The latest Jesus and Mo strip, called “quirky,” shows a common theme of this strip: the boys instantiating something that they’re decrying at the same time. It is, of course, an example of the hypocrisy of religion.
Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ empathy
March 27, 2024 • 9:00 am
The “empathy gap” may be a limitation of our evolved nature; we can’t really focus that level of deep concern on too many people. Apparently empathy can actually backfire. Psychologist Paul Bloom even wrote a book Against Empathy, which I recently read about in Andrea Shrier’s new book on bad therapies. He wrote:
When you feel intensely for insiders it can make you crueler to outsiders. When Fairness is the highest value, however, our emotions are less likely to get in the way of recognizing the merits in every side. Shrier writes
An interesting thought. It might help explain why groups which make such a point of empathy can so readily heckle, cancel, and demonize those who disagree with them. And maybe an empathy-blind Jesus and Mo could even stand a better chance of eliminating the cruel injustice that is Hell.
I know at least one vegan who is so crippled by empathy, he is constantly angry, depressed and hopeless in this world of animals dying without justice. Yes, everything in moderation, even some of our best traits; for some, I don’t think it’s possible. Empathy backfiring is very much a reality.
Interesting. I never thought of empathy as a bad thing. And I’m not sure I do now either. I suppose I don’t understand how some of the cited conclusions necessarily follow. Empathy is not, of course, a constant, and is employed by different people in countless different ways and divergent circumstances. Like just about everything, empathy can be indulged in to wretched excess, but that’s true of everything. Sure, it can have harmful effects, but as a concept empathy is not innately harmful in all applications, and can be powerfully helpful at times.
So I don’t see that being empathetic is necessarily indicative of a bias. Of course, a bias may be present, but I don’t think this is an essential feature of empathy. Similarly, empathy and fairness are not mutually exclusive, and having empathy does not mean that one cannot recognize and engage fairly in dealing with others. Focusing certain emotions (empathy) on one person does not require unfairness in dealing with others. I’m not saying that empathy is the most important attribute someone can have, but I think we’re in serious trouble without it.
In my view, anyone who preaches empathy for some but callously heckles, cancels, or demonizes others likely is just being hypocritical. I should think that empathy would be the trait that would most likely lead to the elimination of absurdities like Hell.
And I’ve certainly never thought of empathy as fostering racism. But then, everything is racist or racist-adjacent these days, isn’t it?
So, in a biblical setting, caring for your fellow wilderness-wanderers (isn’t that a football (var. soccer) team nickname?) makes it seem more reasonable to slaughter the males of a city, and keep the women and children to use as sex slaves or sell at a profit.
I’m sure that made it more acceptable to those victims, to know how empathic their slaughterers/ rapists/ traffickers were.
Yes, empathy slapped me on the face some time ago, when it was pointed out a Nazi has empathy for another Nazi, quite natural.
So for me broadly speaking and Nazi ideology aside, from what knowledge and truths have been discovered, getting out and widening the circle was the challenge for us modern day homo. Empathy being just one of the motivating qualities needed. A long way we’ve come and not over yet, if ever.