I used to consider myself center-left, but I don’t know. I frankly don’t care about much, the state of the economy, the state of the U.S. despite being American, or what Trump does in office. It’s simply not my problem and I think it’s boring.
I don’t have high empathy to begin with, and I believe that since it doesn’t directly affect me, I don’t care one way or another. For now, I consider myself to be bisexual (or maybe straight but bicurious?). I believe it’s normal (not right, normal) for some bisexual people to be homophobic, especially when their preference leans toward the opposite gender, since bisexuality is still vastly different from homosexuality.
While I respect everyone regardless as they’re all people, I simply don’t care about certain rights one way or another. I believe LGBT, for example, are people who deserve equal treatment, but I don’t particularly care as I never faced homophobia.
I won’t hang out with certain people. I view them as people with rights, they’re just not my cup of tea.
I don’t understand people with disabilities and won’t pretend to, but I also can’t help them much as someone who hasn’t gone through it, doesn’t know many people like that, nor cares enough to research. I don’t hang out with lesbians because I only hang out with people I relate to, and I can’t hang out with a woman who only likes women.
I like getting attention from men, as they’re masculine. I find I can relate to men/women who like men, and help men who like women with dating women/maybe see them as romantic candidates.
While I do believe everyone deserves equal rights, I don’t have much empathy. I don’t know how to help nor do I care much, frankly, and I am certainly no activist.
I think you are underestimating the power of empathy. I mean this constructively, not as an attack. In my opinion, it’s the single most important emotion for leading a fulfilling life, maintaining healthy relationships, and contributing to and living in a healthy society. The cool thing about empathy is that almost everyone can learn how to do it, even if it doesn’t come naturally. Think of it like a muscle you need to exercise. If you don’t use it regularly, your abilities can atrophy.
You’ve already recognized that you’re not great at empathy, which shows that you are capable of self-awareness, which is huge! The next step is just to find a way to turn that awareness inside out and put yourself in other peoples’ shoes.
The fact that you’re wrestling with the issues you bring up, shows me that you do care about these things. So I think it could be valuable to interrogate what specific things you do and don’t care about when it comes to all the things you mentioned. If you do that with empathy for others always in mind, I think most of your concerns will resolve themselves.
Cultivating Empathy