OK, so Inverarity and Kith_Koby have already written article-length responses to you. I guess I might as well add to the scholarship. :p
I think there are three major points here: the usefulness (or lack thereof) of empathy, "human nature," and what we want stories to be about. So I'll address them in that order.
Point one:In terms of achieving a goal, empathy is a weakness. Flat out.
First of all, this isn't true. But let's assume that it is. The main point of empathy isn't to help you achieve a goal, and it certainly isn't to make you happy. It's to inform you of what your goals should be in the first place.
You toss out goals like "saving a life" or "doing the greatest good for all" as if they're obvious. But they're not. Why should you save a life? What does it mean to say "doing the greatest good"? IMO, empathy is the main way we decide these. More importantly, empathy works as a "safety valve" to make sure the goals we choose are actually appropriate ones.
To put it bluntly, if our empathy is telling us "Hey! Don't do this! It's bad!", it's probably a good idea to seriously consider whether what you're trying to accomplish is actually a good thing. Not to go all (variant of) Godwin's Law here, but Soviet Russia is a perfect example of ditching your empathy to accomplish a goal you think is right, and I think we can agree it didn't turn out well in the end.
Point two:This is human nature not because we are horrible, miserable little creatures or anything so pessimistic. This is human nature because we are simply limited to our own perspective by biology.
"Human nature," eh? You seem to assume that human nature, if there is such a thing, consists in only caring about oneself and one's loved ones. I see no evidence to support this hypothesis and plenty of evidence that goes against it. There are plenty of people who have risked their lives for a stranger. There are plenty of people who have lost their lives for a stranger. Saying that humans are selfish by nature is not being cynically realistic, it's being hopelessly idealistic (don't have the room here to explain why) and in any event makes you just as wrong as people who believe humans are inherently altruistic.
Human nature is not selfish, selfless, or anything else. Human nature is to change. It's to make oneself better, or perhaps worse, but definitely not to remain the same as every other human who has ever lived, pseudo-scientific evolutionary psychological claptrap notwithstanding.
You say you "eventually realized" that selfishness is acceptable and desirable. I have no problem with healthy self-love (indeed, I think you have to love yourself to have healthy relationships with others). I have a huge problem with people who think they are worth more than other people. They are not; they're just deluded.
Point three:You want a story about people who rise above their humanity. I want a story ABOUT humanity. In all its glory and sorrow, selfishness and sacrifice included and present in all characters.
First of all, please don't tell me what kind of stories I want. This may surprise you, but I actually prefer cynical, "gritty," and "realistic" stories full of extremely flawed anti-heroes. And I almost always dislike the kinds of stories where the main character becomes a Christ-like figure.
Second, being empathetic is not "rising above [your] humanity." Not being empathetic is falling below your humanity.
no subject
I think there are three major points here: the usefulness (or lack thereof) of empathy, "human nature," and what we want stories to be about. So I'll address them in that order.
Point one: In terms of achieving a goal, empathy is a weakness. Flat out.
First of all, this isn't true. But let's assume that it is. The main point of empathy isn't to help you achieve a goal, and it certainly isn't to make you happy. It's to inform you of what your goals should be in the first place.
You toss out goals like "saving a life" or "doing the greatest good for all" as if they're obvious. But they're not. Why should you save a life? What does it mean to say "doing the greatest good"? IMO, empathy is the main way we decide these. More importantly, empathy works as a "safety valve" to make sure the goals we choose are actually appropriate ones.
To put it bluntly, if our empathy is telling us "Hey! Don't do this! It's bad!", it's probably a good idea to seriously consider whether what you're trying to accomplish is actually a good thing. Not to go all (variant of) Godwin's Law here, but Soviet Russia is a perfect example of ditching your empathy to accomplish a goal you think is right, and I think we can agree it didn't turn out well in the end.
Point two: This is human nature not because we are horrible, miserable little creatures or anything so pessimistic. This is human nature because we are simply limited to our own perspective by biology.
"Human nature," eh? You seem to assume that human nature, if there is such a thing, consists in only caring about oneself and one's loved ones. I see no evidence to support this hypothesis and plenty of evidence that goes against it. There are plenty of people who have risked their lives for a stranger. There are plenty of people who have lost their lives for a stranger. Saying that humans are selfish by nature is not being cynically realistic, it's being hopelessly idealistic (don't have the room here to explain why) and in any event makes you just as wrong as people who believe humans are inherently altruistic.
Human nature is not selfish, selfless, or anything else. Human nature is to change. It's to make oneself better, or perhaps worse, but definitely not to remain the same as every other human who has ever lived, pseudo-scientific evolutionary psychological claptrap notwithstanding.
You say you "eventually realized" that selfishness is acceptable and desirable. I have no problem with healthy self-love (indeed, I think you have to love yourself to have healthy relationships with others). I have a huge problem with people who think they are worth more than other people. They are not; they're just deluded.
Point three: You want a story about people who rise above their humanity. I want a story ABOUT humanity. In all its glory and sorrow, selfishness and sacrifice included and present in all characters.
First of all, please don't tell me what kind of stories I want. This may surprise you, but I actually prefer cynical, "gritty," and "realistic" stories full of extremely flawed anti-heroes. And I almost always dislike the kinds of stories where the main character becomes a Christ-like figure.
Second, being empathetic is not "rising above [your] humanity." Not being empathetic is falling below your humanity.