Charlie intuited what clinical research has recently discovered about a new variant of classical narcissism (I'm the best, greatest, smartest etc.) as instead seeking praise and recognition for virtue signaling an Iago heart worn righteously on their sleeve: "I'm more empathic, compassionate, caring etc. than others". Valuable currency in today's victimhood culture. https://www.aporiamagazine.com/p/communal-narcissism?utm_source=publication-search
.....it's ONLY the 'MORE' and 'than OTHERS' part of that statement, which are PROBLEMATIC (although TELLING; absurdly-STRICT conditions INSTITUTIONALLY attached to individual VALUE, a BIG part of WHY) - we've FORGOTTEN as a society HOW to speak to the BEST in people - and IMMENSE suffering, HEARTBREAK has CONSEQUENTLY ensued since.....
Well, the true meaning of empathy then could be distorted, into something deemed to be fake. But empathy in itself is not fake, and if the majority of people expressed empathy for distant strangers, the Covid mRNA injections for example would have been removed from the market long ago.
The concept of empathy was used to push the Covid jabs. “Do this for your ______ whatever. Grandparents, community, the autoimmune, your kids etc.” Charlie preferred the word “sympathy”, as no one can truly know what anyone else is feeling.
Most people experience empathy for those close to them. The 'empathy' ploy to push the mRNA shots was leveraging guilt and shame as a tool of control. I couldn't disagree more with Charlie, on replacing empathy with sympathy. Both have their place when used appropriately. He may have changed his position had he lived beyond youth. I could be wrong, but I think humans are very selfish, and so when people claimed they took the experimental shots for the sake of their neighbour, I don't believe it. I think they wanted others to believe they were virtuous, rather than cowards, or simply wanted to go on a cruise.
I don’t believe Charlie replaced empathy with sympathy - that is just what a commenter wrote. Also sympathy empowers victimhood the same as empathy. Charlie was too smart to say that. I believe Charlie disliked empathy because as we have seen the manipulation of mans goodness & love toward their fellow man is used as a tool against mankind. It’s the devils trick to subvert something good for evil purpose. This is how the trans ideology has grown - how evil of you not to understand & accept this person as a woman because they truly believe they are a woman….
I have no idea of his IQ. He said on his show 10/12/22 that he believed 'empathy' was a made-up new age word. It is a straightforward statement, that doesn't need interpretation. Factually, he was wrong.
I’m guessing his IQ was pretty darn high, considering he was an autodidact with an incredible command of knowledge on all manner of subjects. I’m also guessing you haven’t watched many of his videos if you question his intelligence based on one out of context statement.
What I learned in A.A.'s 12 Steps program: "Sympathy is a disease, - you can find it in the dictionary, between "shit" & "syphilis"".... Meaning, the "pity-party" is OVER, stop felling sorry for yourself"....
Yes and Charlie was sympathetic and compassionate and respectful. And cared about the human hearts and souls so much, he was martyered for it....because he didnt shy away from proclaiming Jesus the Savior.
Yes, it was. But how many were concerned about grannies outside their own family? It’s unfortunate that the majority of people are not cosmopolitan in their thinking, that they are, in the words of Orwell, “…politically ignorant, uninterested in anything outside their immediate affairs”.
And not necessarily even by the governments we can never trust, but by nobody being interested in mRNA injections anymore. And actually ideally any injections.
Exactly, authoritarian cults dismiss the notion of real victimhood with 'law of attraction' new age hoax beliefs. The belief that dismisses the reality of vulnerability, which is on a continuum, is dangerous and untrue. It is important to note when non victims manipulate others by playing on their legitimate empathy, for advantage, or when their random acts of kindness are not random at all but part of a greater strategy to keep up appearances.
This point crystallized my thoughts about human empathy. Statistically many of those who are now virtue signalling about folk who wickedly mocked and applauded his horrific end, are probably the same people who wished death, discrimination, and removal of any medical support to anyone who refused the poison mRNA jabs.
Yet again, the double standards and hypocritical virtue signalling are apparent to anyone who critically examines their own behaviour and that of the vast majority of western culture.......To be totally blunt, I am guilty of it also! The Human experiences of all epidemics though history is living and historical proof....WE IN REALITY ARE VERY FLAWED CREATURES, thank Jesus for his teachings, that encourage us to look at ourselves....AMEN
Please find a copy & read: "Jesus & Buddha as Brothers", by French/Viet Namese monk Thich Nhat Hahn.... The basic message of Buddha & Jesus is the SAME....
Charlie Kirk got "empathy" right on 2 counts. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy as did merriam-webster "empathy - the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another".
It does your depressed friend no good for you to visit them and sit and stew with them vicariously experiencing their feelings, thoughts, and experience of depression - indulging in their depressed low state of consciousness = to have empathy. It does harm by amplifying their depression. As my Great Uncle Albert used to say out on the prairie of North Dakota - FOOLISHNESS
and "Empathy is a 20th century coinage (as Charlie Kirk said "a made up new age term") modeled on sympathy as a translation of the German Einfühlung (“feeling-in” or “feeling into”)."
"Compassion is a much older word; it’s been part of the language since the 14th century, and comes ultimately from Latin com- and pati, meaning “to bear, suffer.”
Help your friend with some chores, get them out of the house for a walk, bring over some good food or a well researched supplement perhaps some such as an over the counter lithium supplement. Bear some of their burden = have compassion for their suffering.
"So the new communications strategy for Democrats, now that their polling advantage is collapsing in every single state… collapsing in Ohio. It's collapsing even in Arizona. It is now a race where Blake Masters is in striking distance. Kari Lake is doing very, very well. The new communications strategy is not to do what Bill Clinton used to do, where he would say, "I feel your pain." Instead, it is to say, "You're actually not in pain." So let's just, little, very short clip. Bill Clinton in the 1990s. It was all about empathy and sympathy. I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that — it does a lot of damage. But, it is very effective when it comes to politics. Sympathy, I prefer more than empathy. That's a separate topic for a different time."
"The same people who lecture you about 'empathy' have none for the soldiers discharged for the jab, the children mutilated by Big Medicine, or the lives devastated by fentanyl pouring over the border.
Spare me your fake outrage, your fake science, and your fake moral superiority."
.....fair ENOUGH, Julie; EXPANDED comment, DOES vindicate him (SOMEwhat) - but, certainly NOT the 'haters' sharing SUCH limited context HERE - because those who did, AREN'T empathetic.....
My version of Empathy is "compassion and understanding". In light of his kids tragic loss of their father I would say that I feel very sorry for them, so is that not sympathy? Sympathy has more emotional overtones (sadness)....than mere empathy.
I think these definitions have been well understood in psychology for over a hundred years. If everyone changes the meaning according to their own understanding, then they have no meaning at all. Charlie Kirk was simply wrong that empathy is new age word. I don't know the young man, and his interpretation is his alone.
For context, what Charlie Kirk said is, “The new communication strategy is not to do what Bill Clinton used to do where he would say, ‘I feel your pain.’ Instead, it is to say you're actually not in pain. So, let's just — a little very short clip. Bill Clinton in the 1990s, it was all about empathy and sympathy. I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up new age term that — it does a lot of damage, but it is very effective when it comes to politics. Sympathy I prefer more than empathy. That's a separate topic for a different time.”
Thank you for sharing this, I was about to look it up myself to post. I’m afraid John is committing the same mistake in defending Charlie that his attackers are making - making assumptions about the meaning of the words without examining the entire context.
This all-too-prevalent pseudo-virtue reminds me of the false lion from CS Lewis's seventh Narnia book, The Last Battle, where the lion skin makes the donkey look like Aslan, but the character is all wrong. However, its appearance as the "true" lion gives the false one much more power to control others. Perhaps that's the end goal in our time. It certainly was Iago's.
In The Weight of Glory, my favourite essay of Lewis's, he writes,
‘There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner – no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment’
"Sympathy is a feeling of sincere concern for someone who is experiencing something difficult or painful. Empathy involves actively sharing in the person’s emotional experience."
By this definition, I have to agree with Charlie that empathy has done a lot of damage. First it involves attempting to "live in someone else's shoes" traditionally thought not to be truly possible. Secondly it imposes no obligation to assist the suffering person out of their suffering. Indeed the empathiser benefits by not assisting the sufferer as he can then continue in his empathy and thus feel good about himself.
.....'empathy', can be QUITE genuine - NON-threatening to those who experience it and, HIGHLY valued; I am SO tired of those who CONSTANTLY suggest, 'you CAN'T know how it feels', for WHATever contrived reason - which is flat-out WRONG (but, NO surprise to ME, that this truly-FUNDAMENTAL aspect of SPIRITUAL awareness seems to be LOST on MANY Christians; religionists - though NOT alone; no.....)
Can't you catharsis yourself privately?....SOME of your all caps distracts more than enhances.... I sure wouldn't want you in the kitchen seasoning MY soup!.... Your message has value, so why trailer-park it?....
John, Iago's motive is bright and luminious, a cauldron of unspeakable contemplt, resentment, envy, hate for itself, and most especially, the manipulation of the vulnerable. You are spot on once again, the Iago syndrome, the concoction of victimhood, and the devolution of the individual and tradtion: from Marx, Freud, and the plethora of psychopaths up to those who espouse DEI, Transgender, Equity, open borders, affirmative action, feminism: inherent in all is voilence, material and transcendant. Good for you to spark an open consciousness
Charlie said he prefers the word "sympathy". There's a clip somewhere online of it... I think because sympathy takes the emotion out of it?... but don't quote me...
I’ve just read that “empathy” entered the lexicon in 1908 and was rooted in the Greek word empatheia, meaning “passion” or “state of emotion”. Originally, empathy wasn’t about understanding other people, but was used in art theory to describe how viewers project their own feelings into objects like paintings or architecture. Later psychologists extended the concept to interpersonal understanding, especially after World War II, when empathy became recognized as a skill. Sympathy is over 400 years old and means “fellow feeling” or “together suffering” … While the concept of feeling with others has ancient roots, the word “empathy” itself is a 20th-century invention.
The notion we hear nowadays in the States is that empathy means to feel another's pain, while (we are told) that sympathy means to feel pity for another. Where this distinction comes from is beyond me, because sympathy means literally "to suffer with." In my experience, people who profess to be "empaths" often subsequently reveal a manipulative streak and little true sympathy for someone in pain.
We are ALL Charlie Kirk now....well, ok, SOME of us are. I want to be inspired, encouraged, and strengthened by the sacrifice of his wife & children....
I had always understood sympathy or to sympathize with someone was to have had the same experience of pain - such as your mother died when you were young & my father died when I was a teen - I sympathize & understand fully from the same experience. Empathy or to empathize was to be able to put yourself in their shoes/situation & feel/attempt to understand the pain but not claim to truly know it. I’m sure empathy came into use for good reason - you cannot have a callous world only caring if one has lived the same tragedy (ie. the wealthy caring about the poor that are starving). However this has been distorted for the very usefulness it offers. I can empathize & appear to be virtuous & still remain in my wealthy conclave. I believe what is missing in empathy is action or sacrifice for the injured on the part of the empathized. Talk is cheap.
RARELY, do they - if they're TRUE empaths, such as I am; SIMPLY articulates an ability to sense LESS-than-EVIDENT (to MOST people) feelings of another; associated EFFECTS upon them, John - this judgmental, INSANE 'one-size-fits ALL' belief ABOUT same (EPIDEMIC among the 'Right' and 'conservatives' - TYPICAL retorts SUCH as, 'get OVER it, SNOWFLAKE' revealing once MORE an unmistakably-SADISTIC, vicious attitude; WILLFUL ignorance) has CAUSED as noted in another Comment of mine here, IMMENSE suffering & heartache - at WHICH point, those THEN play the 'FREEDOM of SPEECH' card.....AS indisputably-TOXIC individuals.
What I learned in A.A.'s 12 Steps recovery program: "Sympathy is a disease, - you can find it in the dictionary between "shit" & "syphilis", - meaning, "stop the pity-party", "stop felling sorry for yourself". Nuance & context are paramount....
Note that NOTHING in my comment here would have been improved by ALL CAPS.
ASK me if I care even ONE iota, Bill - ASSERTIONS such AS, 'Sympathy is a DISEASE', are utterly PSYCHOTIC - and SO completely MAKE my POINT, 'friend'.....
.....YOU'RE calling ME, 'rude'???? How INCREDIBLY disrespectful IS it to give ANY credence to what's again, SUCH a DISTURBED position? I've had SERIOUS issues for YEARS with AA's clearly-CULTlike nature - and YEAH, you were SOMEwhat conciliatory otherwise - but THAT quote's just NEVER gonna FLY on THIS end.....
Empathy in the US means putting yourself in their shoes and a deeper level of connection (understanding how they feel). Sympathy is more like compassion or pity for someone’s situation but not purporting to know how one actually feels. Charlie Kirk was trying to differentiate between false empathy and real compassion, I believe.
Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a type of personality disorder in which a person has a limited capacity for empathy and a long-term pattern of violation of other people's rights."
Thank you for this insightful piece. Empathy is a psychological phenomenon rooted in biology (via mirror neurons), and it's crucial for successful social interactions. I'm sure we all agree that the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, or to be able to understand or even try to understand another's situation or circumstances, is an ennobling aspect of our humanity. But there is conscious/authentic empathy and unconscious/false empathy -- and yes, the latter is used to reinforce victimhood and narcissism expressing itself in the form of virtue signaling. Social media is the perfect arena for such behaviors. We also saw it in the wearing of masks starting in 2020, even wearing them outside when no one was close by, but in case others were watching. If we unconsciously identify with and experience the feelings and thoughts of another without clearly considering our deeper intentions, we will tend to play the role of the rescuer and help reinforce and perpetuate victimhood. If Charlie Kirk was indeed referring to this shadow side of empathy, I have even deeper respect for his person, perspective and courage.
Charlie intuited what clinical research has recently discovered about a new variant of classical narcissism (I'm the best, greatest, smartest etc.) as instead seeking praise and recognition for virtue signaling an Iago heart worn righteously on their sleeve: "I'm more empathic, compassionate, caring etc. than others". Valuable currency in today's victimhood culture. https://www.aporiamagazine.com/p/communal-narcissism?utm_source=publication-search
Excellent article. Thanks
.....it's ONLY the 'MORE' and 'than OTHERS' part of that statement, which are PROBLEMATIC (although TELLING; absurdly-STRICT conditions INSTITUTIONALLY attached to individual VALUE, a BIG part of WHY) - we've FORGOTTEN as a society HOW to speak to the BEST in people - and IMMENSE suffering, HEARTBREAK has CONSEQUENTLY ensued since.....
Well, the true meaning of empathy then could be distorted, into something deemed to be fake. But empathy in itself is not fake, and if the majority of people expressed empathy for distant strangers, the Covid mRNA injections for example would have been removed from the market long ago.
The concept of empathy was used to push the Covid jabs. “Do this for your ______ whatever. Grandparents, community, the autoimmune, your kids etc.” Charlie preferred the word “sympathy”, as no one can truly know what anyone else is feeling.
Most people experience empathy for those close to them. The 'empathy' ploy to push the mRNA shots was leveraging guilt and shame as a tool of control. I couldn't disagree more with Charlie, on replacing empathy with sympathy. Both have their place when used appropriately. He may have changed his position had he lived beyond youth. I could be wrong, but I think humans are very selfish, and so when people claimed they took the experimental shots for the sake of their neighbour, I don't believe it. I think they wanted others to believe they were virtuous, rather than cowards, or simply wanted to go on a cruise.
I don’t believe Charlie replaced empathy with sympathy - that is just what a commenter wrote. Also sympathy empowers victimhood the same as empathy. Charlie was too smart to say that. I believe Charlie disliked empathy because as we have seen the manipulation of mans goodness & love toward their fellow man is used as a tool against mankind. It’s the devils trick to subvert something good for evil purpose. This is how the trans ideology has grown - how evil of you not to understand & accept this person as a woman because they truly believe they are a woman….
I have no idea of his IQ. He said on his show 10/12/22 that he believed 'empathy' was a made-up new age word. It is a straightforward statement, that doesn't need interpretation. Factually, he was wrong.
I’m guessing his IQ was pretty darn high, considering he was an autodidact with an incredible command of knowledge on all manner of subjects. I’m also guessing you haven’t watched many of his videos if you question his intelligence based on one out of context statement.
You are entitled to your guess.
What I learned in A.A.'s 12 Steps program: "Sympathy is a disease, - you can find it in the dictionary, between "shit" & "syphilis"".... Meaning, the "pity-party" is OVER, stop felling sorry for yourself"....
.....DISINGENUOUSLY, without QUESTION - and MOST of us GENUINELY empathetic, RECOGNIZE as much.....
Yes and Charlie was sympathetic and compassionate and respectful. And cared about the human hearts and souls so much, he was martyered for it....because he didnt shy away from proclaiming Jesus the Savior.
Yes, it was. But how many were concerned about grannies outside their own family? It’s unfortunate that the majority of people are not cosmopolitan in their thinking, that they are, in the words of Orwell, “…politically ignorant, uninterested in anything outside their immediate affairs”.
And not necessarily even by the governments we can never trust, but by nobody being interested in mRNA injections anymore. And actually ideally any injections.
Exactly, authoritarian cults dismiss the notion of real victimhood with 'law of attraction' new age hoax beliefs. The belief that dismisses the reality of vulnerability, which is on a continuum, is dangerous and untrue. It is important to note when non victims manipulate others by playing on their legitimate empathy, for advantage, or when their random acts of kindness are not random at all but part of a greater strategy to keep up appearances.
This point crystallized my thoughts about human empathy. Statistically many of those who are now virtue signalling about folk who wickedly mocked and applauded his horrific end, are probably the same people who wished death, discrimination, and removal of any medical support to anyone who refused the poison mRNA jabs.
Yet again, the double standards and hypocritical virtue signalling are apparent to anyone who critically examines their own behaviour and that of the vast majority of western culture.......To be totally blunt, I am guilty of it also! The Human experiences of all epidemics though history is living and historical proof....WE IN REALITY ARE VERY FLAWED CREATURES, thank Jesus for his teachings, that encourage us to look at ourselves....AMEN
Please find a copy & read: "Jesus & Buddha as Brothers", by French/Viet Namese monk Thich Nhat Hahn.... The basic message of Buddha & Jesus is the SAME....
.....REALLY getting that 'turn the other cheek', FORGIVENESS / understanding bit down RIGHT then.....NOT.
God does not forgive without repentance though.
Charlie Kirk got "empathy" right on 2 counts. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy as did merriam-webster "empathy - the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another".
It does your depressed friend no good for you to visit them and sit and stew with them vicariously experiencing their feelings, thoughts, and experience of depression - indulging in their depressed low state of consciousness = to have empathy. It does harm by amplifying their depression. As my Great Uncle Albert used to say out on the prairie of North Dakota - FOOLISHNESS
and "Empathy is a 20th century coinage (as Charlie Kirk said "a made up new age term") modeled on sympathy as a translation of the German Einfühlung (“feeling-in” or “feeling into”)."
"Compassion is a much older word; it’s been part of the language since the 14th century, and comes ultimately from Latin com- and pati, meaning “to bear, suffer.”
Help your friend with some chores, get them out of the house for a walk, bring over some good food or a well researched supplement perhaps some such as an over the counter lithium supplement. Bear some of their burden = have compassion for their suffering.
Charlie Kirk was right about empathy. Read Allie Stuckey’s Toxic Empathy to find out why.
Then he REALLY should've DIFFERENTIATED.....
Maybe he did. Not uncommon for progressives to take conservative’s remarks completely out of context.
indeed, the actual quote is much longer:
"So the new communications strategy for Democrats, now that their polling advantage is collapsing in every single state… collapsing in Ohio. It's collapsing even in Arizona. It is now a race where Blake Masters is in striking distance. Kari Lake is doing very, very well. The new communications strategy is not to do what Bill Clinton used to do, where he would say, "I feel your pain." Instead, it is to say, "You're actually not in pain." So let's just, little, very short clip. Bill Clinton in the 1990s. It was all about empathy and sympathy. I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that — it does a lot of damage. But, it is very effective when it comes to politics. Sympathy, I prefer more than empathy. That's a separate topic for a different time."
"The same people who lecture you about 'empathy' have none for the soldiers discharged for the jab, the children mutilated by Big Medicine, or the lives devastated by fentanyl pouring over the border.
Spare me your fake outrage, your fake science, and your fake moral superiority."
Thank you for posting this. The abbreviated version that is being touted by the haters didn’t sound like something Charlie would have said.
"Not uncommon", meaning, "what they usually do", as trained by our leftist, Globalist, fake news, control grid media....*sigh*....
.....fair ENOUGH, Julie; EXPANDED comment, DOES vindicate him (SOMEwhat) - but, certainly NOT the 'haters' sharing SUCH limited context HERE - because those who did, AREN'T empathetic.....
I actually feel empathy for his kids, more than sympathy.
My version of Empathy is "compassion and understanding". In light of his kids tragic loss of their father I would say that I feel very sorry for them, so is that not sympathy? Sympathy has more emotional overtones (sadness)....than mere empathy.
I think these definitions have been well understood in psychology for over a hundred years. If everyone changes the meaning according to their own understanding, then they have no meaning at all. Charlie Kirk was simply wrong that empathy is new age word. I don't know the young man, and his interpretation is his alone.
I think he was wrong about empathy. Toxic empathy isn't empathy.
For context, what Charlie Kirk said is, “The new communication strategy is not to do what Bill Clinton used to do where he would say, ‘I feel your pain.’ Instead, it is to say you're actually not in pain. So, let's just — a little very short clip. Bill Clinton in the 1990s, it was all about empathy and sympathy. I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up new age term that — it does a lot of damage, but it is very effective when it comes to politics. Sympathy I prefer more than empathy. That's a separate topic for a different time.”
A clip is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4WnWynImd8
The full episode (The Charlie Kirk Show, 10/12/22) is here, and the topic starts at 36:20: https://rumble.com/v1nnu66-dont-believe-your-lying-eyes-everything-is-fine-bannon-sheriff-lamb-patel-w.html?start=2180
Thank you for sharing this, I was about to look it up myself to post. I’m afraid John is committing the same mistake in defending Charlie that his attackers are making - making assumptions about the meaning of the words without examining the entire context.
So true.
Empathy is not a new age made up word though, Charlie was wrong, but he was entitled to his opinion.
This all-too-prevalent pseudo-virtue reminds me of the false lion from CS Lewis's seventh Narnia book, The Last Battle, where the lion skin makes the donkey look like Aslan, but the character is all wrong. However, its appearance as the "true" lion gives the false one much more power to control others. Perhaps that's the end goal in our time. It certainly was Iago's.
In The Weight of Glory, my favourite essay of Lewis's, he writes,
‘There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner – no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment’
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary
"Sympathy is a feeling of sincere concern for someone who is experiencing something difficult or painful. Empathy involves actively sharing in the person’s emotional experience."
By this definition, I have to agree with Charlie that empathy has done a lot of damage. First it involves attempting to "live in someone else's shoes" traditionally thought not to be truly possible. Secondly it imposes no obligation to assist the suffering person out of their suffering. Indeed the empathiser benefits by not assisting the sufferer as he can then continue in his empathy and thus feel good about himself.
.....'empathy', can be QUITE genuine - NON-threatening to those who experience it and, HIGHLY valued; I am SO tired of those who CONSTANTLY suggest, 'you CAN'T know how it feels', for WHATever contrived reason - which is flat-out WRONG (but, NO surprise to ME, that this truly-FUNDAMENTAL aspect of SPIRITUAL awareness seems to be LOST on MANY Christians; religionists - though NOT alone; no.....)
Could you cool it with all the capitalization? It’s obnoxious.
DEAL with it, Cathleen - SICK of the widespread OBLIVIOUSNESS again displayed (and, I really NEED the CATHARSIS.....)
Can't you catharsis yourself privately?....SOME of your all caps distracts more than enhances.... I sure wouldn't want you in the kitchen seasoning MY soup!.... Your message has value, so why trailer-park it?....
May I suggest you DIAL BACK your "caps lock" usage, my friend?....
John, Iago's motive is bright and luminious, a cauldron of unspeakable contemplt, resentment, envy, hate for itself, and most especially, the manipulation of the vulnerable. You are spot on once again, the Iago syndrome, the concoction of victimhood, and the devolution of the individual and tradtion: from Marx, Freud, and the plethora of psychopaths up to those who espouse DEI, Transgender, Equity, open borders, affirmative action, feminism: inherent in all is voilence, material and transcendant. Good for you to spark an open consciousness
Charlie said he prefers the word "sympathy". There's a clip somewhere online of it... I think because sympathy takes the emotion out of it?... but don't quote me...
I’ve just read that “empathy” entered the lexicon in 1908 and was rooted in the Greek word empatheia, meaning “passion” or “state of emotion”. Originally, empathy wasn’t about understanding other people, but was used in art theory to describe how viewers project their own feelings into objects like paintings or architecture. Later psychologists extended the concept to interpersonal understanding, especially after World War II, when empathy became recognized as a skill. Sympathy is over 400 years old and means “fellow feeling” or “together suffering” … While the concept of feeling with others has ancient roots, the word “empathy” itself is a 20th-century invention.
https://x.com/GigaBasedDad/status/1967223201265844291
The world is a stage, the character may die, but the actor lives on
https://rumble.com/v6ysuki-dont-be-fooled-they-killed-the-character-charlie-kirk-but-the-actors-still-.html?e9s=src_v1_cmd%2Csrc_v1_ucp_a
Which version of "empathy" are you using..? Do you mean what we in UK say as "sympathy"..?
The notion we hear nowadays in the States is that empathy means to feel another's pain, while (we are told) that sympathy means to feel pity for another. Where this distinction comes from is beyond me, because sympathy means literally "to suffer with." In my experience, people who profess to be "empaths" often subsequently reveal a manipulative streak and little true sympathy for someone in pain.
Thank you..."Empathy" in the UK was a term used by psychologists, and sympathy has
deep significance...Just one example of how the English language has evolved..!
Charlie Kirk's influence still lives on...
We are ALL Charlie Kirk now....well, ok, SOME of us are. I want to be inspired, encouraged, and strengthened by the sacrifice of his wife & children....
Covid is the proof
Please get the numbers correct, Richard, - it's "Covid1984"....*grin*....
I had always understood sympathy or to sympathize with someone was to have had the same experience of pain - such as your mother died when you were young & my father died when I was a teen - I sympathize & understand fully from the same experience. Empathy or to empathize was to be able to put yourself in their shoes/situation & feel/attempt to understand the pain but not claim to truly know it. I’m sure empathy came into use for good reason - you cannot have a callous world only caring if one has lived the same tragedy (ie. the wealthy caring about the poor that are starving). However this has been distorted for the very usefulness it offers. I can empathize & appear to be virtuous & still remain in my wealthy conclave. I believe what is missing in empathy is action or sacrifice for the injured on the part of the empathized. Talk is cheap.
RARELY, do they - if they're TRUE empaths, such as I am; SIMPLY articulates an ability to sense LESS-than-EVIDENT (to MOST people) feelings of another; associated EFFECTS upon them, John - this judgmental, INSANE 'one-size-fits ALL' belief ABOUT same (EPIDEMIC among the 'Right' and 'conservatives' - TYPICAL retorts SUCH as, 'get OVER it, SNOWFLAKE' revealing once MORE an unmistakably-SADISTIC, vicious attitude; WILLFUL ignorance) has CAUSED as noted in another Comment of mine here, IMMENSE suffering & heartache - at WHICH point, those THEN play the 'FREEDOM of SPEECH' card.....AS indisputably-TOXIC individuals.
What I learned in A.A.'s 12 Steps recovery program: "Sympathy is a disease, - you can find it in the dictionary between "shit" & "syphilis", - meaning, "stop the pity-party", "stop felling sorry for yourself". Nuance & context are paramount....
Note that NOTHING in my comment here would have been improved by ALL CAPS.
My Friend....
ASK me if I care even ONE iota, Bill - ASSERTIONS such AS, 'Sympathy is a DISEASE', are utterly PSYCHOTIC - and SO completely MAKE my POINT, 'friend'.....
Clearly, your point being that you're a rude-as-fuck asshole. I'm ok with that.
So, please go fuck yourself, asshole. I bet you don't even care 1/2 an iota....
.....YOU'RE calling ME, 'rude'???? How INCREDIBLY disrespectful IS it to give ANY credence to what's again, SUCH a DISTURBED position? I've had SERIOUS issues for YEARS with AA's clearly-CULTlike nature - and YEAH, you were SOMEwhat conciliatory otherwise - but THAT quote's just NEVER gonna FLY on THIS end.....
Empathy in the US means putting yourself in their shoes and a deeper level of connection (understanding how they feel). Sympathy is more like compassion or pity for someone’s situation but not purporting to know how one actually feels. Charlie Kirk was trying to differentiate between false empathy and real compassion, I believe.
Thank you...in the UK, "empathy" is a term used in psychology...always makes things a bit tricky...
I have a friend in Australia who is a psychologist and we have to define terms for each other often 😊
I think you're right.
"What Is Antisocial Personality Disorder?
Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a type of personality disorder in which a person has a limited capacity for empathy and a long-term pattern of violation of other people's rights."
https://www.verywellhealth.com/sociopath-vs-psychopath-characteristics-and-differences-5193369
Thank you for this insightful piece. Empathy is a psychological phenomenon rooted in biology (via mirror neurons), and it's crucial for successful social interactions. I'm sure we all agree that the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, or to be able to understand or even try to understand another's situation or circumstances, is an ennobling aspect of our humanity. But there is conscious/authentic empathy and unconscious/false empathy -- and yes, the latter is used to reinforce victimhood and narcissism expressing itself in the form of virtue signaling. Social media is the perfect arena for such behaviors. We also saw it in the wearing of masks starting in 2020, even wearing them outside when no one was close by, but in case others were watching. If we unconsciously identify with and experience the feelings and thoughts of another without clearly considering our deeper intentions, we will tend to play the role of the rescuer and help reinforce and perpetuate victimhood. If Charlie Kirk was indeed referring to this shadow side of empathy, I have even deeper respect for his person, perspective and courage.
Wishing Charlie had read Dr. Peter Breggin: "The Heart of Being Helpful". Empathy and the Creation of a Healing Presence. LOVE. PEACE. God Bless
For a group that espouses empathy, I see a suspicious number of articles about how to cut your parents out of your life.