In two healthy paragraphs, summarize the piece AND show (with framed quotes and paraphrases from the text) what you believe to be the author’s three main points/arguments. Support with textual evidence and include your own initial response to the material.?
Basically in this text the author Paul Bloom is explaining why he believes that empathy isn’t legit in the ways we use it for and how it is overrated because “But spotlights have a narrow focus, and this is one problem with empathy.”(Bloom, Is empathy overrated). He states this first off. He also talks about how we focus and are more likely to be empathetic to people who are like us and those we love than to people who are different and strange to us. He also mentions that in hearing the full circumstances of a single person’s case or even to two that it’s hard to empathize for more than one person at a time making empathy also biased and one sided.
I think that Bloom’s main points are that we need to look at the whole picture and that empathy is mostly one sided and only hyper focused on one thing over other circumstances that can arise. Also that empathy doesn’t help solve the problem to a degree because if you’re down about someone else’s problems how can you focus on yourself. Even the shock of hearing what has or had happened can make you just feel bad and don’t actually help the person.
Do you agree with Bloom’s main arguments? Why or why not?
I do agree with Blooms main arguments to a degree I agree mostly with the ending argument Bloom presents, I think that comparison really drove it home and that that statistical evidence he uses about school shoots people might argue more with because its hitting close to home with a lot of issues going on the US that people don’t want to talk about it. When they do, they are so focused on them that they can’t tear away and empathize with other people going through, and other things that are related to it.
In what ways does Bloom challenge your initial understanding or perception regarding empathy?
Bloom challenges my main understanding about the perception of empathy when he talks about how it is such a narrow focus and when he states that empathy is limited in the way that it focuses on certain individuals and not a group of people who have experienced a similar thing. And that general kindness in everyday life is more of an impact than just feeling sorry for someone.
Find one claim Bloom makes that evoked a strong response. Paste the direct quote from his piece, then write a few sentences in which you challenge OR support his claim in your own words and experience(s).?
“”I’d argue that what really matters for kindness in our everyday interactions is not empathy but capacities such as self control and intelligence and a more diffused compassion… If you absorb the suffering of others, then you are less able to help them in the long run because achieving long term goals often requires inflicting short term pain. “ (Bloom, Is empathy overrated?). This is one of the claims I do see on Bloom’s side of view. If you only feel sorry for someone and that’s it then it’s not helping them or challenging them to help themselves or even yourself. Or when you try to help you could just be adding to some other factor where they don’t need that empathy or sympathy to help them but some tough comment to keep them going. There are other ways to help or show kindness without always feeling bad for someone.
