Thread by @SteB777

I will create a thread about this, because I can see that there are industrial levels of misunderstanding, particularly about what the term empathy actually means, which isn't what a lot of people think it means.

This isn't that that thread, even if it's a thread.
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https://twitter.com/SteB777/status/1950255762824986693

All I did, was to paraphrase what Elon Musk said about empathy, and he wasn't being original, as he was just parroting a right wing meme.

I merely stated the lack of empathy was the problem, to stimulate people to into thinking about what empathy is.

2/theguardian.com/us-news/ng-int…

My word play was to illustrate that, Elon Musk and the right, are using the wrong term, and empathy isn't mistakenly what they think it is.

They mean sympathy and compassion, not empathy.
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Empathy is the ability to have insight into someone, or something else, to feel at one with them or it, if only very briefly.

You can actually have empathy, insight into someone or something rather unpleasant, and you wouldn't want to feel sympathy for them, or their outlook.
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As an actual empath, not an imagined one, I'm far more aware than most what actual empathy is. It's not some wonderful gift, as some silly shallow lifestyle gurus imply, it's actually a terrible burden. You often get sudden insight into things, you'd rather not have known.
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There are 2 very different things described by the term empathy.

1) Having insight into someone or something else i.e. the phenomenon.

2) A psychological concept, where it is wrongly imagined that having this insight, makes you compassionate i.e. an abstract concept.
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In fact, a lot of the definitions, I just looked up, are very problematical, because they say, empathy is imagining what someone would feel like in a given situation. This is most definitely not actual empathy, but concepts that can be learned and taught.
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There is a profound difference between an abstract concept, derived from say, abstract learning and a deep spontaneous feeling and personal insight.

People are not motivated by abstract concepts, unless, it is something that really connects to them.
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Ironically, those of a right wing persuasion, who see empathy as a bad thing, or a weakness, are actually strongly connected to others on the right, by a powerful feeling of identity with them, through a type of empathy. Because their ideas, chime with them, through empathy.
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Modern right wing ideology, is very emotive, on themes that produce a strong emotional response, and bonding within the group. Whilst there are key ideas that they bond over, these are not well-thought-out, rational, or coherent, concepts, just themes.
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I am not being insulting or pejorative when I say that.

Group bonding is generally formed via a mythology, which is often mistaken or not true, and not particular rational or coherent. It's not particular to the right.
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Coming full circle, again, what those on the right mean by empathy, is not empathy at all, rather compassion or sympathy for out-groups, that they arbitrarily determine, are not worthy of compassion or empathy.
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I'm trying to be neutral here. For balance, those on the left do not tend to have compassion and sympathy, for those they see as racists, or having fascist ideology.

The internal bonding of these 2 groups, is formed by strong group empathy, for their outlook.
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You can have compassion or sympathy with someone as a person, without feeling empathy or a strong emotional connection with their beliefs, or outlook.
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In perceived, or actual conflict, between the group you identify with, compassion and sympathy with those you are in conflict with, tends to be lost. Of course, this varies a lot depending on the person and conflict.
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The most extreme example of this, is actual war, when one side is engaged in a life or death struggle with the identified out-group, where normal human compassion and sympathy for the other is suspended, if they are identified as the enemy.
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What seems to have happened with this identification of empathy, as a weakness, or a bad trait, is those saying this, imagine themselves in a war, with some perceived enemy, without this war ever having been declared.
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It is a bit absurd, and I say, highly ironic, that the group claiming that empathy is a weakness, are primarily bonded together, by empathy, and without it, they'd lack all group cohesion/identity. They are even using the wrong term, for what they regard as empathy.
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I would need far more words to properly cover this, as it is really necessary to undo a lot of fallacious reasoning, misconceptions, and a plethora of false and misleading ideas.
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PS. For clarity, I am not saying empathy is just about group bonding. I am saying empathy is non-verbal insight, a feeling, a deep connection. It is not a thing, and can be transient. It might lead to a sense of oneness, or not lead to it.
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