Why some people feel more compassion and empathy for animals than fellow humans

You may remember a story in the past about a woman who stabbed a man because the man hurt the woman’s cat. This happens occasionally (unsurprisingly, I’d say). In one such example a woman stabbed a man to death. Of course it was murder. She did it because the man threw her cat against a wall – he was frustrated in his inability to fix a television believe it or not. The cat survived. The woman is serving a 15 year prison sentence for murder. It happened in Russia.

But the point I’m making is that the emotions which some people feel when their cat is being hurt by someone they know is stronger than if another person is being hurt. Why is this?

The answer must be to do with the innocence of the animal compared to the lack of innocence of humans. The domestic cat is an innocent creature. They live instinctively. They can do no wrong. Only humans can judge them as doing something wrong in their eyes but they’re not actually doing anything wrong. The cat is doing something that the human does not like.

It is the innocence of the animal which touches a nerve in a lot of human beings. When that innocence is attacked it is something which is totally unacceptable to some people. It is akin to a person attacking a young baby or young child. Violence against children engenders a similar reaction in most people.

To some people it is inexplicable why people feel more compassion and empathy for animals than for fellow humans. I am one of those people who feels more compassion and empathy for animals than for fellow humans and it is not inexplicable to me.

As I said, it is about innocence. The beauty of innocence in a creature. You cannot hurt such a creature. There can never be a reason for it because they can do no wrong. They cannot be malicious and nasty. They cannot be bad. There is a purity about innocence which protects them from criticism.

When innocence is attacked by a depraved person (and for a person to attack a domestic cat you have to be depraved in my opinion) there is a stark contrast in attitude and behaviour. The cat is behaving instinctively while the human is behaving in a distorted, sociopathic and criminal manner. You can only but hate such a person and feel great sympathy for the cat unless of course you hate cats and are the sort of person who could hurt innocence.

Depraved = morally corrupt, wicked.

Please note this: I am writing about the human’s relationship with, primarily, the domestic cat. I’m not writing about wild animals and the relationship between one wild animal and another or the relationship between the wild parents of wild offspring as referred to in the first comment on this page. That person totally misunderstood what I’m trying to get across. I thought I was clear about this but obviously some people are too interested in criticising me and finding ways to do so.




7 thoughts on “Why some people feel more compassion and empathy for animals than fellow humans”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
  2. Michael, I don’t know how to keep Shrimptaro from invading my mind.
    I promised him that I would die with him, if he died before me. ?…

    Reply
  3. The longer I am on this earth, the less empathy and compassion I have for human adults-and many youngsters. Too bad adult humans don’t teach their children he way the animal mothers teach-we’d have a whole lot of better behaved humans. I much prefer the love and honesty of my animals to the lies and stupidity of humans. The lack of understanding from Jacie is a good example of someone leaping before they look.

    Reply
  4. Too bad that you’re not closer to nature and understand the natural world better. Every spring some raccoon mothers bring their kids to the yard when trying to ween them onto more substantial foods. When any of their kids misbehave, they are quickly pulled toward the mother and given a hard nip. Which results in the baby raccoon crying and squealing. The mother then drawing the baby even closer and then soothes its cries from being duly punished by the mother by licking and preening its fur. Effectively saying to the child, “DON’T DO THAT! … Because I love you!” Unlike you, animals know when one of their own are not doing what they are supposed to do and are reprimanded swiftly and accordingly. There is no “permissive child rearing” in the natural world because all things of nature are “innocent”. They are taught important behaviors, where a really nasty nip from the mother to learn a valuable life-lesson is much better for that offspring than a fatal nip from a passing vehicle. If only you could learn as much about the real world and what it means to be a responsible caretaker and teacher of animals under your care.

    Your unnatural idyllic Disney-Channel view of the world is as far removed from reality as everything else shown on The Disney-Channel.

    Reply
    • As I frequently encounter, I am misunderstood. You have misunderstood what I’m saying. In fact you have misunderstood me completely. What you are writing about is a completely different topic of conversation.

      What I am writing about is the human relationship with the domestic cat. You are writing about wild animals and a mother’s relationship with her offspring. It’s a completely different topic.

      So please, please do not criticise me if you do not understand what I am writing about.

      Reply

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