Study shows the rich do not respond to the distress signals of others

[Sarah Ibarruri]

13. I'll bet the rich have more empathy for others of their own kind.

I'm curious if the study will change your mind about the causes of this empathy.

I personally think it's a series of things:

(1) Discrimination against the poor. Conservatives and right wingers tend to despise the poor, because they hold firmly to a myth that those who are poor are slothful. They spend their lives promoting the myth that the poor are somehow evil.

(2) There are certain Protestant religions in the U.S. that believe the poor are poor because they deserve to be for their sins.

(3) The wealthy who would customarily feel guilt for their ostentatiousness rid themselves of the guilt by imagining that they, somehow, are deserving, while the poor are not.

(4) The wealthy who inherited, obtained their wealth through corrupt means, or have almost outright stolen it, justify their having wealth by making someone else 'the bad guy:' in this case, the poor becomes the object of their abhorrence.

Just my opinion.