General Discussion

but empathy is not ignoring the problem. And this is where many on the left, who call themselves progressive, are failing abysmally. They haven't made the distinction - calling out bullshit doesn't mean you must insult but you have to be courageous. To empathize doesn't mean you support, or try to legitimatize or diminish abhorrent views.

We will have to be strategically empathetic- Think of how a hunter catches prey - the hunter has to know how the prey will react in certain circumstances, is the prey solitary or moves in groups? What's the best way to approach it? How does it see the world?

It was crystallized for me recently in a post I read online which referenced Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor as a failure of empathy - Japan didn't understand how America would react to a violent threat and foolishly believed aggression would result in a quick capitulation. They were wrong.

To understand the terrain we're fighting on, we have to understand what triggers these attitudes, what is causing it, and it doesn't help when our leaders fail to see what is front of them.