Wednesday Morning Rant

For a little while now, there has been a new term that keeps cropping up on the internet. That term, which was apparently popularized by Gad Saad, is "suicidal empathy." I think "pathological empathy" is a bit more accurate, but it's more or less the same thing. The "suicidal empathy" concept is that the desire of some - usually leftists, and usually AWFLs - to be "caring" or "compassionate" has become destructive to themselves and the culture.

Cases of rape victims who refuse to describe their attackers when the attacker is a minority because they don't want to accuse a minority of a crime and "contribute to the problem of racism" or somesuch are often pointed out as micro-level examples of "suicidal empathy," as are cases of the parents of children murdered by illegal aliens publicly emphasizing how much they support unchecked migration and the dissolution of borders. At the macro level, examples are usually things like open borders or elimination of prisons. At some point, the desire to "do good" or be one of the "good people" (and not ever a garbage person like those MAGA people!) becomes so destructive as to be fatal. There is some truth to that, at least among individuals.

Individually, I think "suicidal empathy" or "pathological empathy" are very real phenomena and there are countless people who would happily see the entirety of civilization fall to avoid being seen as unempathetic. These are the idiots who will happily ride the train directly over the cliff, celebrating the entire time. It is a huge problem, but it does not explain much of what we see. What we see from many people in power smacks of "suicidal empathy," but there is an obvious undercurrent of naked corruption beneath it.

The prime example from the recent news cycles is the looting of Minnesota by Somalis and the use of stolen Minnesota taxpayer dollars to finance Somali terrorism abroad. In a recent article that Ace covered, a number of state employees place the blame firmly on Governor Walz. In the article was a segment that I think is illustrative of the power elite manifestation of what could be described as "cynical empathy:"

They allege agency leadership handpicked by Walz "willfully disregarded rules and laws to keep fraud reports quiet" and filled top posts with political allies who were "not qualified for their jobs." Staffers who witnessed or documented fraud were "shut down, reassigned and told to keep quiet," the statement said.
...
Walz has pushed back on the criticism, telling The New York Times that his administration "erred on the side of generosity" during the pandemic and disputing claims that concerns about racial optics slowed the state's response.

Tienanmen Tim allegedly knew - or at least, people told him repeatedly - that these programs were being looted by Somalis who then used at least some of the money to finance terrorism abroad. He knew, but did nothing about it. The theft was consistent with his worldview and political objectives. Looting the taxpayers to hand money over to preferred minority groups in openly fraudulent schemes was just fine by him. When called on it, he brushed it off as merely "[erring] on the side of generosity." He justified his behavior with an empathy-based argument.

But is this yet another example of "suicidal empathy?" I don't think so. Unlike the useful idiots who vote for people like Walz so as to be "good people," Tienanmen Tim doesn't believe a word of it. He isn't trying to be "generous." He isn't trying to be compassionate. He isn't exhibiting empathy. He is stealing and supporting his allies - who are, by definition, our enemies - by doing harm to the people of Minnesota. The "empathy" is just a cover.

But it may, perhaps, be a distinction without a difference. Whether suicidal empathy or cynical empathy, the outcome would be the same.

posted by Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM

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