Why do so many republicans seem to be emotionless and show lack of empathy?

Question

I’ve seen this a lot while interacting with republicans online and it’s no secret that one of the main talking points of republican speakers is that democrats and liberals use too much emotion. I read that the makeup of our brain can determine are political leanings I don’t know if this is true but if it is does that mean that republicans and people on the right were already predisposed to be emotionless and show lack of empathy

Rangers · Accepted Answer

Because emotions are a poor way of fixing problems in this world, logic is the way to go. There's exceptions, of course, but logic is more important and they will almost always be at odds with eachother as to which direction they pull people. Growing up requires that you accept that no matter what you do, thousands of people will die today, tomorrow, and the next day, almost none of them having anything to do with guns, knives, or anything like that but with heart attacks and heart disease related complications. Going after people's guns to bring deaths down is like chasing clouds, not only will we never give them up, but even if we did, criminals won't, even if they did, over 1,000 people would still die every day just from heart disease related complications and at most, you'd save 22 people per day from the gun issue. Deaths can be minimized, but in very different ways and in different areas than the ones that emotions tend to drive people towards. No solutions to the world's problems come from an emotional person, they come from a person who knows how cruel this world is and saves the lives that they can save and accepting those they can not save. Using emotions only wastes time, if you put the same energy into healthcare malpractice, you could save hundreds of thousands of lives every year, but since guns look scary, you direct your attention at that and try to pass laws that are unenforceable and would have no impact at best, and have the exact opposite effect with monumentally high murder rates at worst. So think with your head, not your heart

Soteris · Accepted Answer

The differences in empathy only partially explains the split between Republicans and Democrats, more specifically it explains the split within fundamentally Democratic groups where the few who are still Republicans tend to have these personality traits.

To explain why Republicans in other parts of the country both exhibit and does not fall under this stereotype you need to understand the "us vs them" mentality. Republicans can be very empathic people and is often considered very sociable and warm, however this is conditional.

a lot of Republican strategy revolves around getting their voters to mentally separating groups in their heads and thereby providing a way to limit their ability to feel empathy for others. Republican politicians wants them to feel empathy towards their leaders such as the personality cult around Trump where they can use that empathy to hide their own flaws and misdeeds while at the same time rob their voters the ability to connect with people outside their "group".

Hence, "Us vs them", "Good vs Evil", "People vs others". It is no stretch to say that some Republicans have gone so far as to not even view other people as not even human. Republicans reactions after 9/11 is a good example.

But to summarize, its more complicated than to say that they lack empathy, its more accurate to say that their empathy has been hijacked and monopolized by people who exploit them for their personal benefit.

Sassa74 · Accepted Answer

Hahahahahaha!!! Because Media Outlets are only sharing Fake News and We r not Assholes and Narcissistic like Africans Americans and beside we were raised in more nuclear families and were taught to not act like Idiots. Besides a Police officer can’t even uphold the Law without being berated. I wish and hope we would come together and shut this BA down

Jessica405 · Accepted Answer

Too bloody selfish! Their attitude is, "blow you, Jack. I'm alright."

OlderAndWiser · Answer

And how do you characterize those on the left? In equally unflattering terms?

BCA6010 · Answer

For starters, empathy is not a good trait for a leader; it's the quality of a councilor or a con artist. The best that the Republican party has to offer are typically governors (leaders) rather than senators or representatives (talkers and con artists). This may seem to run counter to the claim that the Republicans hate centralized, authoritarian government, but it is what it is. To the Republican point of view, policy making based on logic and pragmatism is more conducive to long term success, though it is generally a harder sell, especially in the fast-paced, high-stress, and self-loathing modern American culture.

When leading a country of over 300,000,000 people, bowing down to the ever-changing emotions of what is almost always a small minority of the population is a recipe for disaster. Even the Democrats don't actually do this; they use public outrage (often manufactured by their own media shills) as an excuse to expand government power and enrich themselves in the process. While producing inferior results from the standpoint of addressing the nation's problems, their party is much better at playing the game so to speak, and they do so preying on people's knee-jerk emotional reactions.

BCRanger10 · Answer

It's not that we're lacking emotions or empathy. If you look at John Haidt's moral foundations test, you'll see the conservatives and Republicans do in fact have empathy, but just that it's pretty evenly balanced with all the other foundations.

Empathy is important, but it's all for nothing if it doesn't lead to someone making better decisions or changing how they think about things in order to improve their lives.

Ad_Quid_Orator · Answer

When they say "we base our policy on logic while the left relies on emotions", 95% of the time, what they are just using that as a euphemism for putting financial interests over human well being.

Anonymous · Answer

It's more appropriate to characterize the left as mischaracterizing the problems and demonstrating an excess of care when it is inappropriate to do so -- those who are putting a gross emphasis on care are neglecting liberty and health of their society.

Leavesbound · Answer

Republicans don't value lives in general. They value their own and those of their friends but not people in general.

StunningANDbrave · Answer

Because facts do not care about your feelings, fire is hot, and to see it's cold because you feel like it should be doesn't disprove that it's hot.

ManHater · Answer

look man emotions dont run a country. Tears don't pay the bills. giving away wealth does not fix poverty.

Snakeyes7 · Answer

Emotionless and lack of empathy isn’t exactly the right way to put it. We tend to aim for stoicism rather than nuance.

taboomaster · Answer

Because cnn doesn't want you to see that. If you did, you wouldn't hate them.

KrakenAttackin · Answer

Wrong. I would counter with, why don't liberals have any sense of reality or history?

JesseJayNeak · Answer

What about liberals? Do they have empathy when white people are in trouble?

White_Boy_506 · Answer

I actually think its the opposite. People on the left think its perfectly fine to kill fetuses that can feel pain

Anonymous · Answer

Because they use logic over feelings, which actually results in a better quality of life for everyone

bones0271 · Answer

Liberals are the same and lack empathy if not the liberal people are worse

Anonymous · Answer

Why do so many Democrats seem to be emotionless and show lack of empathy?

Anonymous · Answer

I think because they like to gold with facts instead of feelings

Still-alive · Answer

thats pretty much their creed

Why do so many republicans seem to be emotionless and show lack of empathy?

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