>You cannot be empathetic to complete strangers.

Why not? I’m not trying to inflame this further, I’m genuinely interested in your logic for this statement.

In high social cohesion there is social pressure to adhere to reciprocation, how-ever this start breaking down above a certain human group size. Empathy like all emotions require effort and cognitive load, and without things being mutual you will eventually slowly become drained, bitter and resentful because of empathy fatigue. To prevent emotional exhaustion and conserve energy, a person's empathy is like a sliding scale that is constantly adjusted based on the closeness of their relationship with others.

	▲	gabriel666smith 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		Thank you for your good-faith explanation. > Empathy like all emotions require effort and cognitive load, and without things being mutual you will eventually slowly become drained, bitter and resentful because of empathy fatigue. Do you have a source study or is this anecdotal, or speculative? Again, genuinely interested, as it’s a claim I see often, but haven’t been able to pin down. (While attempting not to virtue-signal) I personally find it easier to empathize with people I don’t know, often, which is why I’m interested. I don’t expect mutual empathy from someone who doesn’t know who I am. Equally, I try not to consume much news media, as the ‘drain’ I experience feels as though it comes from a place of empathy when I see sad things. So I think I experience a version of what you’re suggesting, and I’m interested in why our language is quite oppositional despite this.