Aesthetic pleasure in poverty does violence to the poor while needing them.

Evidence

In fact, there is an aspect of compassion which conflicts with justice, to which Nietzsche of course allies it. It confirms the rule of inhumanity by the exception which it practices. By reserving the cancellation of injustice to fortuitous love of one’s neighbor, compassion accepts that the law of universal alienation—which it would mitigate—is unalterable. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 86 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Beautiful art can transfigure atrocity and thus justify suffering aesthetically; Compassion reinforces inhumanity by treating injustice as unalterable — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 86; Pity toward the oppressed can destroy human dignity more certainly than misery itself does

Broader Connections

• Pity toward the oppressed can destroy human dignity more certainly than misery itself does #expands (0.85)
• Beautiful art can transfigure atrocity and thus justify suffering aesthetically #expands (0.80)
• Compassion reinforces inhumanity by treating injustice as unalterable #expands (0.78) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 86