In his novel, The Secret of Father Brown, G. K. Chesterton tells the story of a priest who also happens to be a world-class detective. A visiting playboy named Grandison Chase asks him how a man of the cloth got so good at solving grisly, diabolical murders. And Father Brown offers him a powerful and slightly alarming lesson in empathy:
I recommend (if it seems interesting to you) reading Against Empathy by Paul Bloom in which he argues that, because empathy is so taxing and exhausting we can run out of it, we should opt for compassion instead.
In grade eleven, our history teacher was Dr. Bassett, who had a Ph.D in history. He used to send us home with a history question, and we would try to answer it in his next class. One such question was: Why do the Israelis and Palestinians fight so much? The answer was that: The best fights take place in families. Meaning that both people are from the same Semitic origins.
Yes to this. I just recently learned that genetically speaking Palestinians and Jews are linked through paternal DNA. They are literally the same people just with two very different histories. Convincing them of that is another story entirely.
Another insightful piece. Thank you.
I recommend (if it seems interesting to you) reading Against Empathy by Paul Bloom in which he argues that, because empathy is so taxing and exhausting we can run out of it, we should opt for compassion instead.
Thank you for your excellent, heartfelt article.
In grade eleven, our history teacher was Dr. Bassett, who had a Ph.D in history. He used to send us home with a history question, and we would try to answer it in his next class. One such question was: Why do the Israelis and Palestinians fight so much? The answer was that: The best fights take place in families. Meaning that both people are from the same Semitic origins.
Yes to this. I just recently learned that genetically speaking Palestinians and Jews are linked through paternal DNA. They are literally the same people just with two very different histories. Convincing them of that is another story entirely.
Excellent!