[Tsuyoshi]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

The best way for a person to learn empathy is probably to experience receiving it themself. The fact that Okabe is the one who demonstrates the most empathy is probably the reason why he's the hero/main char in the first place. As such, Okabe's failure to demonstrate empathy for Moeka until after he's beaten and emotionally wrecked her is pretty much his failure as a hero. Without that, Okabe is pretty much a generic chump acting recklessly on his selfish emotions.

Can you please tell me how one is supposed to show empathy to someone who is completely unresponsive to words and reason? She hardly even registered the fact that someone entered her room and tried speaking to her until Okabe tried yanking the phone off of her. You tell me, how do you deal with someone who doesn't listen to you at all because they're too fixated with their phone and aren't focusing on anything but that? The least you could feel is be annoyed, and if it wasn't a serious issue, let them be. However, not just Mayuri's life, but Moeka's life as also at stake if Okabe didn't do something drastic to get to her, because when we saw what she was doing (typing FB repeatedly on the phone while in a state of utter, complete delirium), I'd have thought it quite obvious reason wouldn't get to her, and I had more important things to do like saving her life and my "sister."

What Okabe did was the most emphatic thing: lay it all out in front of her against her will. You could call it tough love, and this is what someone who'se witness a very important person to him die dozens of times did. If you saw someone who'se as good as a sister to you die that many times, tell me that you wouldn't feel any resentment toward her? Even then, Okabe wasn't trying to kill her, but help her, even if against her will (which would lead to her death, hardly a favorable outcome for you, I presume), and most importantly help Mayuri, which was his main objective to start with.

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

Okabe himself receives plenty of support from say, for example, Kurisu. Moeka is completely alone. Whoever is more the 'victim' here it is clear that Okabe has more of himself to give out to others.

In the end, I'm hardly 'praising' or saying Moeka is admirable here either. So if you want to say that both of them are simply equally misfortunate, and that's all either of them are: victims, then go right ahead, I won't argue. Just don't pick one of them over the other.

That's all well and good, but you overlook the fact that Moeka is the person who kills/eventually kills/potentially kills Mayuri, the one that Okabe is out to save. Moeka may be more of a victim than Okabe in this entire ordeal, but his resentment toward her is completely justified, not to mention the fact that Okabe needed to use drastic measures to get the message across to her. He laid out the facts to her, told her what would happen if she kept wasting herself the way she was as clearly as anyone could. He couldn't possibly do that if he simply sat down and started talking while Moeka was still holding on to her phone.

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

I don't believe for any sentient human there is such a thing as 'unable to exercise empathy'. It's as simple as not giving in to hate, as understanding that the other party is just another human just like you. The important thing was recognizing "Is she a threat? Or is she not?" and treating her with the due respect accordingly. Okabe failed to either neutralize her as a capable enemy or reach out to her as someone who could be saved. His use of force, and punching her, was an entirely pointless, unnecessary action. It was an impulsive, emotional decision and an expression of his weaker qualities as a human being.

Pointless? She was delirious! Simple words never would've reached her. Take out the source of her obsession, her delirium, and the message would eventually get to her. He told her about what would happen in the future precisely because he understands Moeka is another human being like him, a victim of circumstance. That aside, he needed to phone in order to send the D-mail. He couldn't have done it if he let Moeka keep it. He didn't cave in until after he seriously started trying, and not punching her would've led to a futile struggle for him.

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

Okabe's main feature is his empathy. Of course he wouldn't actually leave Moeka to die. You're not gonna claim grabbing her phone or punching her in the face was actually empathy, though, are you? Okabe showed just barely enough empathy that he will be able to achieve a Good End in this story (by gaining Moeka's cooperation with regards to the IBN 1500 and FB). This doesn't change that his initial assault upon Moeka featured nothing of the sort.

If punching Moeka would allow him to save Mayuri (and Moeka in the process), then he has every right to. Like I said, he couldn't just sit down and talk to her when she was in a state of delirium due to her phone obsession.