No, but it isn't a strength either in this case. It simply is. However, when an individual lets this "compassion" get in the way of personal gain, then it is a weakness. What is "society"? If you show compassion to a smart person because they are productive, then you are doing it for a practical purpose (for a gain) and thus it is not a weakness.
I better hope I have some value to someone, otherwise nobody would want to save me, right? It's not compassion if I am helping someone that can benefit me, or to society, it's opportunism.
You are seriously telling me that if you helped someone who was sick or injured, you'd be doing it for society's good, not because you cared?
What goes around comes around. The nerd you kick in around in high school might be your boss someday. And payback's a bitch.
Well I read the thread too, and found this quote by you. So if a member of your family was dying on the side of the road from an accident and someone came upon that accident scene, would you want them to be compassionate and try to save them or decide eh, looks like they'll be a drain on society so I'll let them die without calling for help. You still haven't explained why compassion is a weakness.
But this is a bad example. If a nation is forced to defend itself then there is no logical reason not to based on an argument of compassion even the Dalai Lama believes in the right to self-defence through violence when or if necessary. The Dalai Lama has said that the only reason he did not violently resist the Chinese is because Tibet could not overcome a huge nation like China so he didn't find it in the best interest of his people
How did you come up with those examples? Idiot compassion is defined as this: What is idiot compassion? It is a Buddhist axiom that describes self-deluding behaviors in the guise of sympathy/empathy that manifest in the destruction of yourself or others. The examples you gave was of a system deluding itself into inefficiency without cause
Compassion is necessary, because without human compassion, there is no justice. Without justice, there is the rise of selfish egotism and oppression of fellow men. God created the natural world of man beginning with compassion. From the child being raised from his mother, there is compassion, from the father looking after the child there is compassion, from children looking after their aging parents, there is compassion. The world is an injust place because compassion has vanished form humanity. When selfishness and greed become the primary motive of men, we have already lost and our societies will decay. As the prophet Muhammad (peace eb upon him) taught us, 'God created human beings with compassion, therefore that human who is not compassionate, how will God be compassionate to him?' Those who lose the most are those who are not compassionate. In some respects, they are no longer even human.
Lack of compassion is generally a weakness, because it leads to ostracism of the individual from society. It's a weakness NOT to have compassion, even from the point of view of pure self-interest. If you want other people to help you when you're in trouble, you need them to feel compassion for you. But the only compassion that people tend to feel for selfish individuals is a sadness for the life the selfish person might have had if he or she had had some compassion. If you're an egotist who regards other people as means to your own ends rather than as ends in themselves, you're missing out on what it is to be a proper, fully-functioning human being. And those who lack compassion tend to have no real friends. ---- In general people feel closest to blood relatives such as their parents, siblings and children. Next comes family and close friends. Then those in one's social circle, and so it goes. I personally think that one important difference between different people is the extent to which their personal "circle of consideration" extends beyond themselves. Some people just don't "get" how anybody could possibly care about somebody they have never met on the other side of the world, for example. Others devote their lives to helping people they will never meet.
So all the world aid and stuff, those are what exactly ? Donating blood too ?.. What exactly are those acts, if compassion is such a fleeting feeling? Token gestures of compassion in order to gain better social standing ? Most donors live alone. I appreciate your cynicism btw..
Then why do they still exist as a means ? Question, Shouldn't then, crime vanish as population expands ?
I beleive that all humans should have compasion.. because it has the word passion in it.. lol jk.. but seriously.. it is a strength. becuase human instinct is to survive by any nessecary means. for some that means kill, and if your natural instincts tell you that you should not be compasionate and you are then you are stronger than your baser instincts.. if you cant be compsaionate towards human life.. and strive for other people to live.. then you have nothing to live for yourself....... that probably makes no since but it did in my head.