Papal empathy fail

[Cyborg Girl]

Grimly funny quote from Pope Frankie's 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si:

http://direct.catholicnewsagency.com/ne ... mily-60383


"valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different."

I like how he's literally saying his empathy doesn't work with people who are too different from him, but that's somehow their fault. Incredibly precious and selfish, and IMO literally the language of an abusive bully: "It's your fault that I'm driven to hurt you!"

No bloody wonder Millenials are cooling on religion.

[SciFiFisher]

No bloody wonder Millenials are cooling on religion.

I suspect that is because their parents were less likely to take them to church. The single best way to gain recruits to any religion is to have babies and take them to church/synagogue/mosque as often as possible. Only a small percentage of people actually grow up to question the faith they are raised in. Of course, I suspect that almost everyone on FWIS is an exception to that rule.

[geonuc]

He states immediately after your quoted text:

"In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment."

Taken together, in context, I don't see how you derive that he's assigning fault to anything or anybody.

[Cyborg Girl]

Context. Pope Francis has also compared trans people to nuclear weapons, re: perverting the natural order of things. He's better on a lot of fronts than Benedict, but that is a damn low bar.

I think it's possible I'm misinterpreting the sentence re: subject and object; but the alternative interpretation is even worse, because then he's basically saying that people who "don't value" their own masculinity or femininity are less capable of empathy. No matter how one reads it IMO, it's a bunch of doctrinaire garbage.

(Which is what you'd expect from the Pope, but some liberals still haven't quite cottoned on yet unfortunately.)

[code monkey]

gj, it's great to see you back here! even though I disagree with your interpretation.

the pope talks about embracing and valuing differences. I don't see blaming others in the quote that you've posted here. as I see it, to say that one must value oneself to be able to recognize oneself in an encounter with someone who is different doesn't put the responsibility on the other.

but i'm so glad that you're back. you've been missed and I think of you (and bless you) every time I use ps -ef. (actually it's ps -ef > ps and then grep for my id in ps.)

[Cyborg Girl]

Hi cm!

Aww thank you! And thanks re 'ps -ef', though honestly I prefer 'ps aux' when using GNU based OSes - those options show much more useful info.

Re: valuing one's self to recognize value in the other. I suppose that may be the correct interpretation; though IMO it's a very awkward way for the Pope to put it, and the invocations of specific "man" and "woman" roles make me hunt around for a hidden catch. (Remember, this is the same institution that spend decades implying that gay men are pedophiles while covering up pederasty within its own offices.)

Also, from personal experience, I disagree pretty strongly with the idea that "compassion for self" is a necessary prerequisite for "compassion for others", except in the most general and theoretical way. I've met waaaaaaaay too many people now who love others easily and struggle to love themselves.

[Rommie]

Also, from personal experience, I disagree pretty strongly with the idea that "compassion for self" is a necessary prerequisite for "compassion for others", except in the most general and theoretical way. I've met waaaaaaaay too many people now who love others easily and struggle to love themselves.

I always interpreted this as more the idea that you need to help yourself before you can help others. Well, you can, but you'll probably not be anywhere near as efficient in the long run and the chance of being taken advantage of is high, so it's not overall healthy.

As they say before the plane takes off, in the unlikely event of depressurization, if the oxygen masks drop be sure to affix your own mask before helping others.