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RE: The paradox of being “anti-capitalist” in a capitalist society
@whatamidoing You might also enjoy this RSA. It's based on a much larger book called Empathetic Civilization by Jeremy Rifkin. Certainly humans are wired for competition but we are also just as wired for cooperation and empathy. However much of what we are sold glorifies the competition and bastardizes the cooperation. I think there is a new human narrative brewing as more and more people realize that infinite growth on a finite planet is just not sustainable. :)
Watch "RSA ANIMATE: The Empathic Civilisation" on YouTube
I checked the vids - for which thanks. I found the comments (I only checked the last 4 years, which I copied (58 pages). Now I'm going to have to read through it all.
As I suggested in my comment here, even empathy is not the answer - it is just an answer.
I posed this scenario in my story: Robert senses children being abused in a brothel, and he interferes. However, there is one customer who tortures little boys and Robert forces empathy on him. The same man returns and tortures another child. Robert invades his mind and discovers that empathy is making the pain of the child even more of a pleasure for the man. It turns out he too was treated this way as a child and saw what he is doing as being good (natural) for the child.
Empathy is not an 'island' that floats on its own, it is affected by our personalities, our experiences and belief systems.