In his book Spoilt Rotten: The Toxic Cult of Sentimentality, Theodore Dalrymple declared sentimentality to be “the progenitor, the god-parent, the midwife of brutality.”

War is peace, and institutional thuggery is rooted in codified empathy.

I will say that, from what I see, empathy in society in general is at a low ebb. However, when people like Runoyawa demand empathy, what they mean is that they expect you to empathize with him. He's not going to empathize with you, because you are politically incorrect and therefore sub-human and not deserving of his emphathy. It's a patrician attitude that, contrary to his assumption of being progressive and cutting-edge, is as old as human history.

I'm choosy about whom I empathize with. Trying to empathize with people whose opinions are rooted in Cluster B thinking is a waste of my time. Besides, I'm already familiar with how their thought patterns work, having seen more than enough of it for one lifetime.

There is not "only silence and worshipful head-nodding." There's disengagement, disobedience, resentment, sabotage and if the issue important enough, violence.

Some people's definition of "important enough" might surprise the social justice warriors.

"But the fact remains that those words were fundamentally inappropriate . . ."

If words can be inappropriate; then how come Simba says:

"empathy fostered by the dictates . . ."

You cannot dictate empathy. Simba might like to; but, you cannot. That is NOT what that word means.

And speaking of what words mean in English, he complains about people complimenting his command of the English language and feels that is because they are surprised that a "person of color" can speak English. Where is HIS empathy? It is most likely that they are surprised at his command of English because they expect an immigrant to be speaking English as a second language.

Yes, Simba is lacking in empathy for others. He even gives an example in his very first paragraph when an American says that her dog shares his name. If he bothered to learn anything about American culture he would have learned that Americans consider dogs a part of our families; and saying that he shares a name with someone's pet isn't an insult - intentional or otherwise.

Overall, since he is a college student I would give this "paper" a failing grade; he, as Cousins Dave has said, expects you to have empathy for him; but, he won't reciprocate.

In one sense he has learned something; the PC/Liberal/Academic/Grievance-mongering method of walking around with a chip the size of Gibraltar on your shoulder.

Some of the anecdotes in the Atlantic article are too "convenient."

Consider the example of the black student who asks for guidance about majoring in biology and is pointed to "less challenging" courses. I doubt the veracity of this report. If it really happened as described - devoid of context or nuance - then it was more extreme in its racism than anything I have seen in my 44 years in higher education.

"The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data.'" Not sure who said this first, but it bears repeating. One can find examples of inconsiderate, rude, or even overtly discriminatory behavior. The issue is their prevalence. I contend that they constitute a small percentage of human interactions and articles like the one in the Atlantic do not persuade me otherwise.

"The impact of her words and actions mattered more than her intent."
Just wondering if this counts everywhere? Does the impact of fostering single motherhood (increased criminal activity, decreased education) matter more than the intent (feeling good about not judging single moms)?

I also wonder if Simba realized that he's essentially telling people that they think incorrectly. They need to think differently to avoid micro-aggressions against others, but only if those others are part of a marginalized group. I'm sure everyone commenting here knows this, but he's not fostering empathy, he's fostering authoritarianism.

I do wonder how he'll react if (or when) the people who get to decide what is correct thinking are no longer on his side.

Dr PinWV,

I actually believe the biology story. The truth is college advisers suck. I'm white as can be and they tried their hardest to get me out of engineering and into a less challenging major. It has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with who gets a job as a college adviser. They aren't capable of completing a math intensive major and don't believe anyone else can either.

DrPinWV; I agree The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data.'

Further, I'd add that the "hate crimes" he alludes to that happened at Oberlin often turned out to be hoaxes!

And Ben, yep, college advisors are NOT known for being wise or being accurate in giving advice. I remember one time when I asked my college advisor about which electives might be good to take. His response: If you like history, take a history course. If you like literature, take a literature course. Wow, Like I never would have thought of that! Seriously, I got more and better advice from the lady in the admin office who sold the semester parking passes.

Part of "growing up" is learning that not everybody is as perceptive of your needs as you think they should be AND not everyone that disagrees with you is a dithering idiot.

Some people never grow up.

I could believe that the college advisor thing might have actually gone down like this:

Freshman of ethinc group X: "I want to major in biology."

Advisor (looking over student's transcript): "You are not prepared for that. You didn't get the classes you needed in high school. First, you need to take these remedial courses."

Freshman of ethnic group X: "Racism!"

(P.S.: my freshman advisor, who helped me get into the school's then-infant computer science program, was a well respected professor of history. She has since passed away, and I've always regretted that I didn't have an opportunity to come back and thank her. I was living in another part of the country when she died. There is a building named after her now.)

223 years after the First Amendment was ratified, and we're still arguing about whether freedom of speech is a good thing. Incredible.

CD,

I doubt they even looked at his transcript. I tested out of Calc 1 and 2. The school adviser really didn't think I should use those credits. I should retake the classes since they would be easy As. After all, no reason to actually learn anything new in college. It's not like it costs money or anything. (end sarcasm) The same person also advised I change from electrical engineering to history. Because EE was just too hard.

Charles has obviously run into some of the same 'advisers'. Now, I don't believe Simba that racism was involved. No racism is necessary. Just really bad advice. And Simba is clearly one of those people constantly looking to be discriminated against.

Ben, I can believe it; it's just foreign to my experience. I guess I come from an era when at least some college faculty was still competent.

As for Simba: If it really bothered him that much, he could go by his middle name or a nickname, or even legally change his name. It's not that hard. Evidently he keeps it because it gives him something to whine about.

A while back, I looked up antonyms for "empathetic" in my thesaurus; I wanted to know what you call someone who is not yet officially a sociopath but could easily be on the way to becoming one.

The results weren't that helpful - and the ones online seem a bit weak. Namely:

"indifferent"
"unfeeling"
"merciless" - OK, so that has more punch, but it sounds like the description of someone who's ALREADY a sociopath.

Also:

"thoughtless"
"hostile"
"unkind"

All the others are adjectives on the same level as "merciless."