We are told that empathy is what makes us human. Without empathy, we would be sociopathic and cold-blooded. In fact, screenwriters are told to establish and empathetic connection with viewers within the first five minutes of a character’s appearance on screen!
But what if I told you that empathy has a dark side? What if I told you that empathy can actually lead to bigotry and even persecution of others?
As a psychological state, empathy can have tremendous benefit to aiding understanding between people. But without the proper frame of reference provided by compassion, empathy can turn dark quickly.
It turns out that many of our current stories reflect a skewed vision of empathy at the expense of compassion. And the implications are actually quite shocking.
In my latest video, I talk about this, about Martin Scorsese’s movie Silence, and about the hidden failure at the heart of Game of the Thrones that prevented what could have been a tremendous work of fiction into something not quite that.
Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
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