There’s a reason Lindsay Ellis is a master of the video essay


She has a new fundraiser-essay, “The Unforgivable Sin of Ms Rachel”. I’ve only seen a half hour of it so far, but it’s magnificent — she is discussing the importance of empathy in raising children and normal human interactions, and is exposing the horrible anti-empathy arguments of conservatives. It’s 2½ hours long, unfortunately, but man, it’s good and thorough. Everyone ought to watch it. Learn more about the anti-Christian sin of empathy, and how the Sermon on the Mount is a crime against Jesus.

It’s also a fundraiser for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. I was motivated to donate.

Comments

  1. raven says

    Elon Musk has this one covered.

    “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit,” Musk said. “There it’s they’re exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response.”

    According to Elon Musk it is wrong for the government to care about its citizens.
    Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and so on are all fundamental weaknesses according to the guy who has received tens of billions of dollars in US government subsidies.

    The government shouldn’t waste time helping people, it should be helping oligarches like Elon Musk get more money and power.

    Who are you going to believe, Elon Musk, the kook who almost everyone intensely dislikes for good reasons or Lindsay Ellis, who I never heard of.

  2. StevoR says

    @ ^ raven :Believe the evidence and the confirmed by multople sources verified facts and the logic that flows from solidly established premises and axioms.

  3. Nemo says

    I was struck recently by a speech from the UK version of “Professor T”. I’m not sure I agree with any of it, but it was interesting:

    Ah, empathy, so easily manipulated. We see this so often on the world stage. Feel sorry for these people here? These other people are to blame. Thus, empathy is twisted into hatred.

    To be clear, empathy is a wonderful quality. It makes us human, kind, giving. But there is also a dark side.

    When extreme empaths see terrible injustice, these positive qualities can turn negative. Empathetic reactivity can lead to anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts.

    What we need is something colder, harder. Something that is actually useful. Compassion.

    I’m sure I’ve never before and will never again hear compassion described as cold and hard, but anyway.

  4. Trickster Goddess says

    According to Elon Musk it is wrong for the government to care about its citizens.
    Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and so on are all fundamental weaknesses

    Mr. Musk should look at it a different way: instead of being a sign of empathy, all those things are defensive measures that protect him and his ilk from the guillotines.

  5. StevoR says

    When it comes to empathy Hannah Arendt makes an excellent point in her quote that :

    “The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.”

    Source (among other places) : https://information-warfare.com/the-death-of-empathy-a-warning-from-hannah-arendt-0d145d295a28

    Dunno if that’s mentioned in the video linked in the OP here (2 and half hours!?) which I haven’t yet seen but think that’s worth noting especially now given the rise of the hateful unempathic side of politics and human nature generally.

  6. jo1storm says

    @Nemo

    “Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion” by Paul Bloom? New York Post Best Book of 2016? Yeah, the guy who wrote it is an a-hole extraordinaire. No wonder it was that conservative rag’s (New York Post) best book.

  7. jo1storm says

    Also, things that were pushed on Amazon after I looked at the book:

    The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning
    Paul Bloom
    (talk about Mother Theresa’s outlook on suffering. You can’t have meaningful life or be saved without suffering, therefore suffering is good and alleviating suffering is bad. Damn.)

    Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion
    Allie Beth Stuckey
    (Another book pushed by conservatives. It’s basically “you’re tricking us, we’re only tolerating you, beware ‘The day of hempen rope’ when we stop tolerating you and start getting rid of you, progressives!”)

    The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
    Jonathan Haidt
    (Not as bad as others, but still tries to reach common ground between liberals and conservatives. By forcing everyone to submit into something he calls “human hives”. Yikes!)

    The Sin of Empathy: Compassion and Its Counterfeits
    Joe Rigney
    (Oh dear. Even worse Paul Bloom than Paul Bloom. Talk about conservative and selfish manifesto. Again with “Suffering strengthens character” bullshit)

    Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil
    Paul Bloom
    (This one is just yuck, IMHO.)

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