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

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ensho Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:44 AM
Original message
so now Empathy is a bad word? like liberal and socialism.

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.
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Javaman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:47 AM
Response to Original message
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?
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phantom power Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:47 AM
Response to Original message
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.
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Eric J in MN Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:48 AM
Response to Original message
3. "Sympathy" is a more appropriate word.
"Empathy" means "vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another."
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ensho Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:50 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. sympathy is much different then empathy


it is not more appropriate
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Eric J in MN Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:59 AM
Response to Reply #4
13. A judge listening to a plaintiff with headaches...
Edited on Wed May-06-09 12:00 PM by Eric J in MN
...should get a headache?

That would be empathy.

Feeling sorry for him without getting a headache would be sympathy.
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ensho Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 12:14 PM
Response to Reply #13
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.
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ShortnFiery Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 12:18 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. Correct, EMPATHY conveys "a recognition and understanding" NOT "an emotion."
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Eric J in MN Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 02:22 PM
Response to Reply #15
22. sympathy - 'the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another'
Edited on Wed May-06-09 02:23 PM by Eric J in MN
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ShortnFiery Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 12:15 PM
Response to Reply #4
17. Exactly but the propagandists in the corporate right-wing M$M insist that they're synonymous.
:grr: :thumbsdown:
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Gidney N Cloyd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:51 AM
Response to Original message
5. Went looking for this quote and found it on DU.
Edited on Wed May-06-09 11:51 AM by Gidney N Cloyd
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Echo In Light Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:52 AM
Response to Original message
6. Do you suppose being succe$$ful in the corporate world requires staving off empathy?
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knowbody0 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #6
10. yes
my son was told he could never be a successful business owner because he was not an asshole
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knowbody0 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
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.

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MineralMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
8. Only assholes think empathy is a bad word.
Putting yourself in someone else's shoes isn't part of the conservative value system.
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Tikki Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
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
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malaise Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:56 AM
Response to Original message
11. I wonder how the Rushicans feel about the JUST
in justice.
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CoffeeCat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 11:57 AM
Response to Original message
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.

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Ilsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 12:01 PM
Response to Original message
14. The GOP only wants rules that apply to everyone else. That's all there is to it. nt
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undeterred Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 12:15 PM
Response to Original message
16. Intelligence and critcial thinking are also bad words
in the Republican world.
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ShortnFiery Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 12:19 PM
Response to Reply #16
19. Yes, it makes us "ACTIVISTS" which is equivalent to "MARXISTS" to attend University.
:crazy:
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Cha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 12:19 PM
Response to Original message
20. No, Empathy is a good word and always will
be. No one listens to the Party of NO, anymore.
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sinkingfeeling Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 01:13 PM
Response to Original message
21. That's because no "real American" has any empathy, so it must be evil.
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applegrove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-06-09 02:49 PM
Response to Original message
23. So the GOP admits finally that they don't care about the people who vote for them.
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