discomfort as an effective laxative on human laughter. Or the entertainment value of the most recent blockbuster action or horror film. Yes, we know it’ s not real, but I suspect we get the same physical adrenaline rush as the Romans did when watching real gladiatorial contests.
If we were really creatures imbued with such inclinations as pity and mercy then why is violence such a popular form of entertainment? Why are we all not appalled by it? Why did people cheer for Clint Eastwood in“ Dirty Harry” when he was aiming a gun at a guilty but defenseless man? How about the children mutilated by the hand amputating fiends in Sierra Leone during its Civil War? How about the Americans in Vietnam gunning down unarmed civilians over and over again to make a body count. If you haven’ t read it yet, I strongly recommend“ Kill Anything that Moves” by Nick Turse. Mercy as a natural human emotion? Don’ t make me laugh.
David Hume, 18th century Scottish philosopher and economist, noted that pity is akin to contempt, as we view the person afflicted as being beneath us. Hume is connected with the area of philosophy known as skepticism and empiricism. But Hume was locked into his own conditioning, as he ultimately held that ethics were derived from humans’ internal convictions, and he could never bring himself to break fully from Christianity.
Nietzsche had this to say about pity:“ To show pity is felt as a sign of contempt because one has clearly ceased to be an object of fear as soon as one is pitied.” Further, in“ The Antichrist,” he noted that:“ The weak and ill – constituted shall perish: first principle of our philanthropy. And one shall help them to do so. What is more harmful than any vice? Active sympathy for the ill constituted and weak …”( from“ The Antichrist”).
If humans do feel pity, it is indeed more on the order of contempt, as it evokes so little response. We are surrounded by those less fortunate than ourselves, and little or nothing is ever done. The act of charity in response to pity is clearly the exception in our world. Even in highly affluent cities like
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