Empathy Obstructed

Empathy is not about summoning up a feeling identical to that experienced by another person. It is about appreciating what kind of experience someone else is having without having that experience oneself. Some people mistakenly suppose that one can only relate to any feeling if one has experienced that exact feeling. 

But empathy is important precisely because it enables us to relate sensitively to the experiences, good or bad, of other people who are quite different and distinct from us. It means we are able to recognise the pain inflicted on those who may otherwise have little in common with us but their humanity. It prompts us to question, and possibly challenge, what is bringing about such outcomes.

Alas, empathic pathways have been increasingly obstructed. Policy makers barely take issue with this corrosive development, and routinely overlook the need to intervene. Four areas call for urgent attention.

First of all, we have the media demonisation of scapegoats. Be they refugees, immigrants, benefit claimants, they are targeted by rich owners of media empires for relentless negative portrayals so people do not respond to their suffering, but instead see them as despicable causes of problems for society. Distorted, biased coverage effectively poison readers’ minds until they have lost all empathic capability for relating to many of the most disadvantaged people.

Secondly, we have the deliberate hiring of borderline-psychopathic people to senior positions to shut down organisational empathic connections. These people have three notable characteristics: [1] they are charming and subservient to those at the very top; they come across as can-do and are ever-ready to sort any ‘problem’ out; [2] they do not care about how unreasonable, ethically dubious, or practically impossible the orders are that they give to their subordinates; and [3] they are adept at putting all the blame on others, and dismiss any feedback or complaint as ill-judged.

Thirdly, there is the systemic displacement of human connection by private and public service providers. Staff are required to ‘focus’ on their job so that they do not ‘waste’ time on listening to or engaging with service recipients. The next often-taken step is to channel all queries from service recipients to automated response-givers – either humans tied to a rigid script or some form of computer system – and anything the service provider does not want to hear about is ignored. 

Finally, there is the accelerated decline of local familiarisation through a combination of economic deprivation which leaves more people isolated, and relentless cuts to all forms of community development just when they are more than ever needed to bring people together to build trust and share ideas. Instead of helping people find a common voice in expressing their concerns, private and public sector organisations step back and leave communities fragmented. 

Empathy is the oxygen of social existence. To obstruct its availability is to suffocate mutual understanding and community cohesion. Policy makers should stamp out media vilification of targeted groups; adopt recruitment criteria that guard against the appointment of those who treat empathy with disdain; strengthen service provisions by building in better and more extensive human responsiveness; and give greater and sustained support to community development to nurture connections and shared goals for local improvement.