Thanks for throwing in the good news and shout out to wildlife rescue/rehab! As a retired member of that club I know how important the work is, especially as climate change throws things into further chaos.
Thank you for the note and for the rescue/rehab work, Dawn. It's so vital. I wish everybody - schoolkids especially - were exposed to it all the time. The stories it would generate and the empathy it would build seem increasingly necessary. Imagine towns everywhere with established rescue/rehab centers that were central to the community rather than these DIY out-of-view labors of love we rely on now.
Thanks, Simon. As Erica says here, comments from Vance and Musk have been reported widely, but the idea of "toxic empathy" is echoing widely in conservative circles these days, I think. Here's a good introduction and discussion in a podcast from the CBC program Ideas: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-battle-for-empathy-9.7060555
Yeah, scary article! The notion that empathy is now to be considered toxic, rather than a mature and desirable thing, demonstrates the classic Orwellian inversion of the narrative that is characteristic of the MAGA agenda. One is wrong to believe that empathy entails acts of common decency; instead, empathy is being "manipulated" to stimulate progressive action, which has been distorted to make it appear to promote all manner of perversions of the norms of justice in the society. The US administration is keen to promote this narrative, as it fosters fear in those segments of the population who view the loss of their privilege through DEI as discrimination against them. The country becomes more divided and violent, creating justification for greater social surveillance and control by the administration.
Similar elements are gaining ground in Canada, as well---not least in the leader of the federal opposition party.
Well said, Erica. Below the skim of politics, too, is the (actually toxic) white male foundation that mocks empathy and therefore oppresses/suppresses women. You might like Rebecca Hooper's latest post at Between Two Seas; she normally writes excellent lyrical pieces on a life closer to nature in the Orkneys (one of which I quoted in this empathy essay), but her latest - spurred by learning that Epstein included in his boys club circle a number of eminent scientists - is a brilliant, personal barnburner about the predominance of misogyny in science and academics, where her career began. https://betweentwoseas.substack.com/p/the-boys-club
Thanks for the link! Interesting that this notion that a lack of empathy somehow makes one more rational keeps cropping up. As if a callous disregard for other beings (of whatever kind) that signals a lack of "hysterical" empathy is not itself an emotional state, rather than being an expression of rational thought.
Precisely. As if it's not an emotional state - often fear, as I noted in the piece - and as if it's not toxic when morphed from a concern that someone isn't thinking clearly to a manifesto that damns half the populace for believing that compassion should drive policy.
I think it comes from Elon Musk and/or J.D. Vance. Just another way to shift the moral compass of society through repetition of an alternate narrative.
My two-cents' worth: good call to post it in parts. Personally, I find it easier to read long pieces on paper than on a screen (maybe a function of age. :) ) As always, thanks for your insights.
Good to hear, Erica. Thank you for the input. I was once the same - very paper focused - but all the reading/research I do here has made me a resident of the screen, regardless of the length of a piece. Sometimes I think about dropping the curated section of my posts just to clear out my inbox and free up some time. But I know some of my readers like the section.
Thank you for this, part one of ten, Jason. Thanks also for pointing the way to "Becoming Earth," and RW Kimmerer's 2025 essay in Emergence magazine ~ I listened to her voice reading it.
These books may be of interest to you and others here who want to read more on the topics of empathy, fear, frustration, and anger:
1) The Book of Joy (2016) by His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with Douglas Abrams
2) Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet (2018) by Joan Halifax
Thanks very much for the book recs, Diana. My unread book pile is already teetering... but I'll make a note. And hopefully some other readers here will follow your lead.
Thank you, Ruth. And yes, it is always strange to watch how far we can stray from the simple truth of something when fear drives our thinking. I would think that an evangelical who finds themselves allied with predators and white nationalists against refugees and immigrants would find room for self-doubt. But fear, esp. social fear, is so powerful.
I'm also in the biodiversity/environmental space, but I've come to understand that the forces against biodiversity/climate change are not coming from informed scientific arguments, but ideological reflexes based on identity politics and fear. And there's no scientific way out of that.
We also need to understand, however, that with today's polarized and algorithmic world, all the various ideological positions ever hear are views that confirm their own biases (and that applies to the left and the right. Thank you, social media algorithms. Including Substack, BTW). It's everyone's own choice, of course, to only listen to views that conform to theirs, but I often feel like I'm preaching to the choir.
It's almost impossible to reach the other side. They don't even hear you. Or know you exist.
Well said, Ruth. And I think the mad rush to drown social media in machine learning/AI will only make it worse, though it might become so nutty that people turn elsewhere (like actual conversation). We'll see.
I think often about preaching to the choir, which is much of what I do, I think. Readers on Substack are self-selecting to read what they want to read, right? But I've come to think that the choir (which I'm part of too) wants to be preached to, since they show up every week. And the communication is more than just repetition of the known; it's new information and enriching what we already know. And then, to stretch the metaphor, the choir leaves church to spread the word... That's my consolation, anyway.
I think I would find it an impossible task only to listen to views that conform to mine. I have always felt isolated in trying to maintain a Nature-valuing perspective. I share that with precisely one person in my personal life. That voice gets drowned out by the flood of mainstream culture's desires and beliefs. Maybe it helps not being on social media.
I've completely avoided social media as well. Even when I was promoting my Antarctic book, I worked in other ways to spread the word.
It is hard in much of mainstream culture to present nature-based reality (i.e. reality reality) as the norm. We live in intensely mediated fizzy fictions that blind us to so much. And each generation is farther away from the natural world than the previous one. Observing that drives much of what I'm trying to do here.
Thanks for throwing in the good news and shout out to wildlife rescue/rehab! As a retired member of that club I know how important the work is, especially as climate change throws things into further chaos.
Thank you for the note and for the rescue/rehab work, Dawn. It's so vital. I wish everybody - schoolkids especially - were exposed to it all the time. The stories it would generate and the empathy it would build seem increasingly necessary. Imagine towns everywhere with established rescue/rehab centers that were central to the community rather than these DIY out-of-view labors of love we rely on now.
I would so love to see that happen
I've come back to reread this. The perversion of language to make empathy 'toxic' is chilling. A powerful, illuminatting beginning to a series.
Thank you, Jan. Perversion is an excellent word for it.
Multi-layered and fascinating. Empathy: definitely a commodity we need more of in these times.
I'd never heard of toxic empathy: I am still not sure I completely understand the term, but I don't like the ring of it.
Thanks, Simon. As Erica says here, comments from Vance and Musk have been reported widely, but the idea of "toxic empathy" is echoing widely in conservative circles these days, I think. Here's a good introduction and discussion in a podcast from the CBC program Ideas: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-battle-for-empathy-9.7060555
Yeah, scary article! The notion that empathy is now to be considered toxic, rather than a mature and desirable thing, demonstrates the classic Orwellian inversion of the narrative that is characteristic of the MAGA agenda. One is wrong to believe that empathy entails acts of common decency; instead, empathy is being "manipulated" to stimulate progressive action, which has been distorted to make it appear to promote all manner of perversions of the norms of justice in the society. The US administration is keen to promote this narrative, as it fosters fear in those segments of the population who view the loss of their privilege through DEI as discrimination against them. The country becomes more divided and violent, creating justification for greater social surveillance and control by the administration.
Similar elements are gaining ground in Canada, as well---not least in the leader of the federal opposition party.
Heaven help us all.
Well said, Erica. Below the skim of politics, too, is the (actually toxic) white male foundation that mocks empathy and therefore oppresses/suppresses women. You might like Rebecca Hooper's latest post at Between Two Seas; she normally writes excellent lyrical pieces on a life closer to nature in the Orkneys (one of which I quoted in this empathy essay), but her latest - spurred by learning that Epstein included in his boys club circle a number of eminent scientists - is a brilliant, personal barnburner about the predominance of misogyny in science and academics, where her career began. https://betweentwoseas.substack.com/p/the-boys-club
Thanks for the link! Interesting that this notion that a lack of empathy somehow makes one more rational keeps cropping up. As if a callous disregard for other beings (of whatever kind) that signals a lack of "hysterical" empathy is not itself an emotional state, rather than being an expression of rational thought.
Precisely. As if it's not an emotional state - often fear, as I noted in the piece - and as if it's not toxic when morphed from a concern that someone isn't thinking clearly to a manifesto that damns half the populace for believing that compassion should drive policy.
Thank you. I will give this a listen. Concerning times.
I think it comes from Elon Musk and/or J.D. Vance. Just another way to shift the moral compass of society through repetition of an alternate narrative.
What times we are living in. I hope this period teaches us all a better way to live 🙏
My two-cents' worth: good call to post it in parts. Personally, I find it easier to read long pieces on paper than on a screen (maybe a function of age. :) ) As always, thanks for your insights.
Good to hear, Erica. Thank you for the input. I was once the same - very paper focused - but all the reading/research I do here has made me a resident of the screen, regardless of the length of a piece. Sometimes I think about dropping the curated section of my posts just to clear out my inbox and free up some time. But I know some of my readers like the section.
I get it! Inboxes and time are considerations, for sure. However, your curated section is interesting and helpful.
Thank you for this, part one of ten, Jason. Thanks also for pointing the way to "Becoming Earth," and RW Kimmerer's 2025 essay in Emergence magazine ~ I listened to her voice reading it.
These books may be of interest to you and others here who want to read more on the topics of empathy, fear, frustration, and anger:
1) The Book of Joy (2016) by His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with Douglas Abrams
2) Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet (2018) by Joan Halifax
Thanks very much for the book recs, Diana. My unread book pile is already teetering... but I'll make a note. And hopefully some other readers here will follow your lead.
Well said. It's incrompehensible to me that people who call themselves Christians decry empathy as "toxic."
Thank you, Ruth. And yes, it is always strange to watch how far we can stray from the simple truth of something when fear drives our thinking. I would think that an evangelical who finds themselves allied with predators and white nationalists against refugees and immigrants would find room for self-doubt. But fear, esp. social fear, is so powerful.
It is.
I'm also in the biodiversity/environmental space, but I've come to understand that the forces against biodiversity/climate change are not coming from informed scientific arguments, but ideological reflexes based on identity politics and fear. And there's no scientific way out of that.
We also need to understand, however, that with today's polarized and algorithmic world, all the various ideological positions ever hear are views that confirm their own biases (and that applies to the left and the right. Thank you, social media algorithms. Including Substack, BTW). It's everyone's own choice, of course, to only listen to views that conform to theirs, but I often feel like I'm preaching to the choir.
It's almost impossible to reach the other side. They don't even hear you. Or know you exist.
Well said, Ruth. And I think the mad rush to drown social media in machine learning/AI will only make it worse, though it might become so nutty that people turn elsewhere (like actual conversation). We'll see.
I think often about preaching to the choir, which is much of what I do, I think. Readers on Substack are self-selecting to read what they want to read, right? But I've come to think that the choir (which I'm part of too) wants to be preached to, since they show up every week. And the communication is more than just repetition of the known; it's new information and enriching what we already know. And then, to stretch the metaphor, the choir leaves church to spread the word... That's my consolation, anyway.
That's a great way to think about it! And I suppose being part of the choir keeps one motivated, which we all need in tough times.
I think I would find it an impossible task only to listen to views that conform to mine. I have always felt isolated in trying to maintain a Nature-valuing perspective. I share that with precisely one person in my personal life. That voice gets drowned out by the flood of mainstream culture's desires and beliefs. Maybe it helps not being on social media.
I've completely avoided social media as well. Even when I was promoting my Antarctic book, I worked in other ways to spread the word.
It is hard in much of mainstream culture to present nature-based reality (i.e. reality reality) as the norm. We live in intensely mediated fizzy fictions that blind us to so much. And each generation is farther away from the natural world than the previous one. Observing that drives much of what I'm trying to do here.