How About Some Empathy?

Hi everyone,

Well, I'm sure many of you have been following the coverage of Sonia Sotomayor in the last week. Some choose to complain because President Obama has picked a minority woman to be on the Supreme Court. They complain that this means that white men are now somehow the oppressed minority. How this works, I'm not sure, since most of the justices are still white males.

There is also her qualifications. She would bring the most qualifications to the bench of anyone in a very long time. She practiced for years in New York, she graduated with honors from Princeton and Yale Universities. She has ruled on both sides of the issue when it comes to businesses vs. employees, and in discrimination suits as well. So this charge of her being a racist makes no sense.

But here is the central point of this post. One criticism raised against her is that she would bring empathy into her decisions. Many conservative critics are up in arms about empathy. They just can't stand the thought of empathy working alongside the rule of law. If that happened, it owuld be a lot harder to justify focusing wealth in the hands of those at the top while everybody else suffers. This method seems to be a pattern with the right in its current form: take something admirable, like empathy (or community organizing or helping the environment), and mock it, barf all over it, in effect.

On the topic of empathy in law and government, I will offer this quote. You may recognize it, but it has been shifted to fit our current context:

"The point is that empathy, for lack of a better word, is good. Empathy is right, empathy works. Empathy clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Empathy, in all its forms; empathy for life, for other people, animals, points of view has marked the upward surge of mankind. And you mark my words, empathy will not only guide Judge Sotomayor, but that other burgeoning servant of justice called the USA. Thank you."

Recognize it? That was taken from Michael Douglas's (as Gordon Gekko's) famous "greed is good" speech from the movie Wall Street. I took out the word "greed" and put "empathy" in its place. This was my chance to take a hateful message, and by changing the idea, make it good. It is a chance I do not often get, but I just love when it comes along, don't you? Well, I'll have more material for you soon.

This is the Daily Reeder, Over&out.