Pity

Consider when one sees another's suffering, or a situation which highlights another's inadequacies in a manner that exposes him and his limitations to an observer, whether he himself is aware of this or not. In such an instance, ones perception of that other is that of smaller, weaker, in danger. The others peril and inability to correct this peril may encourage a sympathetic act or thought on the part of the observer. Even if this act is merely inaction.

That one can feel a protective sentiment in this way towards the weaker, an urge to defend it, or even simply to spare it, makes this weakness viable as a social tactic.

As an example, if in confronting a former antagonist you find him frightened, confused, in intellectual disarray or in the midst of a farcical show of bravado to salve his shattered ego.... this state disarms him of threat and changes the parameters of the encounter to those where you have control. When another becomes a passive object to do with as one wishes, it seems that a formerly hostile or at the very least indifferent disposition can change towards a sympathetic one.
To look at this in a different way: a starving African on television slat-ribbed and crawling with flies. This person, thousands of miles away, incapable of applying the resources at hand to remedy it's deplorable situation, appeals to you to be it's saviour. Be it a lack of willpower, knowledge or impetus that would motivate a starving individual, even if they are a bum living in a Western city, it is felt that to intervene here is necessary, to save a lax will from the product of its laxity.
Or, a woman or a fag mouths off to you and you stay your hand out of consideration of their frailty. That another cannot receive a display of force that one can exhibit and must then be indulged and humoured for the sake of not irrevocably injuring them and bringing down upon one the social consequences of exploiting such inequality.

This consideration that another is not worthy of a confrontation which would test and expose its limits or even to be permitted for its own actions or inactions to run their inevitable course - is in other words a form of special treatment where inherent weaknesses and deficiencies are excused and the consequences of which are deflected.

Carried further, this instinct can name itself altruism and pose as a virtue. Here inadequacy is nothing but a boundless need fed by those with with any sort of ability. Parasitism at length grown into a doctrine of good and evil. A doctrine where a producer, of whatever sort, is chained and praised for being chained and where a consumer, a cripple, a needful impotent soul residing in an environment where his need is the duty and obligation of others to fulfil, is shown that his dependency is not shameful but as it qualifies him for special consideration is perhaps an actual advantage.... at least within the context of the system.

Pity thus becomes a tool of sheltering. It retards and stunts the subjects capacity for self-sufficiency and rewards domestication and institutionalization.

And it's funny how it balances out in the end :]

Nature doesn't spare anyone- not even in what we would call enclosed spaces...

Moral of the story is to do what you want, or as we say:

Express yourself exactly as who and what you are - and face the consequences



What is weakness and what is strength is always unfolding :p

apaosha wrote:

A doctrine where a producer, of whatever sort, is chained and praised for being chained and where a consumer, a cripple, a needful impotent soul residing in an environment where his need is the duty and obligation of others to fulfil, is shown that his dependency is not shameful but as it qualifies him for special consideration is perhaps an actual advantage.... at least within the context of the system.

Pity thus becomes a tool of sheltering. It retards and stunts the subjects capacity for self-sufficiency and rewards domestication and institutionalization.

On the other hand, pity is an emotional tool used by the capitalist class to increase its consumer base, open new markets, create new industries and ensure cheap sources of labor and raw materials in Third World countries by keeping them dependent upon charity and aid.

Perhaps what you demonstrate in your OP is your own powerlessness.

Teehee ^____^

Quote :

On the other hand, pity is an emotional tool used by the capitalist class to increase its consumer base, open new markets, create new industries and ensure cheap sources of labor and raw materials in Third World countries by keeping them dependent upon charity and aid.

And so the subject of pity is either a parasite or cattle.

But can the purveyor of such a dependency rightly be said to be dealing in pity and not simply undertaking the farming of a resource or the elimination of potential competitors? Have these dependents been forced into their dependency or are they the product of a natural lack, the manifestation of which is their relative position to those they are dependent upon, who are "opening new markets" and so on?

What I am seeking to describe is a reaction to this dependency among the dependent, or a rationalization and justification of their position plus a manner in which it might be perpetuated... as it is comfortable.... by turning the tables and transforming their slave masters into slaves whose duty and responsibility it is to provide for and nourish these dependents. To find value and satisfaction in such an enterprise.

This is altruism.

Quote :

Perhaps what you demonstrate in your OP is your own powerlessness.

What I demonstrate in the OP is the viability of a social strategy which encourages feelings of sympathy in the other. Which seeks to capitalize on these feelings to its own advantage.

The self-interest of the pitied. The answer to the simple question - who benefits?

Pity can be a survival tool.
You invoke pity on your aggressor so that he might spare you.

When you see suffering it is yourself that you see in the place of the other.
You pity yourself in that situation and you act, hoping that if ti ever comes ot it someone will act on your behalf.

Now distance yourself from the other.
His situation can be seen as a natural consequence of circumstances or inferiority.

Will saving him guarantee that he will save you?
the concept of honor is presumed, but not always justified.
When you pro jct yourself in the others situation you also project your character, you capacity to feel and share his pain, the desire to help.
Like with all projections you take the known and extrapolate the unknown...in this case the most known is yourself.
You you yourself as an example.

But this can lead in error.
Will the other have thought and acted and considered as you do if the circumstance ed were reversed?
Would the weakling, seeking your pity, be moved by your need, and if he was would his feeling be without strings or displays of superiority?

Personally I have found the capacity to feel grateful is never without a tinge of resentment, and not always guaranteed.

In the end you help or you do not, using rational reasoning or simply because you can and it does not cost you anything, gaining that feeling of superiority or the sense that you remained true to your values.
I've spent my entire life trying to overcome my sensitivity to an other's suffering.

Part of me cries, the other part of me appreciates the suffering and remains detached from it.
For me it all comes down to what is at risk. what is being lost or gained?
To pity a lost-cause is a waste of my time. Might as well pity a sickly lamb knowing that it will face the inevitable end all illness does.
The spectacle of existence is, at times, vulgar and obscene.

Yesterday I stumbled upon an eight year old boy, probably Iraqi, with both its arms blown off...its face contorted in in grief.
I could not take the image...had to stumble on.

Cost/Benefit:
If my action costs more than my inaction then I remain detached and a casual, but interested, observer.

Σατυρ wrote:

I've spent my entire life trying to overcome my sensitivity to an other's suffering.

Same.

I'm an admitted complete sucker and have been my whole life.

It's because I have so much to pity..............

Those who do not do not share the feeling :]

To take pity on someone they must be deemed below you in some respect, and for most people there simply is no below.


I've come across the 'fake' kind of pity plenty. Usually always Christians. They feel that anyone who isn't like them needs help whether it's going to church or making the 'right' life decisions.

The trouble is that it doesn't come natural for them....they're told to believe what they should be and do, and so their idea of what's ideal is thoroughly distorted. They are the ones who are pitied, as sheeple, in many others' eyes.

For me, it is always personal evaluation....that is the only real pity, which is truly from the heart :/ And this I've done from childhood.....

Mostly by observation....making friends with the troubled, lonely, fat etc etc :]]

I feel like it's my duty to......because if I wasn't on their side, I would be by myself anyways....cuz I surely don't want to be with the other ones. Actually, come to think of it, I'm deeply attracted to low self-esteem o____0

Say I see a lonely kid at lunchroom table.....scrawney, glasses, braces.....never talks...

I would sit by him....everyday at lunch....

True story.

Why??

Well....because he looks like an outcast, which means there must be something special about him that the others won't accept....which means he inherently has more depth, pain, and self-awareness.

Eventually there was a group of boys who were crushing on me and came up to us and started to bully him though :[

They called him Pistachio like from that movie Master Of Disguise....

I felt bad for ever having tried to be his friend...

He got offended and stopped sitting there :'[