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Culture of Empathy Builder:  John Wood

The War on Empathy
John Wood

John Wood Jr. is a national leader for Better Angels, a former nominee for congress, former Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, and author of the upcoming book Transcending Politics: Perspectives for a Divided Nation.

 

He is Director of Media Development and spokesman at Better Angels. Better Angels is a national, grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated to project of creating greater understanding and collaboration in our civic culture between Democratic and Republican voters. I am responsible for the development of original written, video and audio content for Better Angels website and social channels, crafting public messaging, and public speaking.

 

John wrote an article called The War on Empathy. In this dialogue we discuss the article.

"There is something subversive in empathy that makes it threatening to certain social status-quos. Most political coalitions are based, to some degree, on the dehumanization of their opponents.

Some find empathy to be antithetical to the pursuit of justice. To others, empathy is the virtue of the morally irresolute. In a time when some politicians relentlessly insult their opponents on Twitter while others encourage their supporters to harass opponents in public places, empathy may not always strike everyone as a self-evident good. It is good to understand why empathy seems to frustrate, disappoint, or even offend its critics, precisely because it is a virtue worth defending."

 

John Wood Links


 

The War on Empathy + Better Angels: John Wood and Edwin Rutsch

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