Does Empathy Distract Us from Facts in Health Care Debate?
By Jonah Goldberg Published on May 6, 2017 •
Just over 14 years ago, my daughter almost died minutes before entering the world. My wife had to have an emergency C-section. The whole thing was harrowing. Someday I’ll tell the whole story. But because of that experience, and simply because I am a father, I could empathize with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s story about his son’s birth. His story is almost surely more harrowing than my story, but that doesn’t matter. Empathy is the ability to feel what someone else is feeling.
Empathy is different than sympathy or compassion. Sympathy is when you feel sorry for someone. Compassion is when you do something about it.
https://stream.org/does-empathy-distract-us-from-facts-in-health-care-debate/
