To think some people call themselves “blunt” because they don’t want to develop empathy?

[BluntOrInsensitive]

Honesty doesn’t require cruelty.

I would imagine this covers lots of people yes- there are all sorts of emotions we don’t want to develop really.

I don’t really come across people calling themselves blunt though (seems a dull thing to say about yourself)

Other people might call someone blunt, but I'd run a mile from anyone who called themselves blunt! It equates to boasting about being rude and insensitive and there's no room in my life for someone like that.

All the people I've ever known who claimed to 'tell it like it is' etc were hyper-sensitive about any criticism of themselves - to a ridiculous degree, in fact.

Rudeness dressed up.

I’m quite blunt (it’s cultural, I’m not British), but I’m never go around telling everyone I’m blunt. I’m highly empathetic though.

I just don’t muck about not saying what I mean hoping everyone might just guess. What is problematic is people just hoping everyone knows what their needs are, but never speaking up for themselves and then having a tantrum because no one guessed correctly what you would have communicated if you had the balls to. You have to be your own best advocate.

I don't think empathy has much to do with it.

People who bang on about 'calling a spade a spade' and 'telling it like is' are often completely aware of how their so-called bluntness makes other people feel, and that's exactly why they do it. They want to be hurtful/rude. They just don't want to accept that they're doing anything wrong.

They hide behind a blustering facade of 'speaking their mind' and 'just being honest' because they don't want to take responsibility for being a cunt, that's all.

I've had 2 past bosses who would definitely be described as blunt. They were very "British" (I'm not btw) - cold exterior but warm underneath. I loved them! They also had a wicked sense of humour once you got to know them. I'd take a good honest, blunt person over anyone who dresses up words to make themselves look good any day.

This x 10000

Yes. Empathy is a skill set honed over time, with practice, accountability and introspection. Narcissistic, egotistical or socially underdeveloped people, by definition, do not put time and effort into things they don't value like others feelings.

Honesty without tact is cruelty.

I get called blunt a lot but it’s cultural. I see it as more assertive, I don’t dress things up particularly. I’m also highly empathetic and consider various points of view before reaching my own conclusion. I have also seen how some people are just rude but excuse it by saying they’re just blunt.

I think bluntness absolutely has its time and place.

I'm very empathetic, but I can also be very blunt.

I will absolutely empathise with people and spend time making them feel better, help them figure things out etc. But I have a very low tolerance for people that wallow for no good reason. I'm not talking about people who can't get out of a situation etc but if you're constantly taking up my time and emotion whilst doing absolutely nothing to help yourself I am going to tell you to stop being a wet lettuce and grow a pair after a certain amount of time.

It is but the person is not necessarily meaning to be horrible. DM just says whatever is in her head. She says it and then it is gone. For example, she walked into my house on my birthday and told me the place was a tip as she walked through the door. I was upset. In my view it was clean and fairly tidy.

She is a decent person but unbelievably irritating and almost certainly neurodivergent (I definitely am) and due to that is very impulsive and very lacking in understanding certain things.

I'm naturally very blunt but I'm aware that its not necessarily a positive attribute and I spend an awful lot of bandwidth honing my emails to be less blunt and more polite.

When people boast about their "bluntness", they're just cocks!

I think you’re spot on 👌

I am blunt, straight to the point. But I'm not rude or unkind and I don't "say it how it is". I have empathy and can judge when is the time to be straight to the point and it's not

I’ve never called myself blunt, nor been called it but I’m not particularly fussed about developing empathy. I’ve got enough on dealing with my own emotions without getting involved with other people’s.

Ironically, your post is rather blunt. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. People can have empathy and be blunt. Sometimes it's better to be straight to the point rather than the point being lost in a lot of fluff. I prefer people to be blunt with me.

There was a poster on here literally called Bluntness. I found her thoroughly unpleasant but she had fangirls on here.

”Bluntness” could come under cultural differences, neurodiversity, intellectual disability or intentional rudeness.
“Lack of empathy” is a much broader aspect. People who lack empathy can show this in how understanding or not they are of other people’s lives, but they don’t necessarily have to verbalise this in a way that appears blunt. They can do so in their every day decisions, which, unless questioned about, no body could accuse them of lacking empathy.
Lack of empathy might be more closely linked to “prioritising oneself” rather than being blunt.

Me too.

And I judge people who use the c word a lot more than I do people who are blunt.

People from certain areas of the UK tend to be more direct anyway, as do eg he Dutch and the Germans.

And if you really want to know if your bottom looks big (or too small!) in a dress, don't ask for the opinion. It's no good asking for an opinion and then being offended by that opinion. I prefer people to be direct than two-faced. But each person can do them, I guess.

Or who says one thing to you and then slags you off behind your back. I prefer to know where I am with people.

Some people are naturally more direct than others, or come from cultural backgrounds that are very direct, but then there are people who are performatively 'blunt' and pride themselves on it - which, I suppose, is like any other cultivated personality 'quirk' - it can be annoying.

Here we go again with the AI-meets-TikTok single-line faux profundity, posted by someone whose username 'matches' the post's dubious content.

Blunt is code for rude.