One question raised by the OP's post for me is this: What is it about the audiophile hobby that would cause people to be any more decent to one another than they usually are? Is there something about audio that makes us more decent? Refined sensibility? The desire to put experiences into words and talk to one another?
I guess I was surprised by some of the acrimony a while ago, but I'm not anymore. This group, by and large, has a fair amount of disposable income. That's correlated with being less compassionate, which is central to the question posed by the OP.
A related set of studies published by Keltner and his colleagues last year looked at how social class influences feelings of compassion towards people who are suffering. In one study, they found that less affluent individuals are more likely to report feeling compassion towards others on a regular basis….
In a second study….social class was measured by asking participants questions about their family’s level of income and education. The results of the study showed that participants on the lower end of the spectrum, with less income and education, were more likely to report feeling compassion while watching the video of the cancer patients…..
These findings build upon previous research showing how upper class individuals are worse at recognizing the emotions of others and less likely to pay attention to people they are interacting with (e.g. by checking their cell phones or doodling).
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-wealth-reduces-compassion/
