In his piece “Is Empathy Overrated,” Paul Bloom argues that empathy is not always a good thing, and that it can even have negative consequences. Bloom presents three main points to support his argument. He first argues that Empathy can be biased and and unreliable. He states that “an act that helps one person in the here and now can lead to greater suffering in the future”(Bloom 1). He is trying to explain that putting the spotlight on one person in a certain moment can lead to the suffering of many in the future. It is related to the Make-A-Wish foundation as putting a spotlight on one person and making them feel good can make many others feel left out and be hurt even more.
Secondly, Bloom argues that empathy can be manipulative and even harmful. He explains how empathy can be used as a tool for persuasion or manipulation, and that it can lead us to make decisions that prioritize short-term emotional reactions over long-term well-being. He also talks about how some events are made bigger than others, he goes on to state, “part of the answer is that Sandy Hook was a single event. The murders in Chicago are more of a steady background noise. We’re constituted so that novel and unusual events catch our attention and trigger our emotional responses”(Bloom 2). He is constantly bringing up and references spotlights and how empathy tends to make us focus on just one thing when in reality, things like Sandy Hook happen way more commonly than we think.
Finally, Bloom suggests that we should replace empathy with more rational and objective decision-making processes. He states, “It can motivate kindness in individuals that makes the world better. The concern about empathy is not that its consequences are always bad, then, it’s that its negatives outweigh its positives — and that there are better alternatives”(Bloom 4). He is saying that he understands that there is some good that comes with empathy but the negatives of empathy outweigh the positives.
2. I agree with Blooms main arguments, the reason is I have never thought of the negatives of empathy. We have always been taught that empathy is only a good thing but really the negatives of empathy of placing a spotlight on something or leading us to believe something else, outweigh the positives of empathy.
3. I answered this question above, but adding on. It has definitely changed my perspective, he referenced in his book the Make-A-Wish foundation and how it places a spotlight on someone when many others with the same troubles get left out of being able to live out a dream. And I always that the Make-A-Wish foundation was a good thing and I still do but I never thought about the other kids who were not able to meet their favorite player or see their favorite person. So It really made me look at it from a different perspective.
4. “If you absorb the suffering of others, then you’re less able to help them in the long run because achieving long-term goals often requires inflicting short-term pain” I disagree with this statement because there are many outcomes to different situations, potentially most of time short-term pain may be inflicted but there are instances where short-term pain is inflicted but you are still are to help them in the long-run, if you are a strong minded person then you will be able to ignore your suffering and help others.
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