Seems that my post was quite inflamatory.
Good. It was written to have such an impact.
However it seems that my snark was misurderstood.
The point I was trying to make was that objectification - seeing a multifactorial, living being as a simple abstract construction made of only a couple of attributes - is an universal fenomenon observed in all mankind. It is part of our psyche. Of our brain's way to simplify the world around us.
We objectify plants, animals, people, reality itself. It is a part of our conceptual constrution.
That's why I used the quotes around objectification - because most people use it erroneously, since it has been misused by the recent "feminist" movement (there's those quotes again).
So Kurotsune, here the both us come at an odds. When you say:
I would change the term to empathy - Empathy is the capacity to understand what another person is experiencing from within the other person's frame of reference, ie, the capacity to place oneself in another's shoes.
What you say here:
Everything you said in your post (and said very well) could be said to be atributted to a lack of empathy - war, famine, rape, hate...
Also, one could argue:
"But objectifying a person is showing a lack of empathy!"
Yes and no. We all objectify at a first glance, so that would depend on what happens after that first evaluation. Humans are visual, visceral creatures - we take those visual qeues and make assumptions based on them.
And I can understand why people would use "objectification" as the go-to concept instead of empathy:
Empathy requires one to look inside - to compare, contrast their feelings; and to most of the time you're confronted with the facts and feelings that most people can't really digest properly (I can't relate to him/her because he/she reminds me of my father, who mistreated me, i.e.)
Objectification is such a simple process - the other is there: he's black, or a woman, or gay so he has all these challenges, so I have to be nice to him/her.
One is a path of introspection and the other is simple observation.
It doesn't help the fact certain powers that be are actively trying to generate dissent but no solutions to social issues (#banmeanwords)
The terms and concepts we use are very important. They show how we truly perceive the problem at hand.
So Kurotsune, I maintain that yes, objectification is a non-issue.
However, lack of empathy... Well, that's why the world is in the state it is now, isn't it?