Transexuals

[Brian37]

CL, "love" as your bible tells you is not anything to do with reality. It is a candyland utopia. Now let me give you the realistic way one can "love" having nothing to do with old books and bad claims.

First off, no, you don't have to "love" all 7 billion humans, we will NOT always like each other or only say nice things about each other. No, that is not a call to force anyone out of existence, just to say "love" is a loaded word when most humans mean "I'll say I love you unconditionally" and that sounds nice but most people mean "as long as you accept your place in the social pecking order".

The way I put it is, I know my species has a dark side, capable of great cruelty, and that part I do not have to "love". I don't put it that way in any case. I use the word "value" and yes, we should ALWAYS value empathy and non violence and human rights. But we do not have to value claims outside the right to make the claim. And especially claims that lead to oppressive laws or violence to others who are not violent.

I VALUE my species empathy yes, we can do very great and compassionate things for each other. But that is not a result of magic or sky heros, that behavior is in us. At the same time unfortunately, we also can be very physically cruel to the point of mob murder, state murder and genocide, and no, I don't love those ideas or value those ideas that lead to those things.

I value, for example the empathy of Martin Luther King Jr, but that does not make his Christian god real. But there are also others who have and still do, use that same bible to be dicks to blacks, and no, I don't "love" or as I say "value" those interpretations that lead to harm to others.

I value Ann Frank's empathy, but that also does not make Yahweh a real god, nor does that justify other Jews even today, who use those same writings to justify holding airline jets hostage because sexist dicks refuse to sit next to women.

I also value the empathy of Malala for standing up for women's education, but I do not value the interpretations of the Quran that lead to other assholes trying to murder her.

Now, my position is all religions have no bases in reality and are nothing but made up excuses humans invent to set up social pecking orders. BUT, that doesn't give me a right to set up a godless utopia myself. My duty is to my species and non violence, but I have no duty to remain silent when bad claims lead to bad acts.

I value non violence. I value even the right to say things that piss me off. But I will never value ideas that lead to oppression. I value my species empathy, I don't however "love" everything an individual may claim, nor do I have to.

         Well said, empathy is something the human race lacks greatly in. A greater question that seems lacking of an answer is, when is empathy deserved?

I think it isn't a good idea to ask it like that. The human language is always  loaded when it comes to points of view and everyone has their own ideas as to how to keep social order and civility. 

Unfortunately because reality is messy, evolution also drives us to not only be social, but like all life, you thrive when you have control over your environment. I think the better question is, "What is the balance to allow for differences but at the same time foster the understanding that we are still the same species".

For me, my understanding of nature, allows me to understand that there is no way to get rid of everything you don't like. Not even outside humans can we do that. We cant end bacteria, only manage it. We cant end volcanos, but only understand them. And we also cannot rid the world of every bad or delusional claim we don't like either.

But we can foster more civility and have done so through the common concepts all humans have. Humans don't like being physically harmed, we don't like our family or friends harmed, we don't like our children harmed, and we all compete for resources. So the balance is common law, not common religion, not common race, not common political party. 

Empathy isn't even about never offending. Empathy is knowing that even in the face of getting offended, we don't have to respond in violence over simply that alone. Empathy is also knowing that victim isn't a matter of label, but context and case by case.

When Muslims, for example say they are victims of the west, that is true, what we did in getting rid of Saddam, still hurt non violent civilian humans. But that does not excuse Isis, or even the oppressive theocracies of Saudi Arabia or Iran. 

When Jews say they live in fear of rockets in Israel, again, I agree, that part is true. But when Palestinians live in fear of carpet bombing that is also true. 

When Kurdish Christians and even minority Muslims are murdered by Isis they are victims. But Kim Davis refusing to do her job is simply a stupid fucking crybaby.

Even with atheists. We do face losing our jobs, or having our property defaced, but in parts of the world atheists get murdered. So empathy to me is always case by case in context of the moment. I think accepting that our species is always capable of both cruelty and compassion is how you allow yourself what you chose to respond with.