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"Compassionate Conservatives" Questions Obama's Use of "Empathy"
This is EXTREME Bizarro World.
"Compassionate Conservative" was the oxymoronic phrase used by Bush II in his 2000 campaign. It was tried in Texas under Rove/Bush - as a strategy for funding "faith-based" friends to take over social programs, just as in funding "corporate-based" friends to take over the other functions of government. By banding together the fanatics with the neocons, with some cheating added in, they could come to power for awhile. By 2004, Bush had to ask Rove, "Are we doing Compassion again?" By then, they didn't bother, as they had the Terror Card to play, along with the old Guns, Gods & Gays wedge issues.
COMPASSION is a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering.
What is compassionate about two terms which resulted in a quagmire in the middle east with millions dead, maimed or homeless, and a near-depression that is resulting in foreclosures, teacher layoffs and other misery?
Now, some wingnuts have called Obama's criterion for "empathy" in a judge a "code word."
Even Clarence Thomas has written that he is "empathic" and David Brooks writes in the NY Times that a judge without empathy cannot be objective, but here is an opposing viewpoint from the Wall Street Journal. Conservatives are divided on "empathy" - not their strong point in the first place.
Even Clarence Thomas has written that he is "empathic" and David Brooks writes in the NY Times that a judge without empathy cannot be objective, but here is an opposing viewpoint from the Wall Street Journal. Conservatives are divided on "empathy" - not their strong point in the first place.
Empathy is understanding and entering into another's feelings. Sounds alot like compassion. Let's check the thesaurus, and we find that both empathy is a deep awareness of other's feelings and compassion is a deep awareness of another's suffering. A splitting of hairs in Bizarro World.
empathy
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | understanding |
| Synonyms: | affinity, appreciation, being on same wavelength, being there for someone,communion, community of interests,compassion, comprehension, concord, cottoning to, good vibrations, hitting it off, insight, picking up on, pity, rapport, recognition, responsiveness, soul, sympathy, warmth |
| Notes: | empathy denotes a deep emotional understanding of another's feelings or problems, while sympathy is more general and can apply to small annoyances or setbacks sympathy means the stimulation in a person of feelings that are similar in kind to those that affect another person; empathy means a mental or affective projection into the feelings or state of mind of another person |
| Antonyms: | apathy, misunderstanding, unfeelingness |
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"But it is really not just that they lack empathy, it is a fervent belief that empathy is not consistent with the interpretation of law. Some determine the content of the law and apply it to the facts of the case at hand. To go any further, to attempt to fill in missing gaps or correct particularly offensive or burdensome law, is practically abhorrent. Ed Whelan, former law clerk to Justice Scalia, goes so far as to call it a “lawless approach”. Giuliani, in a speech to the Federalist Society, said “ law schools, too many of them, had been confusing constitutional law with sociology.
"Not only is it important that she meet President Obama’s requirement of empathy, it is equally important that she believe that the interpretation of law goes beyond words on a page and that the motivations of the actions in question must be understood. Empathy is not just a sympathetic emotional response to some temporary set-back, rather it is a mental projection into the state of mind of another person. It was the basis of Justice Harlan’s dissent in Plessy, wherein he understood the purpose of segregation was to impress upon a race of people that they were “so inferior and degraded that they cannot be allowed to sit in public coaches occupied by white citizens.” Clearly it is more than the capacity for empathy that is in question, but rather it is the belief that utilizing that empathy is essential in analyzing and interpreting law.."
http://www.obama-mamas.com/blog/?p=248
In my own opinion Pres. Obama must show more empathy in the situation of his average and mere people. Since empathy is a deep awareness of other's feelings and compassion is a deep awareness of another's suffering. We suffered a lot because of leaders misleads and corruption so I’m begging to the administration to work hard for our economy sake. It made me empathize to Kate Gosselin situation right now, now that we are talking more on feelings. There’s a lot of buzz over Kate Gosselin in bikini shots. Granted, Kate Gosselin in bikini photos sure are nice to look at, but it's causing a stir with another woman known solely for multiple births, and a cat fight is a brewing that many would take unsecured loans to see. Nadya Suleman, the Octomom, has some harsh words for Kate: that she had to have had plastic surgery to look that good. Meanwhile, Jon Gosselin, other parent in Jon & Kate plus 8, is also making headlines, as both are reportedly sleeping around on the other. We'd all give a cash advance to make the Kate Gosselin in bikini news and all mentions of the Gosselins go away.
Good post and questions Questions Obama's Use of "Empathy". Can do conversation and questions on online education, ccie lab and mcse? This is also necessary task.