Empathy...

 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. (Leviticus 19:15)

Appeal to Pity: an illogical pattern of reasoning that tries to influence other people through an emotional plea. 

Gas Light: manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.

Privilege: a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor

          Last night, and not for the first time, I saw a meme that said, basically, “Don’t talk to me about facts. Listen to me, hug me, and pity me. The facts don’t count. The facts don’t matter. I matter.” Since that sounds narcissistic, the claim is made in a plural sense. All people of a group of your choice gather together to proclaim, “We matter.”

          We’ve heard it before. “______ raped me!” It doesn’t matter whether or not there is proof, we are to believe the victim and destroy the man’s reputation and ruin his life because the victim said so.

            “________ refused to make a cake” or take the pictures, or whatever. There are hundreds of others who could perform that service, but that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that this specific person displeased someone, and so this person’s life and business must be destroyed.

          “I’m not comfortable with my body. I’m not what I appear to be, I’m a _____.” We are expected to move heaven and earth to change that person to meet their claims because what he/she claims is more true than what we see.

          Curiously, claims of victimization are only permitted in certain directions. We have been told that only White people can be racist. By the logic used for that, anyone may claim victimhood, and the person or persons accused have no recourse. No evidence must be presented, the victim must be believed, period. And if you aren’t in the group granted the right of victimhood, you cannot be a victim, no matter how badly you’ve been treated.

          Several years ago, I voiced my concerns about the outcome of a legal battle. I was told in no uncertain terms that the outcome I predicted would never happen. “ ‘Bad, bad,’ said the buyer…” but when the legal battle was over, what I said would happen did, and the person basically just smiled and boasted.

          It hasn’t happened recently, but there’s another meme that cycles through. In one way or another, it says that if you aren’t suffering at or beyond a specific level, you should just shut up because your suffering does not meet the minimum standards to apply for pity. The pity Nazi stands behind the counter and says, “No pity for you!”

          We’re told that privilege is when certain groups of people are – for example – not convicted of a crime they committed (a fact) because their family has the money to hire a lawyer who can get them off. Privilege is, in other words, when something other than facts take precedence over the facts. And the same people tell us that the facts don’t count – until they are accused. And, despite the assurances of some, privilege is evil.

          Scripture teaches us to show pity to those who are truly in need, but it also teaches us not to give preference, not to attribute privilege to either the rich or the poor. We are to judge justly, according to the facts. This doesn’t mean that we don’t show empathy, but that we don’t let our feelings of pity to chuck our brains and all the facts in the garbage. It doesn’t mean we grant privilege to any group or allow them to dictate what we feel or what we think. The victim doesn’t get to dictate reality to the rest of us.