Is compassion a Strength or a weakness?

In evolutionary terms, that's all that matters.

 

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Alright then. Its not black and white though, there are degress of compassion right ?..

So a Cynic can be compassionate in some cases ?
Or are Cynicism and Compassion mutually exclusive ?

 

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I'm both cynic and compassionate.

 

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And you see yourself strictly in evolutionary terms? That you are nothing but a blob of meat enslaved by your genes?

 

Reproduction is natures raison d'etre

 

What I view myself as is irrelevant.

 

Are you saying this for rhetorical purposes,
or do you really wake up in the morning and say to yourself
'What I view myself as is irrelevant' ?

 

You cannot have a society without human rights and civil rights. Criminals are innocent until proven guilty, so yes all accused of a crime, including terrorism deserve basic human rights.

 

And where did I say otherwise? Maybe you need to learn how to read a post.

 

We still kill to survive, but compassion keeps us from killing our neighbor for $.

 

Agreed. But that "society" doesn't have to include all humans on Earth, does it? When you/anyone says "society", what do they mean? Can two different societies exist on the same planet?

So, ...does, say, American society extend to all people on Earth? And does American society dictate what Taliban Muslims should and should not do?

And, by the reverse argument, does Taliban society also extend to all people on Earth? And therefore is valid in America and Europe?

Maybe a better way to ask it is: If society's rules/laws conflict, then which society is the most valid?

So in the USA, we have all those laws and cops and courts and prisons .....just for the fun of it? Our natural human compassion would really take care of things, but the attorneys just like all that legalese to argue about sometimes? ...and prisons are really just extended-stay vacation resorts?

Baron Max

 

It's almost always the case that those people who claim to be compassionate about people on the other side of the world, almost always live within just a few kilometers of people in dire poverty and need. Yet those compassionate people would rather go halfway around the world instead of helping those close to them.

How compassionate is that? ...that you can ignore nearby need in order to help someone thousands of miles away?

Baron Max

 

Maybe it's like the argument against abortion that I learned in jr. high. You never know who that fetus could grow up to be and you might be taking away a great opportunity for the betterment of mankind or the entire planet (of course that works in reverse too). But as far as compassion goes you never know who your talking too. Last year I helped this old guy carry all of these suitcases up a flight of stairs, for no reason just because he asked for help, it wasn't like I had to be somewhere. He was very grateful and gave me his email address said if there was anything he could do for me... and blah, blah, blah. The next day I found out it was George Lucas.

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I have his personal email address. Compassion can be a weakness, if you're only out for yourself, but it's like gambling, get lucky and it can be a strength. (ie your boss chooses not to lay you off because you were so kind in their time of need and gets rid of the guy that never even offered a supportive word)

 

compassion is definatly a weakness, the more you are compassionate the more people tread all over you

 

I can be a weakness if you don't know what you're doing..
Also, is compassion reserved for other people ?

 

You can be compassionate without being a doormat.

 

Compassion isn't about giving until you are dry. It's about having enough caring for someone that you are willing to be gentle and firm when they need you to be. An intervention for an alcoholic is one of the most compassionate things you can do for someone with a real drinking problem, for instance.

Compassion isn't about laying down, it's about standing up and caring so much for someone else you are willing to put your personal relationship aside to help them, and only them... not for what you will get out of it but for what they could become.

 

Yes, but only if those two societies have equal might which is in a state of balance. When one society is mightier than the other, it gobbles up the other and makes it into a version of itself, very much like a virus or the borg from StarTrek.

Not American society, but Western Society.

Might is right.http://renegadefuturist.com/library/mightisright.htm

Currently American society is a scam. I call it a scam because it's not a family oriented society. Our society puts money before family and the American dream is a scam, a confidence trick.

Prisons are a place where we house the mentally ill because we are not compassionate enough to put them someplace else. Most prisoners aren't rapists, killers, or even violent. Most are desperate drug abusers, or drug dealers, or con artists, or thieves. If a majority of prisoners were in prison for crimes like rape and murder I don't think we would be having this debate. It's the victimless crimes that corrupt and weaken the justice system.

 

Sometimes, they do.
You just have to know the ones who will.

 

in the end you only have yourself to answer to, i think a person who was compassionate might be more content. *whispers* rosebud.