Daily Gut: I Lack Empathy for Empathy
by Greg GutfeldSo, when it comes to empathy, I’ve lost all empathy. Yep, I’m over it – at least when it comes to the modern version, which seems less like empathy and more like exclusion. Imagine original “empathy” as a giant club where everyone understands the way life is – that no matter where you come from, there will always be suffering, loss, and ultimately, death. Empathy these days, however, is like a row of smaller nightclubs, where you only get in if you look exactly like the club’s respective bouncers.
As a short, white guy with a weird late night show – I suppose I should only empathize with other short white guys with weird late night shows. I certainly cannot empathize with a Latina, or a black person, or anyone else for that matter – because in the oppressed/oppressor Marxist model, my racial identity is deemed far more important than our shared humanity. I know: I am a Caucasian white male. Not a real human being.
But that’s not how empathy is supposed to work. I mean, if you lost a parent, you can empathize with someone, black or white, who lost a parent. If you’re short, you can empathize with short people – even if they’re from Spain (true). If your Japanese friend loses a job, you empathize – because you remember how that felt when it happened to you (and you’re not even Japanese!). Married men empathize with ALL married man, regardless of ethnic identity. Women empathize with all women across the board, because men are a pain in the ass to live with. You see, empathy was supposed to be inclusive – a way to initiate contact with others, instead of excluding those who don’t seem to fit.
Empathy – as I also remember – was why dudes at bars listen to sob stories from hot chicks about their stymied modeling career. It truly is amazing how all men can empathize with women half their age looking to advance their careers.
Turn on any station that still plays music videos – and watch as young women showing too much skin try to fake tears over the harshness of life. You probably can’t empathize with them, can you? But you would if it meant getting lucky. Bill Clinton once defined empathy so perfectly: “I feel your pain.” And boy did he.
He’d make a great judge!
Tonight’s guests are: the lovely Noelle Hancock, the charming Gregg Jarrett, the awesome Kevin Godlington, and a visit from Dr. Michael Baden.
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85 Comments
I'm a middle aged, overweight, balding, unemployed, semi-crippled architect. Empathy anyone? Ooooh I forgot to mention I'm also a Christian white male. So much for empathy.
http://shermansmarch.blogspot.com
If you want to ride a tidal wave of emotion into fascist power in 1920s Germany, the emotion of choice would be racial hatred. If you want to do it in America, empathy is the way to go.
W O R D !
Hm… Empathy (like Tolerance) changes meaning by those that whine the loudest. They forget there is something called a dictionary…
Oh wait, they just change that too.
empathy is an emotion- not a political philosophy. If you are (fill in the blanks) A) Poor. or B) Oppressed, or C)
not heterosexual, or whatever you need empathy. This is again- yes children- a Marxist construct of class conflict. If you hurt somebody's 'feelings' it can only be redressed by nanny state government intervention that either reduces freedoms (the ultimate goal) or raises taxes and empowers unelected bureaucrats. Knowing full well that Americans are kind folk this issue is wielded like a club to make them feel guilty about things that are generally just part of living in the material world (apologies to George Harrison)…
See, if you're not on board with "empathy", you must be one of those cold-hearted Repubs.
I'm looking for a jurist with apathy or at the very least antipathy.
I have no sympathy for the plight of the empathetic
Please keep posting here. It let's us know that a lot of the left isn't really that bright. No matter what degrees they hold or what they say. You guys just have a lot of people fooled and I hope most of them wake up to find that out. Blarty, your posts are like Sotomayors decisions – easily overturned!!!!
I agree 100%……I am an enormous pain in the ass to live wth.
Greg is from Spain?
Loud applause for the application of common sense! Very well said Greg.
If "empathy" is a monopoly of the Left, then why is it they will not allow vouchers for those who would like to attend more successful or better schools? An example, the recent actions of Obama in the D.C. area regarding Black children via vouchers being able to attend private schools in which they have flourished. Where is the empathy here? I had heard his grandmother worked very hard to put him through private schooling in Hawaii. Wonder how grandma would have loved some voucher aid? Hmmm.
And who is it outraged over the lack of high earners being able to deduct donations to charities on their taxes? Assuming making $250K or more is indeed a high earner. That would be that un-empathetic Conservative wing of the GOP. As an FYI, more GOP types with money give to more charities than do the monied Dems. I believe there was a study released in the past year to confirm this. I do recall the Gores gave very little to charity, around $350 versus much more given by George W. Bush. So, rich Republicans have empathy for the poor, and give to charities in order to aid the poor even though they themselves are rich and supposedly have been rich their entire lives. Hmmm.
The scariest part of the empathetic syndrome is the inability to ever admit one was wrong in identity politics, ideology or policy forming. That last item mentioned is something empathetic types holding a judgeship of course never do; making policy that is. Never. So, if one is reversed, over ruled, or corrected one might learn from said mistakes and alter ones course, or frame of mind since one is so intelligent and all. Right? Right! Just for fun I am imagining a certain judge taking a red marker to Justices Thomas', Roberts', or Alito's written opinions. It is the only part of this that might make for some real fun! Can you imagine!
So, if one is overly empathetic does that make one hard headed or narrow minded, or as obstinate as a fence post, or as they say in my parts "as stubborn as an old mule"? I wonder.
I thought empathy was supposed to end after you had your first tooth tied to a string and a doorknob and your old man said just close your eyes and it'll be over in a second.
Yeah….an MA in rockology and a P lease H it me, i'm really a D umbass in Concepts in Bongwater. Please illuminate us in the difference and prove the correct semantic usage. Remember, no talking points…..
If empathy were a sausage, I'd roll him up in a pancake and eat him.
I love you. <3
What he said. Blarty, please keep posting because it's comic relief. I almost feel sorry for you being so led along by the nose ring. And you probably do have one.
Well. you see, empathy is about FEELINGS and as we all know, that is how you should run your life, by your feelings.
Any questions.
Solid legal thinkers with an understanding of the Constitution is a start. A focus on treating all of us equal under the law is not a bad idea either.
If empathy was a flat tire, I'd pump him at the gas station.
The left is ALL about feelings. They trump all.
As a Wise Latina Woman I have no idea what the writer is going on about. Pass the tequila and put on some Supremes!
Dude, what you need is some sympathy…
Try being an unmarried, single white female with no kids. I never imagined I would actually be punished for my decisions, but every day it seems to get worse.
Somebody buy Blarty a Thesaurus. When he realizes that 'empathy' and 'sympathy' are synonyms, maybe he'll write a comment admitting what a complete jackass he is.
I feel…therefore, I ain't.
If empathy was fruits and nuts, we'd have Christmas every day!
Blarty – What a Thesaurus? I thought they were extinct?
I empathize with your redundancy as a Latina Woman.
If they understand and respect the constitution, I´ll take robots over Oprah, yes.
Got you trumped! Try being an unmarried, single white female with one kid. In college. Still at home. With a smart mouth.
Single white MALE, with one kid. In college. At home.
He's pretty respectful though.
And votes (R).
it's a sad state of affairs when i agree that bill would be a better choice. and i hear he feels your pain with all ten fingers (eleven counting the cigar)…
I lack empathy for Supreme Court appointees who have to tell me they're empathetic. And wise. That usually means they aren't.
I would be happy if we could all just rediscover "civility".
We're all equal under the law. However, as Orwell wrote, some of us are more equal than others.
Greg – you rock, dude. Being as I am also a guy who rocks, I have total empathy for you.
Rats, Blarty!!!!! I missed your nasty, vicious post before it was cyber-torpedoed by the admin. I'll try to be quicker on the draw next time (if you aren't already banned from posting here, you statist moron – don't you have some nits to pick off a few chimps?).
To Greg: Excellent piece (as usual). The graphic used is also brilliantly simple and clever… your idea?
Get in line, Lola… LOL.
Greg's da MAN!
Oprah may very well BE a robot… can anyone be so chipper when her website is giving out coupons to thousands upon thousands of Americans for free KFC lunches? It was a sweet (maybe even EMPATHETIC) gesture, but a logistical nightmare for KFC joints across the nation, but Oprah never lost her smile or her cool. Robot Oprah… hmmm… would explain so much.
Those are our two choices for a Supreme Court Judge? The most important court in the world?
Racist or robot?
Crikey, America is becoming a statist nation faster than one would have thought, based on your assessment.
Conservatism = racial hatred = fascism. Where does empathy fit into this equation?
Err… whatcha doin' Friday night?
This response pretty well illustrates that hatred in addition to empathy motivates contemporary American useful idiots. It just depends on whether they are moronic idealists or hateful narcissistic failures. But there are more of the former than the latter in America.
Ditto!
I never come to the defense of liberal judges but in this case it is everyone but the judge herself that is proclaiming her empathy.
Of course from the media her resume seems to look like this:
Empathy
Latina
Thinks Latinas are more "right" than others, ie, racist.
When do actual judicial qualifications come into play for this Obama apointee?
Also isn't there some sort of irony in this originally awful Bush appointee replacing the awful Bush appointee Souter?
Eggs Actly!
Animal Farm is just as relevant as 1984 or Brave New World but for some reason is usually left out of the discussion.
Thanks for the liberal math, sir! Sounds like a class taught at Berkeley. I have an equation for you too!
Pie = antifascist = troll.
You're not even good at being a contrarian.
If empathy were a concert poster, I'd nail him on my dorm wall.
Empathy is a great idea until some 'person' tries to use it as a weapon or some measure of acceptability. If I choose to empathize with you, I do so out of free choice. I don't owe it to you. Some 'people' would demand you empathize with them then call you evil if you don't. It's sorta like when someone misuses religion for evil purposes. They turn a potential positive into a negative for self-serving reasons. There have always been those who would turn your natural inclinations toward kindess against you. Unfortunately, it's been raised to the level of political correctness.
Thanks SomeDame but I'll pass on the sympathy. Tough times don't last, tough people do. I appreciate the kind thoughts tho'
Careful guys you're feeding the troll!
Once again, you demonstrate that statist liberals are incapable of making elementary critical distinctions.
You either draw absurd either/or comparisons like "empathetic or ROBOT?," or you're equating terrorist thugs with legitimate freedom fighters.
What we want is a judge with the cojones to side with a rich white corporate fat cat over a poor underpriveledged orphan of color if the facts of the case support the fat cat's position.
Sotomajor's "empathy" sounds very much like Walker Percy's "tenderness" which, he warns, "leads to the gas chamber."
Actually, I didn't want to admit I coulda hurled some empathy your way, since we do share some of the same empathetical characteristics. Out of sympathy, I won't mention which ones. Hang tough, my friend.
If Sotomayor was truly empathetic, wouldn't that include all people and not just a specific group?
This troll makes pies, so he's self-sustaining. It matters not if one feeds him for he doth eat himself.
I don't know if anything I just wrote is logical or not, but I empathize with it.
You're thinking of the Thesaurus Rex.
Speaking as fellow unmarried, single white female with no kids, I feel your pain, Kim.
Apparantly qualification doesn't matter anymore.
As long as you can empathy with the *INSERT GENERIC OPPRESSED MINORITY*, you'll get the job.
…Where'd I leave that vodka?
LOL!!!
Was that the world's larget mammal.
I am upset at my feelings right now
No I think the fingers are for pain, the Cigar is for someting else
Under the sink next to the blue cupboard
Like the lead singer of Pink Floyd I hanve no feelings
"I have become, comfortbly numb"
Otherwise known as 'selective empathy'…
Empathy…that's like when you can start fires with your thoughts, right?
Good call. The left lacks empathy for your type because you will not bow to the great Obama.
Open secret: white men can find empathy if they bow to the great Obama and surrender.
Empathy is the catalyst for forgiveness – if you lean to the left.
It allows terrorists to be victims. It allows despots to be allies. It allows racists to be judges.
Simply, it's the formula for exorcising demons, and turning them into angels.
In a perverse twist of what some might say smells of a religion, we can conclude that through the sins of one race and sex, all others have salvation from their own sins – the white male acting as the perpetual sacrifice whose continuing condemnation continues to rise as incense to the god of Empathy.
For fun, I've applied this magic application of Empathy to the white slave-owners of our past, whose unwelcome presence in our history, and abiding condemnation, are the only discernible foundation for the Left in this country.
Take Obama's comments about Sotomayor, change a few words, and we have –
Obama also defended his – friend, Slave-owner Joe -, saying – his economics – were on target even if his exact – hiring practice – was not.
"I think that when – he's – appearing before the Senate committee, in – his – confirmation process, I think all this nonsense that is being spewed out will be revealed for what it is," Obama said in the broadcast interview, clearly aware of how – slavery – issues are taking hold in the debate.
Obama's top spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told reporters about Slave-owner Joe: "I think – he'd say that – his employment – choice in 1801 was poor."
There. All better. Move along . . . move along. All's forgiven. By those who have the empathy to forgive.
"Greg- I suppose we should have ROBOTS for Supreme Court Judges then?"
Dude, congratulations on so cleanly missing the point.
Greg didn't say we should not have empathy. He was decrying the fact that us evil white males are not allowed to have "valid" empathy by the Left because we just don't understand what it is to not be an evil white male.
His point is derived from Sotomayor's now infamous quote. What she was saying was that a white male judge would not be able to empathize with the downtrodden and aggrieved as a Latina. Which, as Greg points out, is B.S.
Never surrender!
Again with the conservatism and racial hatred and fascism. I must ask again: IF you really revile racial hatred and fascism then why is your avatar the VERY symbol of racial hatred and fascism? Do you realize that there are minorities in this country who have a very difficult time emotionally when they see the confederate flag? Confederate flag=symbol of racist oppression=fear among minorities, particularly blacks. Where does empathy fit into your equation??
I am sure you will love it when the Catholics on the Supreme Court let their upbringing influence their decisions. At least they´re not robots! Right?
I may be a cold hearted biotch but I would much rather have judges who subscribe to rule of law when adjudicating a case than judges who use empathy as the decision maker. The pledge says"Liberty and Justice for ALL." With empathy, that goes out the window along with the second Amendment, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and all of the other freedoms based on the rule of law. Situational ethics anyone?
Thank you Jon Cryer! I just saw an ad with him supporting the Wounded Warrier Project during Red Eye. It's a nice contrast from his 2 and a half costar's 911 truther attitude.
You must be a racist/misogynist/everythingist like all of us. How do you survive in Seattle with that point of view? Every time I've visited Seattle (20 times at least) I've been subjected to the leftist attitude.
Empathy? Sorry, all out…
No. Not robots, but persons who can look beyond emotions and decide based on fact.
I was caught sucker punching a bully when I was 9 years old. He had bullied me, accompanied by a bunch of friends for weeks. I eventually caught him alone and gave him a royal butt kickin'. I got into trouble at school and my parents would not dispute the punishment.
My dad told me that he probably would have done the same thing. But I broke the rules and would need to pay the penalty. Then, he told me to defend myself, with no quarter given, the next time the bully and his toadies tried their stuff with me again. If it was self defense, he would defend me to his last breath at school.
The bully tried it again and I knocked him on his butt again. The toadies backed off as well. The bully got into trouble that time at school.
That was empathy and reality all rolled up into one lesson for me. And the Principal did not have to be a robot to make the correct decision in each occasion.
The bottom line is that most people in the majority demonstrate little empathy. The far right..mostly made up of white males show no empathy to the homeless, single mothers, people on welfare, immigrants etc…These are the people that most people rant against. So don't be acting all high and mighty like you are an empathic group…please the hypocrisy of it all.
Amen Sista.
GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!
Um, I don't think the previous posters were trying to say that they were more empathetic (empathic would be cool, but not likely). I think what they were getting at is that empathy is not what should be used when deciding cases based on the rule of law, which is a judges job. The basic idea being equal justice under the law. Nice job with the stereotyping though, especially since the last study that was done on people's giving (charities, etc…) showed that conservatives were more giving of time and money (from lofty CEO to lowly white trash) than those who consider themselves liberal. So get off your high and mighty horse of "holier than thou", I love the (fill in your favorite victim group) more than you and read to understand, not react.
You use multiple words that do not mean what you think they mean.
I'd say "inconceivable" but I actually do find the idea that folks like you blather on without actually understanding what the words actually mean to be quite conceivable. Have to be careful with finding excuses to use quotes from The Princess Bride, or even modifications of such.
I believe it's called the fallacy of the excluded middle, or perhaps the No True Scotsman fallacy.
Combined with all the strawmen they genocide, debating with folks like Cognitive Dissonance is an exercise in frustration, unless you realize they are very dishonest and simply point out their lies in the hopes that any lurkers reading in the background might turn against them.
Conservatism = racial hatred = fascism. Where does empathy fit into this equation?
Says the bigot doing his best to demonize political opponents.
Hmm… what sort of political groups do that? Ah yes, dictators and tyrants, which includes fascists.
For someone who claims to be anti-fascist, anti-kin sure acts like one. I'm sure the lurkers noticed, but sometimes these things do have to be pointed out, even if it feeds an attention-starved emo troll.
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