I’ve seen, read, and heard so many people call themselves compassionate on both the left and right. I’ve also seen those same people become vicious, hateful, rage filled monsters toward people that they disagree with, that mostly happening on the left, though I see it on both sides.
Compassion is an interesting virtue. Merriam-Webster defines compassion as “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” So that means you feel sorry for others and want to make their lives better. It is usually well intentioned, but you know what they say about Hell.
I try to be an empathetic person, which is different than being compassionate. Certainly, there are times that I feel compassion toward others, particularly when things affect them that are beyond their control, and if I have the means to help, I certainly will, as much as I can without adversely affecting myself. But the key difference between empathy and compassion is that empathy requires understanding, and compassion requires pity.
An idea has blossomed in this country: we as compassionate people must force people to be compassionate. Whether that means forcing small businesses to give money to select charitable organizations or as direct cash payments to activist groups or face vandalism, or advocating that people who disagree with your opinions on gender identity and express themselves should be fired from their careers and be excluded from society, or that people who disagree with your opinions on legal punishments for pending court cases, the list goes on and on.
What we are seeing is the rise of authoritarian compassion. Do this or else. And what results is a further fracturing, further division, and if left unchecked, the breaking up of our country.
Identitarian compassion is a bastardized version of compassion, corrupted by envy and wrath, and worn as a mask for authoritarianism. And if we truly wanted to be a compassionate society, we must be willing to allow those with whom we disagree to exist. To be compassionate we must allow uncompassionate people to exist. It is a bizarre contradiction, but it is the truth. It’s akin to why God (if you believe God exists) allows bad things to happen, or allows bad people to exist in the world. Without darkness there is no light. If everything was decided for us, then we aren’t alive. If everything was determined for us, then we have no choice, and nothing matters.
I will summarize with this. Be empathetic. Be willing to be compassionate for a just and righteous cause. Be willing to accept whatever consequences (good and bad) come of choosing that calling. But avoid force when possible, and only as a last resort. As Asimov said, “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.“
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