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.

Later on Twitter:

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.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charlie-kirk-empathy-quote/

It's not as bad as the out-of-context quote, but I'm having trouble even wrapping my head around it. I guess the argument is something like:

How can you claim to have empathy when you actively ignore or dismiss the pain of these specific groups? Your empathy is not real; it's a political weapon. Fake outrage, fake science, and fake moral superiority used to win arguments and elections.

He's not wrong about (many) Democrats. But even setting vaccine denialism aside, the core of favoring 'sympathy over empathy' is kind of unavoidable. It feels like tankie whataboutism: 'Democrat's empathy is fake, therefore, more distanced sympathy is our justified approach'

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

didn't elon musk also say something along the lines? "empathy is a weakness and our demise" or sth like that ...

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I'm sensing a pattern.

No but seriously, the psychopathic allure of leadership (Forbes, sry just the first link I found) is leading to civilization scale decisions which are 1) out of sync with what a reasonable person wants, 2) counter to general human flourishing.

Tech leadership wants us to worry about potential ethical "alignment issues" with a theoretical AGI, but we're already in crisis if those leading us don't share our basic human values.

PS. I'm not trying to say psychopaths nonghuman. They're the same species and probably as conscious as I am. I just don't think they're an apt choice to decide matters for humans who do have empathy. Imagine a chef with no sense of taste running a restaurant kind of deal.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 hours ago

Imagine a chef with no sense of taste running a restaurant kind of deal.

I gotta remember that one phrase :)

[–] saimen@feddit.org 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

And then there was this guy who was part of the Nuremberg trials or interviewed a lot of Nazis and tried to figure out what they all have in common, guess what: lack of empathy

Found some reference:

https://sluggerotoole.com/2018/06/19/evil-i-think-is-the-absence-of-empathy/

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 hours ago

sociopaths

[–] cm0002@piefed.world 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, snopes link: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charlie-kirk-empathy-quote/

[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Yeah he was a straight up psychopath. Preferring sympathy means pitying the fate of others but not feeling their experience. Psychopaths generally see themselves a superior to others and pitying people for not being as awesome as they are, while also being confused about the experience of empathizing is exactly what a psychopath does.