so now Empathy is a bad word? like liberal and socialism.

[ensho]

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Someone_saved_America_from_empathy_tonight.html


GOP freaks out as America almost destroyed by "the empathy within"


There's a story out tonight that President Obama may pick a Supreme Court nominee as early as this week, which doesn't surprise me much (and I still think, more than ever, that it will be federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor). What does surprise me, a little, is this bizarre interview with Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, recounting his phone conversation with the president:

Hatch raised concerns initially that Obama was using “buzz words” for a liberal activist justice by suggesting he wanted someone who had “empathy” for the country’s problems. But Obama told Hatch “that was not what he meant, and I take him at his word ... and that he assured me that he would not be picking a radical or an extremist for the court that he was very pragmatic in his approach and that he would pick somebody who would abide by the rule of law.”

Really! I mean heaven forbid we had someone up there in a black robe actually caring about the problems and everyday concerns of Americans, as opposed to the button-down corporatist toadies we mostly have in there now. Did you know that "empathy" is an evil code word for "socialist," because I did not know that. In fact, here is the definition of "empathy" from Wikipedia:

Empathy is the capability to share your feelings and understand another's emotion and feelings. It is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes," or in some way experience what the other person is feeling.

Good God! It's true -- Obama is going to destroy the social fabric of this nation, and in just 110 days, no less. Appointing judges who are able to see things from someone else's perspective! Seriously, haven't Orrin Hatch and the rest of the GOP heard of multi-tasking, that maybe it's possible to follow the rule of law and have "empathy" at the same time? You have to wonder how the party leaders can have a successful "listening tour" when they think "empathy" is from a foreign language.
------------------------------


personally, I think Empathy is an asset.

you are not a whole human without empathy.

[Javaman]

1. well at least now the repukes are being truthful about their willful lack of empathy.

The psychologist that had job of interviewing the nazi's at nuremberg defined a monster as a person who lacks empathy. Kind of telling, isn't it?

[phantom power]

2. If we keep trying, I bet...

we can get the GOP to start treating unicorns, puppies, moms and apple pie like bad words too. And then our task will be complete.

[Eric J in MN]

3. "Sympathy" is a more appropriate word.

"Empathy" means "vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another."

[ensho]

4. sympathy is much different then empathy

it is not more appropriate

[Eric J in MN]

13. A judge listening to a plaintiff with headaches...

...should get a headache?

That would be empathy.

Feeling sorry for him without getting a headache would be sympathy.

[ensho]

15. no, the judge does not get a headache too, don't be silly

empathy is not 'feeling sorry' or feeling 'sympathy'.

empathy is being able to see and know another's experience.

[ShortnFiery]

18. Correct, EMPATHY conveys "a recognition and understanding" NOT "an emotion."

[Eric J in MN]

22. sympathy - 'the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another'

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sympathy

[ShortnFiery]

17. Exactly but the propagandists in the corporate right-wing M$M insist that they're synonymous.

:grr: :thumbsdown:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

5. Went looking for this quote and found it on DU.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=152x23588

[Echo In Light]

6. Do you suppose being succe$$ful in the corporate world requires staving off empathy?

[knowbody0]

10. yes

my son was told he could never be a successful business owner because he was not an asshole

[knowbody0]

7. Personally I am loving that they are making this a banner

statement. I have fostered many children whose ability to be empathetic was abused out of them. Three siblings come to mind. When


one sibling was being abused, the other two were mainly relieved that it was not them. IMHO we should pounce on this new spin word. Republicans, the party that does not care about YOU.

[MineralMan]

8. Only assholes think empathy is a bad word.

Putting yourself in someone else's shoes isn't part of the conservative value system.

[Tikki]

9. A few years ago, they used to try to clobber me on generic bulletin boards...

...those cons, freepers and wingers for using the term..hard working Americans..
More than a few times they would ask me.."What's that supposed to mean?"

Seems as if their public vocabulary is limited to a few programmed words...

Tikki

[malaise]

11. I wonder how the Rushicans feel about the JUST

in justice.

[CoffeeCat]

12. The Republicans want to take us back to the days...

...when men were cavemen and women sat in the back of the cave.

These jerks are going to destroy our species, because they are negatively impacting our psychological
evolution.

We either become self actualized and reach out beyond ourselves--and survive as a species. Or we pull
inward and revert back to our primal selves and end up destroying the planet and each other.

[Ilsa]

14. The GOP only wants rules that apply to everyone else. That's all there is to it. nt

[undeterred]

16. Intelligence and critcial thinking are also bad words

in the Republican world.

[ShortnFiery]

19. Yes, it makes us "ACTIVISTS" which is equivalent to "MARXISTS" to attend University.

:crazy:

[Cha]

20. No, Empathy is a good word and always will

be. No one listens to the Party of NO, anymore.

[sinkingfeeling]

21. That's because no "real American" has any empathy, so it must be evil.

[applegrove]

23. So the GOP admits finally that they don't care about the people who vote for them.