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No matter who wins the election, we need a resurgence of empathy to heal a divided and wounded country.
In 2017, an prominent Yale psychologist set out to bring an end to empathy. He argued that empathy biases our reason and moral judgment. Society, he said, “ would be measurably more moral if we had no empathy at all.” When asked about the election that year, he claimed empathy in leaders, specifically in a presidential candidate, could do more harm than good. “The best leaders,” he touted, “have a certain enlightened aloofness.”
His solution? We needed to toughen up. Tougher people, tougher borders, tougher policing, tougher judges, tougher Americans. A chorus of voices from philosophers to pastors joined the chant. “Sob stories” they said, “are not a good way to make public policy.”
Turns out people listened. Welcome to a world without empathy.
Watching the events of the last several years—the anger, the pain, the division—has brought me to my knees. I’ve wondered how we fell so far, so fast. I’ve grieved over strained, if not broken, friendships. I’ve asked myself if it can possibly get any worse?
Well, yes, actually.
In the annals of history, we can directly trace the loss of empathy to the rise of atrocities, moments when ideologies sanctioned evil by giving permission. It usually begins with sarcasm, even “acceptable” humor where people are labeled—a name, an adjective, a disparaging tone. From there it quickly slips into contempt, what philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer refers to as “the unsullied conviction of the worthlessness of another.” Sadly, contempt can turn into cruelty and worse, downright evil, such as slavery, torture, violence or ethnic cleansing. Full blown, this inability to empathize inspires ...
from Christianity Today Magazine
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