Students Show a Dramatic Drop In Empathy

MotorMachineMercenar writes "Several news sources report that today's college students show a precipitous drop in empathy (here's MSNBC's take). The study of 14,000 students shows that students since the year 2000 had 40% less empathy than those 20 and 30 years before them. The article lays out a laundry list of culprits, from child-rearing practices and the self-help movement, to video games and social media, to a free-market economy and income inequality. There's also a link so you can test your very own level of narcissism. Let's hope the Slashdot crowd doesn't break the empathy counter on the downside."

Comments

Re:another score

[digitalunity]

People bitch and moan about the price of gas and when there is a spill they bitch and moan about the damaging effects on the environment these evil oil companies are having.

BP is definitely to blame for their poor conduct regarding their failure to meet MMS safety rules, OSHA compliance, platform disaster readiness, telling the truth about their prior knowledge of platform instability, ad nauseum, but the general populace is not without guilt either. People simply need to take moral responsibility for the fact that their choices have costs and we all jointly share in the burden on the environment. Driving a Yukon to work because it's big enough to hold both your laptops, a cup of coffee and the newspaper all at once is a problem. People love to talk about hybrids but in the end they go out and pick up a larger or midsize sedan with 21 MPG because they're cheap.

I'm probably the only democrat who hates big business, wants an end to farm subsidies(maybe if food was more expensive we wouldn't waste so much?), hates big government but desires better more useful regulation in telecommunications, healthcare and consumer privacy sectors, wants all illicit drug control laws repealed.

I would also like to see all handguns banned, no exceptions. They serve no useful purpose for protecting your house or hunting that an AR15 or shotgun can't fill, yet are easily concealable and very easy to commit violent crimes with. Sounds backwards, I know. You can't stuff a rifle in your school backpack, or easily tuck it in your pants to rob the liquor store.

While we're talking about corporations, I think we need an end to different types of stocks for all listed companies. Whats the deal with non-voting stocks? Preferred stocks? You're saying one person who invested $1 in a company is worth more than another person who invested the same $1? The whole investment game is rigged to give institutional investors and rich people the upper hand. Oh, and IPO's should be handled by the SEC directly. No more of this shit where Goldman Sachs or others handle your IPO and give first crack at the shares to all their favorite friends.

It's a good thing I don't run the government. Everyone would accuse me of being crazier than Kim Jong Il. I think the country would be better though.