“The fundamental weakness is empathy,” Musk recently told radio podcast host Joe Rogan. “There is a bug, which is the empathy response.”
As Musk has established himself as at least the second most powerful person in an administration seeking a wholesale remaking of institutions, rules and norms, what he said matters, because it encapsulates a political plan. What the Project 2025 report set out in over 900 turgid pages, Musk’s remark captures in a simple pithy mantra for the social media age.
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For those of you who haven’t yet, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with Curtis Yarvin’s “Dark Enlightenment Theory,” because that’s what’s informing all of these chuds.
JD Vance has cited this guy. Peter Thiel is a huge fan. Based on his views, Musk is almost certainly reading this stuff.
The “theory” basically boils down to that tenet: empathy is weakness, might makes right, and it’s only natural for the strong to dominate and brutalize the weak.
Remember that kid in elementary school who refused to play with anyone at recess and just spent the whole time frying ants with a magnifying glass? That kid grew up and has an “intellectual following” now.
Musk: “The fundamental weakness is empathy” Also Musk: “Why are people so mean to me”
Oxy, meet moron.
Empathy is strength, love is strength, unity is strength, solidarity is strength, divided we may fall but as one united working class we can stand forever.
While we stand together they tear eachother apart and in their disunity we the workers shall have our revolution. For they are weak and we are strong, they produce nothing and we create all of the value.
The fact that this is even a real headline should trouble everybody. I know the answer, but the question still is:” what kind of a state is the USA in where someone even feels the need to write this, rather than it being an assumed norm?”
You know who lacks empathy? Psychopaths.
This paper says this about it:
Importantly, empathy is such an essential component of healthy human social interactions that absence of it may lead to severe social and cognitive dysfunctions. A personality structure often marked by a lack of empathy is psychopathic personality.
Musk is once again pretending to know about things he’s clueless about.
Lack of empathy is how I characterize Republicans or conservatives in general. It explains every single one of their policy position.
there also very good at pretending to have empathy, which is another key trait. hence why we seen “so many people” become super right wing as time goes on.
Ya, I think that’s psychopathy and also pretty common.
he has neither intelligence or empathy. he turned intoa space karen, because he mangled his penis in a botched surgery
I’m down with calling him Space Karen from now on, actually.
All opposed?
he’s right. we need to let go of our own empathy to make us more effective soldiers in the fight to defeat him and the people like him.
i look forward to the day when these guys beg for mercy as we ease them into their excruciating fate with cold, unblinking eyes.
Empathy is one of the foundational blocks of the society he abuses.
Billionaires live in a weird bubble. Money and power twist the mind and destroy the soul.
Never idolize a billionaire, they’re the closest thing to evil incarnate that walks the Earth. Remember, the Devil will present itself as friendly, alluring, and attractive. So, at least we know they aren’t the Devil, but as close as reality can get, maybe.
The fact he says this, he proves that he really never cared for the human good, all that talk was just to people buy his shit.
Empathy is a weakness for sociopaths, and only sociopaths can be billionaires. So it’s not a universal weakness, but it is a weakness for him.
The lack of empathy, however, has been linked to psychopathy by study after study after study.
Yep. They can’t even comprehend the notion.
yes, the problem with having an ignorant idiot of a host/presenter have all these hugely influential people with their half baked ideas as guests is that he can’t/won’t point out basic facts like how a lack of empathy is indicative of anti-social personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.
so, you’ve got how many bros who think “empathy is a bug” is a statement that doesn’t need to be challenged out there… repeating it in their heads.
Roegan just lets them talk, its a forum for everybody!
That’s because he’s not the brightest guy tbh
Wasn’t it the other way around? Psychopathy is the inability to empathy.
No, as a lack of empathy isn’t the only defining characteristic of psychopathy. There is also a lack of remorse, disinhibition, and egocentrism amongst other traits.
A lack of empathy alone doesn’t make someone a psychopath. For example some people on the autistic spectrum can exhibit a lack of empathy but are not psychopaths. (Should be noted a lack of empathy is not a defining feature of autism - its variable and a lot of people on the autistic spectrum do have empathy).
So its true to say a lack of empathy is a feature of psychopathy but not true to say that psychopathy is the inability to be empathetic.
Are there empathy possessing psychopaths?
No, I think another way to say it is that lack of empathy is a necessary, but not sufficient, criterion for it.
Cognitive empathy, yes, absolutely, affective empathy, no. Difference between flinching when someone gets hurt and understanding that someone gets hurt, including the theory of mind to understand that they don’t like that. Which is why the well-adjusted ones (mostly a function of nurture) make damn good surgeons. Maladapted ones will use that (very acute) cognitive empathy to do the usual dark triad stuff.
I guess it closes the debate about Musk being autistic. Autistics are more likely to be hyper empathetic.
Narcissists can display similar traits similar to autistic people. You’re right, he’s not autistic, just a narcissist.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder, perhaps?
Speaking as someone who is autistic, autism is rarely a one-size fits all diagnosis.
While Hyper Empathy can be a side-effect of Autism, another is the exact opposite where your sense of empathy is limited to “So what have you done for me lately?”, in this case the person has absolutely no understanding of interaction outside of it being transactional.
Musk is definitely this kind
First, I didn’t write all of them.
Now on the subject of autism and empathy, empathy is widely misinterpreted and misunderstood in autistics. The lack of empathy stereotype is based on the deficit model of autism and therefore on the lack of theory of mind. This model has roots in eugenic and neocolonialism (also known as neurocolonialism) and is deeply ableist.
We have great research with good methodology and ethics (the opposite is true for the deficit model) about autistics not lacking theory of mind and being empathetic (often hyper empathetic). They just show empathy differently than the neurotypical. This is in fact true for many stereotypes about autism. Autism is a different cognitive style to process information, communicate (including emotions) and learn.
It’s where the Double Empathy Problem of Dr. Damian Milton comes in. It’s the difference and not the lack between two or more individuals/group of individuals that makes the understanding issue.
We are plenty of autistics on Lemmy.
Wasn’t the opinion of my psychologist about me. She told me I’m mildly autistic and that I show little empathy.
For example I saw a dead pigeon on the bike lane and my concern was: my wife behind me might ride over it and be distressed.
And it’s not that I care about her being distressed if I’m saying the truth. It’s that her distress would be a pain to handle. That the bike would be dirty which would cause further distress to my wife.
Her response to seeing the dead pigeon was that she thought it was sad.
Empathy is tricky 🤷🏻♂️ the only thing I feel about this truly, is guilt. But that’s all.
I’m not doing diagnosis. But, a psychologist that use “mildly autistic” should not be taken seriously on the topic. There is no level. The DSM 5 TR has level of support. It’s very different and these levels can vary from one moment to an other (even in the same day).
More about this in this journal article by Steven Kapp which is an autistic researcher.
You show “little empathy” in comparaison with what? The neuronormativity? This is already an issue. We don’t have to compare to neurotypical. We have to validate how autistics shows empathy, emotions, etc. Often, it’s by resolving problems. E.g.: This is making you sad so we resolve the problem and you will be better. Advocating for someone is another. Sounds similar to what you wrote about your wife. It’s often called “cognitive empathy”. This is entirely valid!
I mean, that seems empathic to me - you are relating to her (potential) feelings.
And adds another chapter to the debate about him being a psychopath.
Yes.
Empathy is a skill and he doesn’t have it.
It’s a useful skill if you’re trying to cultivate a popular following. The funny thing is that he used to have it and was quite good at feeling people out for a popular vibe. Now he’s too ketted out to feel anything. Just a rolling ball of Id, bouncing between hungry, cranky, and horny.
I wonder if he was ever good at it, or if before he got a pass on being a weird guy because his goals seemed positive (save the planet, push tech forward). Now that he’s fixated on manosphere/nazi shit, more people are less willing to overlook his idiosyncrasies.
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I always thought he had a really good PR firm and fired them after they said no to his great idea for a rescue submarine. Just look at the press: everyone loves him, everyone hangs on his very word, he must know better
Dude. Thank you. That was honestly the moment I paid more attention. Before the sub, I was in the general group of people that thought he was just a really out there tech enthusiast who was investing in cool stuff. Trying to mainstream electric vehicles? Cool cool. Free/cheap internet access for all around the world? Sounds great. Getting people interested in space again? Cool cool cool. That marketing team did a great job of keeping him associated with being an innovative, relatable, quirky “genius.” Until he couldn’t get them to use his sub idea to save those boys. His eruption into that multi-week temper tantrum made me actually pay attention to him a bit and I was disgusted. It feels like he must have fired whatever PR team he had during his tantrum and has just been riding off the rails since trying to regain that image of a savior he once had.
Some such people are really good at pretending to have empathy. I used to be with a narcissist who was a nurse. She could put on a good face, but in actuality she just got off on the sense of power over people who needed her help. In areas where being an awful person didn’t threaten her job security, she had zero qualms about hurting or taking advantage of others, and she did so without hesitation when she felt it would benefit her.
Empathy is an ability not a skill. It’s not a mundane tool to get what you want.
It is a inbuilt limit that prevents (most of us) from doing harm to our fellow humans, and to shun from society those that do. It is the very core of why humanity has reached the modern society with a high quality of life.
you’re right, it’s not a tool to get what you want
it’s a tool to not be a horrible person
Plenty of conmen and torturers can tell you differently. Whether your soul can bear the burden of your actions is far removed from what you can accomplish with your abilities.
The skill of reading people is different from the skill of feeling their pain. Both are skills, and require practice. Some people are born better at it than others.
As for bearing the burdens of your choices, I agree with you.
He’s gone too far with special k and needs to come back. Many such cases observed in the scene during my youth.
i think he also downs alcohol and cocaine as well, given his sudden increase in energy from time to time.
There are a lot of skills he doesn’t have.
Empathy as a weakness is exactly what I’d expect to hear from a sociopath. If everybody thought this way, we’d have no civilized society.
