citizens.

    Idiot compassion is so concerned with the rights of terrorists that it sabotages legitimate Patriot Act procedures designed to protect Americans from murderous organizations.

    Idiot compassion is so fearful that one innocent man might be imprisoned that it helps enact laws that insure freedom to thousands of certainly guilty ones, by disallowing evidence obtained against them. -=-
     
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  5. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    Odd, most people voted for strength.. but I'm unconvinced.
     
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  7. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    It's a few minutes lost with no forseeable return.
     
  8. takandjive Killer Queen Registered Senior Member

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    2,361
    Let's play this out. Look at Aesop's fables: Compassion can get you stuff. Being nice/compassionate makes people remember you, gets you favors later on, etc.
     
  9. takandjive Killer Queen Registered Senior Member

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    Eh, once a Buddhist monk gave me a free magazine subscription because I was feeding a pigeon.
     
  10. Oli Heute der Enteteich... Registered Senior Member

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    Compassion would make you think twice about how much need to rise to the top: is it actually worth trampling on other people to get there?
    And compassion doesn't stop you doing what is necessary, but it does stop you going further than necessary.

    Examples?

    Not "manly"?
    It directs the application of "manliness" maybe.
    If there were no compassion you'd protect only yourself from the dangers of the world.

    Compassion is the ability to notice that others sometimes need help and you are in a position to provide it.
     
  11. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    7,536
    If you were compassionate, you would be forced to alter plans, say to attack an enemy, if that attack were to harm innocents.

    But it's still a diversion from the ultimate goal: The Self.
    Is compassion an evolutionary hangover ?, We don't need to travel in packs anymore to ensure protection.

    Before anyone says this, I'll say it..
    "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" -Hamlet Act 3scene ii.
     
  12. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    7,536
    But those are irrelevant to what you need, or could have gotten by killing or robbing them.
     
  13. Steve100 O͓͍̯̬̯̙͈̟̥̳̩͒̆̿ͬ̑̀̓̿͋ͬ ̙̳ͅ ̫̪̳͔O Valued Senior Member

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    2,346
    See how far you get in the world withot compassion.
    People don't tend to help you out when you don't give 2 shades of shit about them.
     
  14. Oli Heute der Enteteich... Registered Senior Member

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    11,888
    And that's bad because...?
    Pfft, just come up with better tactics/ strategy/ technology.

    Why is "self" the ultimate goal?

    Hangover?
    If it weren't for compassion we probably wouldn't be here at all.
    Do we not?
    You can defend yourself against a succession of "enemies"?
    One after the other after the other, until you're worn down and defeated...

    You're learning.
    The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I.
     
  15. takandjive Killer Queen Registered Senior Member

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    2,361
    Humans are social animals. Killing or robbing people isn't really an efficient means of getting what we want.
     
  16. justwonderingjoe Gosh,the weather is nice today Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    386
    Maybe we need to define weakness vs strength?
    Before I wiki or Google definitions
    IMO:
    Strength - is a positive attribute

    Weakness - is a negative attribute

    I have to attend a lecture right now, but will be back later, ciao
     
  17. Baron Max Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,053
    Human compassion? Strength or weakness? It can be both, perhaps even at the same time, same event. However, ......

    I think human compassion is a lie that humans have told themselves for so long that they've come to actually believe that humans actually have such a thing. ;=)

    Okay, okay, ...that might be just slightly too harsh because I think people do feel a little "something" for those that we know and love or that we're close to. But feeling compassion for all human strangers in the world? Or feel compassion for human strangers 2,000 miles away? Naw, that's a fuckin' lie.

    If humans actually felt the compassion that they claim to feel, then there wouldn't be nearly so much human misery and violent death in the world.

    If humans actually felt the compassion that they claim to feel, they couldn't function for being so sick and upset at the human suffering in the world every fuckin' day.

    If humans actually felt the compassion that they claim to feel, then the violent, blood-n-guts movies wouldn't be the most popular.

    If humans actually felt the compassion that they claim to feel, then the violent, blood-n-guts video games wouldn't be so popular.

    Humans usually claim to be the only animals that feel compassion. Yet it's humans who are responsible for the most violent, bloody deaths and misery in the world. Animals would never, or very seldom, do anything nearly so violent as what humans do.

    Nope, compassion is a lie that humans have told themselves for so long that they've come to believe it ...except, of course, for family and close friends - and I'm not sure that we can call that "compassion".

    If there even is such a thing as innate human compassion, then its a very short-lived, very selective feeling - humans get a little twinge of sadness or something, ...then pick up and go to the club to have a blast with friends.

    Baron Max
     
  18. Pandaemoni Valued Senior Member

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    3,634
    Compassion is one of the glues that holds societies together. All else being equal, any group where the people failed to feel compassion form one another at some level would be less stable in the long run than one where there was no such compassion.

    We, as humans, are parts of many groups and have attachments and degrees of compassion for the members of each that generally vary proportionately with the degree of closeness we feel to the average member of that group. The closer we are, the more compassion we feel, the more disconnected we feel, the less compassion we have.

    Compassion then is a tool, and the proper manipulation of an individual can lead to its being increased or decreased in appropriate circumstances. If you can convince me that an individual is "foreign" and an "other" then my compassion level will fall. This is useful when you want to go to war with other group, as in a conventional war, compassion is often at odds with the objectives of military planners, who generally want their troops to show less of it. All sides in WWIOI were content to depict the enemy forces and bestial and sub-human.

    On the other hand, in guerrilla wars, where only a handful of a population are combatants, leaders often do want their troops to show compassion to locals, because they do not want toi lose the support of the local population. In that case, inculcating a degree of compassion can be important to maintaining viable positions during the conflict (physically and politically).

    So, if your gioal is fostering social cohesion, compassion is a Strength. If your goal is achieving the destruction of an enemy (without regard to reforming his behavior or beliefs) then it is a Weakness. I would not that, if you do want to reform your enemy's wicked ways, compassion is again a Strength, because there the social bond is key.

    In a broad and oversimplified way you can think of the Hawk-Dove game. and replace the "peace" and "war" strategies with "compassion towards others" and "no compassion" strategies, respectively.
     
  19. Buffalo Roam Registered Senior Member

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    16,931


    That depends on when it is applied.
     
  20. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    Can be both.

    When caring for someone who's sick, a strength.

    When fighting off an enemy, definitely a weakness.
     
  21. Varda The Bug Lady Valued Senior Member

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    6,184
    Compassion allows for the weak and deformed to dwell among us and suck us off time and resources. If nature had its way, these individuals would not be allowed to live.
     
  22. Norsefire Salam Shalom Salom Registered Senior Member

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    I agree, Varda
     
  23. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
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    So, if you were severely injured, and someone showed you compassion by helping you up, cleaning and suturing your wounds, taking you home and looking after you, you would call that a weakness?

    What if you show compassion to a really smart person who is productive in the world? Is that weakness seeing as they benefit society?
     

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