"It is a mistaken response, sure, but that doesn't change what the response is."
*Ye-ah! Like he said!* On Thu, Sep 17, 2026 at 2:23 PM Eric Charles <[email protected]> wrote: > I agree with everything you are saying *except *the claim that it somehow > means Pink couldn't have been "scared" in a proper sense. > > Now, obviously, I don't know if Pink *was *scared. You might be right > that she probably wasn't. She obviously *might *be honestly confusing > some related phenomenon for being scared (like being nervous, or > concerned), or she might be engaging in pure performative bullishit. But we > don't know for sure that she wasn't. I'm not "empathetic" with Pink, I'm > just saying that she might not be lying. > > The ability of Jewish mothers in particular to be legitimately, > debilitatingly, scared over things that most find non-threatening is > impressive. Whatever behavioral or phenomenological thing you want "scared" > to mean, they can do it. The idea that I might not give my kid a Covid test > when they are sick for a weekend can give my mother all the same symptoms > she would have if an unknown intruder was rasacking her living room. She is > genuinely scared after a synagogue shooting, even though she hasn't been to > a synagogue in years, and ditto after the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" > rally, despite being nowhere nearby. And if she understood half the Nazi > dog-whistles that sounded during the last election cycle, those would have > scared her as well. > > Not to go all Nick on you... but... > Let's say we have proof that someone *has *"bought into the idea that > non-threat triggers like 'Free Palestine' are as threatening as imminent > threats" and you and I *agree *that is a false equivalence. Of course, we > don't necessarily mean that they can consciously articulate such an "idea", > we mean that they embody it. They have a system designed to respond --- > behaviorally, cognitively, emotionally, physiologically --- to respond to > immediate physical threats, and as a result of whatever screwed up past > history they have, it has come to also respond to non-threat triggers. > Why wouldn't we describe such a response as "being scared" in either > scenario? It is a mistaken response, sure, but that doesn't change what the > response is. > > Best, > Eric > > <[email protected]> > > > On Thu, Sep 17, 2026 at 12:49 PM glen <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Maybe. But note that I never claimed there was *no feeling with which to >> empathize*. My claim is that the feeling is mis-named by "scared". As I >> footnoted in my last post, I can easily empathize with in context scared, >> being at the place, in the moment. And I can easily empathize with what >> that turns into, given some abstraction (e.g. in my friend's evolution from >> scared to anger at systemic racism). >> >> So I *can* empathize with Pink's feelings. But it's not "being scared" in >> any normal sense of that word, any more than (e.g.) Effective Altruism >> prioritizes the welfare of unborn humans over humans present here and now >> ... >> >> The cynical take is that Pink's bought into the idea that non-threat >> triggers like "Free Palestine" are as threatening as imminent threats. >> Equating those two things is *false equivalence*. When taken at face value, >> what Israel is doing *right now* is more imminent than any abstracted >> threat from some musician shouting "Free Palestine". >> >> On 9/17/26 9:31 AM, Roger Critchlow wrote: >> > >> > Glen -- >> > >> > Your inability to empathize seems a pretty flimsy excuse for your >> conclusion that there is no honest feeling with which to empathize. You >> basically ask us to take your feelings as real and Pink's as fake. Or am I >> overlooking some other evidence you presented? >> > >> > When Trump got into winding up the crowds at his rallies to evict and >> punish protesters, I felt scared, and I wasn't there or even in the same >> state or even considering protesting his bullshit in person. >> > -- rec -- >> >> >> -- >> 8647 ⊥ ɐןןǝdoɹ ǝ uǝןƃ >> ὅτε oi μὲν ἄλλοι κύνες τοὺς ἐχϑροὺς δάκνουσιν, ἐγὰ δὲ τοὺς φίλους, ἵνα >> σώσω. >> >> >> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / >> ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> archives: 5/2017 thru present >> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >> > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / > ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ > -- Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology Clark University [email protected] https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson https://substack.com/@monist
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