“The whole “owning the libs” economy, in which cruelty is the product, the applause is the payment, and the cost lands somewhere downwind.” Ezra Klein talks about this quite a bit. It’s hard to ignore that cruelty has been elevated to the level of national policy, and the terminally online are only too glad to eat it up. It’s hard to express to moral value voters that morals matter, but boy this would be a great time for them to put their money where their heart is and rein in the excesses of their own tribe.
Empathy could be more for publicly justifying actions and getting cooperation than as an operating principle. While there might be a hidden agenda, it could be just how people narrate their actions and reactions.
I think seemingly consequence-free actions run up against the no-free-lunch principle. After all, those insulated humanities departments are headed the way of the dodo unless they change. But granted they can do much damage in the mean time.
That was really, really good. One of your best essays yet. Also, helluva line..."That’s “reality bats last” in a tuxedo."
Much of this is not empathy at all, but rather something much darker. See my post Conformity, Cruelty, and Political Activism
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/70696.html
“The whole “owning the libs” economy, in which cruelty is the product, the applause is the payment, and the cost lands somewhere downwind.” Ezra Klein talks about this quite a bit. It’s hard to ignore that cruelty has been elevated to the level of national policy, and the terminally online are only too glad to eat it up. It’s hard to express to moral value voters that morals matter, but boy this would be a great time for them to put their money where their heart is and rein in the excesses of their own tribe.
Empathy could be more for publicly justifying actions and getting cooperation than as an operating principle. While there might be a hidden agenda, it could be just how people narrate their actions and reactions.
I think seemingly consequence-free actions run up against the no-free-lunch principle. After all, those insulated humanities departments are headed the way of the dodo unless they change. But granted they can do much damage in the mean time.