Why empathy is a bad thing

Why empathy is a bad thing(theatlantic.com)

2 points by Marinlemaignan 10 years ago | 2 comments

sjclemmy 10 years ago |

I don't understand his argument that empathy causes us to bomb people. I thought that was competition for resources, ideological differences and shady clandestine foreign policy. I consider myself empathetic and I can't see how any of these current conflicts were started by thoughts of empathy. There certainly doesn't seem to be much empathy around for refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria, here in Europe. There seems to be a lot of fear.

azeirah 10 years ago | |

I understood it how empathy doesn't "causes" us to bomb people, but how it is used to manipulate the masses into believing it's a good thing. The masses wouldn't allow it if they didn't believe it was a good thing, is what I think his argument is.

This is not a very strong argument anyway, because people can be manipulated in plenty other ways regardless. Empathy here is not the cause, but merely one of many tools to manipulate the masses.