What a bizarre article. I can't tell if the author has absolutely no concept of what empathy actually is, or is just willfully redefining it because they have c

What a bizarre article. I can't tell if the author has absolutely no concept of what empathy actually is, or is just willfully redefining it because they have column space to fill. She has sympathy and empathy precisely backwards. Sympathy is the dispassionate one, empathy has the emotional connection. It's true that facebook is guilty of co-opting empathy into a feel-good marketing phrase, but that's not exactly unprecedented. It doesn't mean they've changed the definition of the word. At any rate, add this to the list of the wrong lessons we can learn from the election. Being empathetic to someone doesn't mean enabling them or being complicit in their beliefs. It's an emotional connection that can possibly change their views, but just as well might change yours. The point of it is the connection, not the intent to change minds - it's seeking to understand for understanding's sake, not to use the knowledge to then manipulate them. One of my fears is that people will use the election to learn the lesson that facts and truth don't matter anymore, that we as well should also go right ahead and turn into wannabe political rhetoric specialists, lying and manipulating and abdicating our own roles in defending rational dialectic.