empathy

Exceptionalism and the Underdog

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Hello my friends, family, and fans;

I saw a post the other day that shook me and I’m still having trouble with it.

The post was a typical leftist meme that said, “We’ve all watched A Christmas Carol countless times but you still blame Tiny Tim for his fate.” I thought it was a little over the top and was looking forward to reading comments roasting the poster for being overly dramatic. Wow, was I surprised.

The comments were mostly about how it wasn’t Tim’s fault but his parents. How they were irresponsible for having so many kids and not being able to support them. I swear I heard Scrooge’s voice asking, “Are there no prisons?”

It makes me sad that people still believe poverty is a character flaw and not a trap. I grew up poor and I saw the shame on my Mom’s face when she had to accept donations so we could have Christmas dinner. The only flaw in character my mother had was her taste in men.

It saddens me that, despite all our fiction promoting empathy and tolerance, people seem to have missed the message. There’s this weird thing in western culture where we all feel like we’re the underdog and anything we achieve is due to our hard work and striving. That applies to the poor, middle class, and billionaires. We all seem to think we’re Cratchit, even when we act more like Scrooge.

Believing we’re special is the first step to treating others as if they aren’t.

Every person is important and deserves life, dignity, health, freedom, and love, no matter what their level of productivity or their lot in life.

This winter is going to be a bad one for a lot of people. If you can, please consider donating to a food bank. We will be making a donation directly to the Ottawa Food Bank.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Empathy

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Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

In response to Bishop Mariann Budde urging Trump to show mercy and compassion at the inauguration, a deacon called Ben Garrett urged people not to “commit the sin of empathy”.

It was a weird, backward, way of talking, so I assumed they were a fringe idiot getting their ten minutes of mockery.

Then a few weeks later Musk was on the Joe Rogan podcast and said, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” The full quote is less sociopath and more “stoned philosophy student who wants to look smart”

Ironically, he’s talking about using emotional manipulation to control how people react. I say ironically because he does this all the time.

Weaponizing empathy isn’t a new thing, it’s as old as humanity and it can be devastating. It’s used in a lot of charity scams where they show starving babies and then beg you to give money.

Now to go from saying that there are unscrupulous people preying on our empathy to saying that empathy is a weakness or even a sin, is a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be human.

Some days it’s hard to believe it, but empathy is as much part of humanity as fear. I believe that empathy is one of our species’ biggest strengths.

The real sin and the real weakness in all civilizations is the ability to convince ourselves that others aren’t human. The ability to dehumanize, or other, a group of people through language, action, and even laws is the reason for a lot of humanity’s problems.

Hate’s two favourite tools are fear and dehumanization.

When you’re choosing what or who to believe, idolize, or vote for; look at how they treat those that are different from them, especially those less powerful.

Being empathic and working at understanding others is never a weakness, and if God sees it as a sin then I’d rather be a sinner. We can only progress as a people if we treat each other with respect and not only accept but revel in our differences.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric