I was going to skip Sailer’s article about Jackie Robinson because I vaguely know the story and have no interest in whatever sport he played. But as I was leafing through the piece, my eyes snatched the following sentence:
We tend to be more outraged by minor slights to winners than by mass atrocities against downtrodden losers.
This is undeniable. Compassion – which means a common, or shared suffering – starts when we identify with the sufferer. What if this pain was visited upon me? What if I were hurt in this way? It’s harder to feel compassion when you don’t want to put yourself in the sufferer’s place at all. And it’s always easier and more pleasant to identify with somebody you see as “just like me”.
Show me who elicits your compassion, and I’ll tell you how you feel about yourself.
Clarissa's Blog 
Jackie Robinson was the first African American baseball player in the major leagues, he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and underwent a lot of racist abuse from fans, other players and even his own teammates. The movie 42 goes into more detail about this, be warned there’s a lot of racial slurs against African American people.
I agree that people tend to feel more compassionate about slights against folks perceived as winners than atrocities against downtrodden losers. People tend to believe that if losers get beaten, they somehow must have deserved it because they don’t want to think of themselves as being in the loser’s shoes. This is why kids don’t stick up for bullied kids and often join in on the bullying, they think the victim had it coming and that the victim did something to get bullied. This just proves humans are bastards, no one wants to identify with losers
LikeLiked by 2 people
Explains the whole Israeli-Gaza conflict, tbh. The outrage over 700 people killed by terrorists is supposed to be louder and more concerning than the indiscriminate bombing of 35,000 people, because we can’t relate to them. Humans have never changed.
LikeLike
Supposed by whom? How can outrage be more concerning? Why should humans change? From what? Into what?
LikeLike