I have often wondered why Republican politicians and pundits display so little empathy for the people their policies harm, or worse. When a people were dying, because Big Insurance was cancelling their health coverage after that had made payments for years, Republicans ignored these corporate death panels, supported the corporate criminals and accused Obama of death panels that did not exist. As people are losing their homes, because corporate loan sharks misrepresented the terms of their loans, Republicans ignore these corporate criminals, while fighting tooth and nail to prevent legislation, that requires Banksters to represent their loans honestly and clearly, from taking effect. The reason may well be that these Republicans lack empathy because the people who own the Republican Party also do.
Psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner says the rich really are different, and not in a good way: Their life experience makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish.
In fact, he says, the philosophical battle over economics, taxes, debt ceilings and defaults that are now roiling the stock market is partly rooted in an upper class "ideology of self-interest."
“We have now done 12 separate studies measuring empathy in every way imaginable, social behavior in every way, and some work on compassion and it’s the same story,” he said. “Lower class people just show more empathy, more prosocial behavior, more compassion, no matter how you look at it.”
In an academic version of a Depression-era Frank Capra movie, Keltner and co-authors of an article called “Social Class as Culture: The Convergence of Resources and Rank in the Social Realm,” published this week in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, argue that “upper-class rank perceptions trigger a focus away from the context toward the self….”
In other words, rich people are more likely to think about themselves. “They think that economic success and political outcomes, and personal outcomes, have to do with individual behavior, a good work ethic,” said Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Because the rich gloss over the ways family connections, money and education helped, they come to denigrate the role of government and vigorously oppose taxes to fund it.
“I will quote from the Tea Party hero Ayn Rand: “‘It is the morality of altruism that men have to reject,’” he said.
Whether or not Keltner is right, there certainly is a “let them cake” vibe in the air. Last week The New York Times reported on booming sales of luxury goods, with stores keeping waiting lists for $9,000 coats and the former chairman of Saks saying, “If a designer shoe goes up from $800 to $860, who notices?”… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Common Dreams>
Avoiding the temptation to tar all with the same brush, there are millionaires and billionaires with sufficient empathy to have a well developed sense of social responsibility, and they reject and oppose the class warfare Republicans are waging against America. But, if it seems that the Republican Party doesn’t give a damn about 98% of Americans, it’s because it’s true. They reflect their owners.
17 Responses to “Republicans Reflect their Owners”
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This explains why them of the Norquist nut brigade, and even Obama himself are not really pushing for a fair tax code. they may mumble some words tot hat effect but truth of the matter is they all have seven digit wealth to protect.
Not to mention a nation to enslave economically through low wages, long hours and squeezing every drop from every person still working because they know as soon as the worker can no longer perform with “at will” right to work employment they can kick the low performer to the curb without so much as a buh bye and replace him/her with someone who will do the job harder for less money.
This lack of ability to empathize and understand that the fate of the individual is a result of the fate of the collective and is one more step. step towards rioting in the streets of America
Mark, sadly that will be the case unless this country wakes up.
Were 12 separate studies truly neccessary? I could have told them this years ago.
Agree—
The multiple studies confirm the obvious, it is true. However they serve as a foil against Republicans who will claim this is only opinion.
Ayn Rand: “Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil.”
Compared to: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith” ~ I Timothy 6:10
Ayn Rand: “It is one’s own personal selfish happiness that one seeks, earns, and derives from love.”
Compared to: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” ~ John 15:12-13
Ayn Rand: “What I am fighting is the idea that charity is a moral duty and a primary virtue.”
Compared to: “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
“Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” ~ Matthew 25:35-36, 40
Repubicans who have sworn allegiance to Ayn Rand:
Reps. John Boehner, Paul Ryan & Dick Armey; Sens. Rand Paul & Ron Johnson; Glenn Beck; Rush Limbaugh; Clarence Thomas; Sean Hannity; Dennis Miller; the entire Faux “News” network … and her supreme and personal acolyte – Alan Greenspan (husband of Andrea Mitchell, NBC)
Source with their quotes:
http://americanvaluesnetwork.org/aynrandvsjesusmemo/
Nameless, thanks for an excellent collection! This is both relevant and timely.
Just about every time I see another crime committed by conservatives (there is no Republican party anymore), I ask the rhetorical question “What is WRONG with these people!?!?”
Maybe this is the answer.
It does provide a way to understand their perspective.
agree with you– there are many who do have a sense of morals and empathy– but– as a class of people- The Republican party does not give a diddly damm about the welfare of those the regard as beneath them– the great unwashed masses– us-
Quite right.
I’ll try it here and then give up!
Hi Tom
I guess I blew that comment. Perry is a lying ass hole who knowingly hung an innocent ma. He is still talking secession, listening to that scum talk holier than thou and seeing people believe that crap is scary. What the hell is wrong with us?
I was listening to Romney say corporations are people too and the audience was pissed. I am disgusted with Repugs, they want total collapse and nothing less so they can blame it on Obama and get back in and finish off us and Bush’s misagenda.
Jim, you either changes your email address or your URL and got caught in our spam trap.
You’re absolutely right.
George Lakoff lays out those two metaphors as two versions of a family. What he calls “Strict father” I see as the evil wolf and the abusive father. Dr. Bob Altemeyer has laid out what he refers to as an Authoritarian Personality that has a whole list of issues and points that are typical dysfunctional things that you point to. I think that there are basic brain structures involved here that can be enhanced or pushed back in all the various ways that Lakoff lays out.
I laid out this and more in Generation of Monsters though I still suspect that early abuse advances the more negative metaphor it may not be determinate for everyone. But for those special cases that have never experienced a really bad day, their ability to comprehend what that is for someone else is not likely to exist. What is especially interesting are those who do get such really bad days late in life and are so stunned at the revelation.
Welcome, FreeDem. 🙂
Thank you for an interesting article, and I hope you will join in the discussion here when you aren’t trying to attract people to your site.
My site is not about attracting readers to daily or hourly commentary, but to shorten my posts and avoid repeating myself everywhere. What I have written there is not for the moment (Generation of Monsters was years ago) and my references are not hawking my site, but a more detailed discussion of what I am talking about. Just as the other two links were.
Go ahead and tar them with the brush, if there are any exceptions let them come forward and distinguish themselves, I say throw out the baby with the bathwater, the worthless rich have done nothing good, their collective actions cry out for revenge.
If we get some real laws, and start putting rich f—s in solitary confinement with restrictions to find out what they may know about ticking time bombs like a bad CDS rating they lied about or a deep oil well they cut corners on – I will have no sympathy – I will laugh – same as they do about poor people being locked up.
The time has come for vengeance, not understanding, f— ALL rich people,