Beautifully (tragically?) put. Well done. It’s worth pondering…
I think maybe it’s because when something lacks human qualities, we’re more able to project our wishes onto it, whether that’s its “personality” or “story” or “feelings”, whatever. Maybe in a way it makes it feel predictable and “safer”, like we know it somehow. It will behave the way it behaves regardless of the little projections we put on it that can sometimes be a remnant of our own egos.
…People, on the other hand, are much less predictable, and tend to highly dislike being projected upon. Maybe removing relatable qualities and generalizing groups of them is a selfish way of turning them into an “object” that “feels more predictable” and the one projecting feels like it satisfies their need for control, even though it dehumanizes others who are, in actuality, just like themselves.
I feel like it’s a maladaptive way to simplify the complicated. The brain loves to simplify.
Beautifully (tragically?) put. Well done. It’s worth pondering…
I think maybe it’s because when something lacks human qualities, we’re more able to project our wishes onto it, whether that’s its “personality” or “story” or “feelings”, whatever. Maybe in a way it makes it feel predictable and “safer”, like we know it somehow. It will behave the way it behaves regardless of the little projections we put on it that can sometimes be a remnant of our own egos.
…People, on the other hand, are much less predictable, and tend to highly dislike being projected upon. Maybe removing relatable qualities and generalizing groups of them is a selfish way of turning them into an “object” that “feels more predictable” and the one projecting feels like it satisfies their need for control, even though it dehumanizes others who are, in actuality, just like themselves.
I feel like it’s a maladaptive way to simplify the complicated. The brain loves to simplify.
Empathy tends to be such a prevention AND a cure…