"To indulge in deception, pretence and social manipulation you need to be able to put yourself in another's shoes; to take the other's point of view; to imagine what it would be like to be that other."Certainly "putting yourself in another's shoes" should enable some comprehension of the mind of another human being, but for what purpose? Foolishly, in trying to make the world a better place, I've been attempting to EMPATHETICALLY understand my fellow humans (ie care about them), when I could have been RULING the world using deception, pretence and social manipulation. What a pathetic, non-sociopath I turned out to be!
(page 76, The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore)
Thursday 11 November 2010
Empathy or Machiavellian Ingenuity?
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4 comments:
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You have just made my day much less lousy.
I'm glad that I was able to make your day less lousy. It's important to aim high :)
i think what Susan Blackmore describes perfectly is why advertisers, political advisers and corporates use market research. Then the choice to act with integrity - or not - with that understanding of audiences is up to the user of the research.
Advertisers, political advisers and corporates - three groups leading the way for integrity driven research!
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