Born in South Africa, Musk has proved himself one of the great tech entrepreneurs in history, with remarkable achievements in rockets, electric vehicles, brain implants and satellite internet. Yet Musk has warned that “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy,” and by demolishing the United States Agency for International Development he is now destroying the lives of many impoverished children on the continent where he grew up.
Valentino, an old friend of mine, is the opposite, for his traumas have left him exuding empathy. I admire Musk’s genius, but I wish it were leavened by Valentino’s selflessness.
In The Empathy Gap, corporate strategy and management consultant Daniel Murray delivers a unique and unconventional approach to contemporary leadership, emphasising the power of empathy. Empathy is not just a secondary soft skill, but rather a powerful tool for driving performance, fostering innovation and leading in today’s complex, diverse and fast-paced world. Exhibiting empathy is not a magical skill that some people have and others don’t. It is a capability that we can all build and nurture.
As employers push RTO, “it could be the case that it is not home working that has reduced performance, but manager’s poor leadership skills instead,” researchers said.
Managers who lead with empathy and show concern for workers’ well-being are more likely to increase their team’s performance and productivity than others, according to March 5 research from researchers at Durham University and Athens University.
Leaders with a vision who can share their long-term goals also appear to be more likely to boost employee effectiveness, the researchers found.
A collapse of empathy would be an existential threat to the world. Hannah Arendt, reflecting on her witness to, and escape from, the rise of fascism in the 1930s, concluded “the death of empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.” The stakes are too high for us to fail.
So how can we respond to the argument against empathy?
One way would be to stick only to ethics, arguing, simply, “it is our duty to sacrifice for others, and failing to do so is just wrong!” This has driven what has come to be known as the charity narrative.
Large language models have shown a surprising ability to provide supportive language to those in need. We talk to a Stanford professor of psychology about why. Plus, a WSJ contributor puts three AI chatbots to the test in her kitchen to help with meal planning. Victoria Craig hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter.
Empathy is a crucial skill that allows children to form meaningful relationships, navigate social situations and develop emotional intelligence.
While some children naturally exhibit empathetic behaviors from an early age, it is a skill that can and should be nurtured over time.
According to Nicole Campione-Barr, a professor at the University of Missouri and director of the Family & Relationships Research Network, “We can see the seeds of empathy in toddlerhood, but it becomes more intense during early adolescence when children begin to understand prosocial behavior and feel responsible for helping others.”
Empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s circumstances. That seems to me to be what Jesus is saying when he says to love others as much as you do yourself and to treat them like you would like to be treated. His statements are, among other things, admonitions against prejudice and judgment without facts. He also says those premises are the very basis of his teachings and explain the meanings of the lessons in the Old Testament.
A lot of the same people cheering the deportations are the ones claiming that the United States is a Christian nation. If empathy is a core tenet of Christianity, and that sure sounds like what Jesus is saying, and the United States is a Christian nation, then those Christians applauding Trump for treating innocent people like hardened criminals should probably get themselves to the nearest church and ask forgiveness. They sure aren’t acting very Christian.
Now, the richest man in the world, the shadow president of America, Elon Musk, has laid bare his philosophy, on of all places, the Joe Rogan show: “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” And as if that wasn’t bloodcurdling enough, he doubled down: “Like it’s weaponized. Empathy is the issue.”
This is no longer about whether certain factions make Nazi salutes. It’s not just about tax policy or weaponizing xenophobia. This is about something far deeper—the very essence of what it means to be human. These far-right zealots aren’t merely looking to dismantle government; they are attempting to strip governance of its soul. They seek to erase human agency and emotion from the framework of civilization itself.
The American psychologist G. M. Gilbert, who observed high-ranking Nazis during the Nuremberg trials, once wrote, “I was searching for the nature of evil. I think I’ve come close to defining it: a lack of empathy… A genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.”
“It’s really come as quite a shock to me that there is this level of, really, hatred and violence from the Left,” Musk told Sean Hannity. “I always thought that the left, that Democrats were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring, and yet they’re burning down cars, they’re firebombing dealerships, they’re firing bullets into dealerships, they’re just, you know, smashing up Teslas.
“Tesla is a peaceful company. We’ve never done anything harmful,” Musk said. “I’ve never done anything harmful. I’ve only done productive things.”
"I always thought that the left, you know, Democrats were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring, and yet they're burning down cars, they're firebombing dealerships, they're firing bullets into dealerships, they're smashing up Teslas," Musk said.
In recent years, the decline of empathy has become abundantly clear in many facets of life, whether it be politics, economics, corporate greed, or just the general public. Musk argues that empathy has become “weaponized;” and that empathy is a “bug” that results in “civilizational suicide.” This language serves to desensitize us. Delegitimizing empathy encourages us to turn a blind eye to the suffering of fellow humans; delegitimizing empathy in politics paints a far more sinister picture. When those in power begin to suggest that empathy is a dysfunction of society rather than a strength, this cultural shift in values is further emphasized.
by Peter Sear Ph.D. The business leader, Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, and tech billionaire Elon Musk recently claimed that empathy is a weakness in Western Civilisation. This contradicts what I learned about empathy during my Ph.D. research and since (Sear, 2021). The consequences of Musk’s perspective seem especially problematic in business.
Musk’s apparent disdain for empathy, has coincided with Tesla’s (one of his companies) falling stock price. Could it be that a lack of empathy has led to misjudging customers, and the destruction of customer loyalty? The latest research is clear. A recent study, on building customer loyalty and sustainable customer relations, showed customer empathy to be a mediating factor (Wang, et al, 2025).
Empathy has rightly received a lot of attention in recent years as a superior alternative to patronizing sympathy, but compassionate objectivity may be even better.
Empathy is an obscenity in Elon Musk’s vocabulary. The words care, share and fair are not in the MAGA lexicon.
The Tesla CEO exposed his contempt for compassion in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. The headline in the CNN digital story says it all, “Elon Musk wants to save Western civilization from empathy.” The hit 1960s song by Jackie DeShannon, “What the world Needs Now (is Love, Sweet Love),” is not in the rotation on Musk’s Spotify playlist but “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones probably gets lots of action.
Summary: AI-generated messages can make recipients feel more “heard” compared to responses from untrained humans. The research demonstrates AI’s superior ability to detect and respond to human emotions, potentially providing better emotional support.
However, the study also found that knowing a message is from AI can make recipients feel less heard, highlighting a bias against AI-generated empathy. As AI becomes more integrated into daily life, this research underscores the importance of understanding and leveraging AI to meet human psychological needs effectively
by Sarah McCammon How empathy came to be seen as a weakness in conservative circles
There's a growing movement, among some conservatives, pushing back against traditional notions of empathy. What's behind it, and what might it mean, especially for Christian conservatives?
People tend to think of empathy or caring about other people's feelings as a good thing, but in some conservative circles, there's a growing chorus of voices arguing that empathy could be bad.
ELON MUSK: The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.
MCCAMMON: That's billionaire Elon Musk, speaking recently on the podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience." They were discussing the idea that unchecked immigration into Western countries is threatening Western political and cultural values. Musk agrees and warns that societies are at risk of self-destructing.
Why Empathy Is A Preqreuisite For Moral Reasoning It shouldn’t be easy for leaders to make tough decisions that negatively impact other people. If we reach a point where we can fire someone without a second thought, cut costs in a way that can put customers in danger and so forth, then that means we have reached a point where we have little to no empathy—we’ve become corrupt.
Power, as I understand it, isn’t what corrupts leaders. Hubris and apathy, which stem from a lack of humility and empathy, do. Of course, as leaders, we have to accomplish certain goals, or our organizations will fail. But in the pursuit of those goals, it can become all too easy to start to see people as resources, which erodes our empathy and can make it atrophy entirely over time. That can have dire consequences.
Empathy has been a subject of enduring debate and exploration for many years. Empathy is defined as the ability to perceive the subjective world of the other person “as if we are” the person (Decety and Jackson, 2004; Gair, 2012; Rogers and Kinget, 2013) and could be activated by mental processes such as imagination (Decety et al., 2016). Empathy encompasses three interrelated systems crucial for caring for others: the cognitive aspect involving perspective-taking, the emotional facet characterized by empathic concern, and the motivational element associated with emotion regulation (Decety and Jackson, 2004).
According to the literature, empathy stands out as a potent catalyst for fostering prosocial behaviors—voluntary actions undertaken for the well-being of others (Penner et al., 2005). These behaviors encompass a wide spectrum, ranging from supporting friends and collaborating for the collective good to contributing to the health and public welfare (Guidi and Traversa, 2021; Grignoli et al., 2022; Penner et al., 2015).
Greg Gutfeld: Liberal women have misplaced empathy Fox News host Greg Gutfeld and the panel compare White college-educated women’s politics to men's on 'Gutfeld!'
The Power of Empathy in Relationships Empathy is often referred to as the cornerstone of meaningful human connections. This complex ability allows us to perceive and relate to the thoughts, emotions, and experiences of others, fostering deep understanding and cooperation. Empathy's influence spans various types of relationships, from romantic partnerships to professional interactions. This article explores how empathy builds and enhances relationships by delving into its definition, types, and practical strategies for development.
To help teach empathy, critical thinking and teamwork to future physicians, Mercer University School of Medicine professors turn to art.
All third-year medical students at Mercer participate in visualization training as part of the School of Medicine’s medical humanities curriculum. For the training, students visit an art gallery or exhibit, and an art historian leads them through observing and analyzing art both independently and together.
“What we hope that it does is sharpen the students’ visual observations of their patients,” said Dr. Brian Childs, professor and chair of the Department of Bioethics and Medical Humanities in the School of Medicine. “Rather than just looking at lab results or looking at radiographs, you look at people.”
*Elon Musk recently claimed empathy was "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization." And he's not alone in this thinking.
*Elon Musk recently claimed empathy was "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization." And he's not alone in this thinking. Some religious leaders have recently gone even further, explicitly labeling empathy as "sin".
*The Empathy Framework offers a better understanding: true empathy is a balanced system connecting with yourself, with others and the world—leading to stronger individuals, communities, and nations.
In a conversation with Joe Rogan, Musk described what he calls "suicidal empathy" - the notion that excessive empathy leads to self-destructive outcomes. Controversial theologian Joe Rigney, who often describes Empathy as a “sin,” illustrated a similar concern when he recently stated:
"Empathy is the sort of thing that you've got someone drowning, or they're in quicksand, and they're sinking. And what empathy wants to do is jump into the quicksand with them, both feet... Problem is you're both now sinking.”
She argues that empathy, while it may provoke a reaction, too often remains a personal response that fails to translate into political commitment or concrete actions. She calls this the ‘trap of empathy’ – a dynamic that subtly shifts the burden of responsibility from society to the victims themselves. In the West, D’Souza argues, spectators of atrocities expect victims to perform their trauma to raise awareness, basically forcing them to make a spectacle of their pain so that others might understand or even feel. Instead of receiving the immediate solidarity they need, they must beg for sympathy.
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