It's really fascinating that you appear to register 'thanking' as 'apologizing'.
And I thank you for that, as I think it just helped me better understand a broad group of the general population I could never quite figure out.
And I thank you for that, as I think it just helped me better understand a broad group of the general population I could never quite figure out.
More examples I thought of:
* Extreme opposition to mask wearing, perhaps due to conflating nurturing/protecting with weakness.
* Stand your ground laws. Backing down from a fight, even when it is neither strategically or tactically logical perhaps is perceived as weakness.
* Vehement opposition to environmental laws... (again nurturing/protection).
* Fart cars with noisy exhausts and Harleys. Used a s a tool to project aggression, i.e.: the perceived opposite of weakness.
* Victim blaming. Sympathy/empathy conflated with weakness?
I think this is a rich vein which might yield some insights into aspects of human behaviour.
A similar concept has also been discussed in the article "The World's Most Toxic Value System¹.
[1]: https://stevedutch.net/pseudosc/toxicval.htm"
See also:
> One of the most profound memories I have from that school is of Ms. Susan teaching us to say "thank you" to the plants when we took a few of their leaves for the tea. We'd look at the plant, find some good leaves, pluck 'em off, and then say "thank you" and move to the next one
And the response:
> It's messed up for a school to get children to verbally apologize to plants. It implies that plants have feelings.
The followup to that is about the confusion/"these are the same things" for thanking something being the same as apologizing for that same thing - that gratitude is the same as remorse.
---
The difference is:
> Thank you for the leaf that I will use for tea
vs
> I'm sorry that I'm picking your leaf for my own enjoyment
The first example here is thanking (a plant) and the second example is apologizing for taking action implying feeling sorry for the harm caused to the plant.
And, I think that was the hardest to understand thing I’ve ever said.