• In 400 words or less, summarize the piece AND show (with framed quotes and paraphrase 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.

Bloom’s article is all about empathy and how it can do more harm than good. Bloom goes through many examples of how empathy can be a problem. He states, “A world in which an act helps one person in the here and now can lead to greater suffering in the future (1).” He says empathy tends to be biased and his reasoning is that people cannot be empathic to more than a few people at a time and that they’re less likely to be empathic towards others they don’t know. He says people need to use diffuse compassion and intellect to help have a more unbiased form of helpfulness.

  • Do you agree with Bloom’s main arguments? Why or why not?

I think Bloom makes some good points. But fundamentally I completely disagree. I think Bloom’s article helps that prejudice they seem to be against. By using empathy so much in this article they claim we can understand what different people are going through which we can’t always do. The argument is made that white people find it harder to empathize with POC. However I as a white person cannot empathize with POC on racism. I have no idea or understanding what it’s like to face racism. I know what it is and that it’s awful. But I will never directly have to deal with it. Because of this I can only sympathize. If I empathize I assume I understand and know what POC facing racism are going through. Which I don’t and can’t. This false understanding can lead to prejudice and bias. I cannot empathize with POC therefore I should listen to their voices as I can’t understand. Going through life with this false sense that I CAN empathize makes it so I may listen as much or as hard. This is my biggest issue with the article. The idea of empathy and sympathy are used interchangeably which is awful. I shouldn’t think I can empathize I need to know I’ll never understand what it’s like. It’s important to know that and this is true for many other issues. I will never be able to empathize as I will never understand. I need to know that in order to listen and know how I can help or if I simply need to stand to the side. Operating under the assumption you can empathize with everyone and can simply imagine how anything anyone has gone through feels can cause prejudice and bias of its own.

  • In what ways does Bloom challenge your initial understanding or perception regarding empathy?

Bloom does make me realize there is a bias in empathy and the idea that we ca’t empathize with everyone. I do like that that’s pointed out in the article. I think great points are made that if something gets enough media coverage things with change but people are very eager to turn a blind eye to things as it’s easier.

  • 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.

“Here your empathy is silent — how can you empathize with a statistical abstraction? To the extent that you can appreciate that it’s better for one specific child to die than for an unknown and imprecise larger number of children to die, you are using capacities other than empathy.” I don’t know that I 100% agree with this. I can sympathize with that fact that hundreds more families would have to go through losing a child and I don’t want that to happen (however Bloom is right I cannot EMPATHIZE with them as I don’t know what it’s like to lose a child). But this quote, to me, also frames humans as having a one track mind. I’m can understand the vaccine in this example is needed to save many more lives while also feeling bad it killed a child. I can use both an emotional and logically part of my brain at once. They’re not two separate things. I think this is a complex issue but this article is diluting too much and acting as though it’s black and white when it’s actually multiple shades of grey.