New York, there is street level homelessness and marginal poverty, yet we
do not see people being motivated by their pity for these individuals, to take
them into their homes or help to support them to secure self-sufficiency.
Perhaps the attitude can best be noted as “better them than me.” Drop the
dollar in the hat if it makes you feel good for a moment. But let’s face it,
everyone who drops the dollar is no different than the person who walks by.
The dollar is dropped not because it will solve the problem of the homeless,
but because it makes the slave feel less guilty for a moment or alters their
status in the eyes of others. It’s like feeling good about praying for
someone. Isn’t it better than nothing? No, it is nothing as it fails to solve the
problem you supposedly have pity for, and it’s hypocrisy in its rankest form.
For Nietzsche, pity is to be avoided: “Pity stands opposed to the tonic
emotions which heighten our vitality: it has a depressing effect. We are
deprived of strength when we feel pity. That loss of strength which suffering
as such inflicts on life is still further increased and multiplied by pity. Pity
makes suffering contagious.” (From “The Antichrist”.)
In this case, our little girl has no audience that could be awed by our
exhibition of power over her, so we walk on by.
Fourth Argument: we should help her because of our feelings of
compassion.
One of Nietzsche’s acknowledged influences was the work of Arthur
Schopenhauer, who died in 1860, but left behind the highly influential “The
World as Will and Representation” which has been credited with strongly
influencing philosophers and scientists alike. But it is his “On the Basis of
Morality” that he argues for compassion as being the driving principle of
human morality. He was a strong advocate for the abolition of slavery and
the equality of all humans, and was strident in the promotion of animal
rights. He was heavily influenced by Buddhism, and this comes through
clearly in his writings. Perhaps I should have used Buddhist teachings
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