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The Politics of Pity For a decade, the West has argued whether empathy should be its highest value. Some praise it as a superpower; others call it harmful. Gad Saad’s “Suicidal Empathy” topped the New York Times list. Elon Musk called empathy a weakness; John C. Reilly called it a superpower. Ideas should be judged by consequences. Compassion-justified policies have coincided with worse addiction and homelessness, rising crime, mass migration, social fragmentation, higher living costs, and controversial medical interventions for gender-dysphoric minors. When these fail, advocates often claim it was not implemented “strongly enough.” ## An Inversion of Truth A quote often attributed to Hannah Arendt claims “the death of human empathy” precedes barbarism, but no source supports it, and her writings argued almost the opposite. Arendt contrasted the American Revolution’s institutions and law with the French revolutionaries’ “politics of pity.” Pity is not compassion: it ranks “fortunate” and “unfortunate,” grants the pitier moral authority, and overrides rights. Arendt argued this enabled Robespierre’s Terror. ## The Trojan Horse Empathy can become projection—imposing your values as if they were others’ needs. Adam Smith warned about the “man of system.” Nietzsche described societies so “soft and tender” they side with those who harm them. Orwell noted equality preaching alongside elite privilege. Rob Henderson calls these “luxury beliefs.” I call it suicidal narcissism: acquiring moral status by appearing compassionate while policies erode the foundations others rely on. The reward is immediate; the damage comes later.

Compassion as a Weapon Western civilization is increasingly trapped in a culture of entitlement, where victimhood can become a route to status, privilege, and power. Some elite universities report unusually high disability registrations—e.g., 20%+ at Brown and Harvard and around 40% at Stanford—far above community colleges. Whatever the causes, it raises a troubling question: when systems meant to protect the truly vulnerable become incentives, what happens to everyone else? Rob Henderson describes how accommodations can turn into “status games.” Extra time, special housing, and exemptions can make diagnosis feel like the logical choice, and the lesson travels outward: tomorrow’s leaders in journalism, HR, law, academia, and politics may learn that displaying weakness is rewarded. Research links habitual victimhood displays with traits associated with the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy). That doesn’t mean genuine victims are manipulative—it means rewarding victimhood gives manipulators an incentive to enter. In the “virtue game,” grievance becomes currency. Pity can also function as covert power: the weak person gains leverage, while the giver gains moral superiority. When compassion is treated like a currency, it can become a mutually reinforcing racket. The danger isn’t helping the weak. It’s teaching that appearing weak is the surest way to gain power.

The Victimhood Economy: Why Young People Prefer Socialism Western civilization is increasingly shaped by entitlement and a culture that rewards displays of victimhood. At elite universities, disability claims have risen: 18% of male and 22% of female undergraduates report a disability, and 54% of non-binary students, with higher rates at some wealthy schools than at community colleges. The issue isn’t genuine disability; it’s what happens when accommodations become status and advantage. Extra time, separate housing, and exemptions can turn diagnosis into leverage. When weakness is rewarded, some will learn to perform it. This matters because today’s students become tomorrow’s institutional elites. If grievance produces rewards, the lesson may spread into journalism, government, HR, academia, and business, letting beneficiaries inherit the power to expand the system. Research on victimhood signaling raises uncomfortable questions: people who habitually emphasize victim status, on average, show higher narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—not to say genuinely suffering people are manipulative, but that systems rewarding victimhood create incentives for manipulators to exploit the category. Rob Henderson describes this as a status game: in elite institutions, grievance can become the currency of virtue signaling. For some, the rational strategy is to manufacture grievance and convert it into status. Nietzsche similarly argued that displays of helplessness can become covert power, while pity can create moral superiority for the caregiver. The danger isn’t compassion; it’s a culture that turns suffering into currency and teaches ambitious people that the easiest route to power is to claim they are powerless.

Leftist “Empathy” Is Actually Narcissism Leftist “empathy” is often narcissism, not real compassion. Over the past decade, Western politics has debated whether empathy is the highest value—yet many policies justified in its name have produced serious unintended consequences: safe-supply programs, lenient bail, mass migration, identity-based social policy, and gender medicine for minors. Hannah Arendt helps explain why. In *On Revolution*, she contrasted the American Revolution’s focus on institutions and limits on power with the French Revolution’s “politics of pity,” an effort to eliminate suffering through political action. Robespierre’s compassion for the masses helped justify terror. Pity isn’t compassion: it creates a hierarchy between the person who pities and the person pitied. Once you claim to represent “the oppressed,” you can stop listening to real people. Much progressive “empathy” projects idealized versions of others, erasing cultural differences and treating disagreement as ignorance or prejudice. Adam Smith warned about the “man of system,” who thinks society can be rearranged like chess pieces, ignoring human wills. Dostoevsky argued abstract love is easy; loving real people is hard. Nietzsche described a morality that flatters weakness and condemns what rises above the herd, while Orwell questioned whether some socialist intellectuals truly loved workers or simply used them to vent resentment. Rob Henderson calls these “luxury beliefs”: status-providing ideas for elites that impose costs on those below them. The moral prestige is immediate; the damage unfolds over decades. So “suicidal narcissism” may fit better than “suicidal empathy”: projection, superiority, and power disguised as compassion.

🚨🎥 ENQUÊTE : Quand des élus de la @FranceInsoumise rendent hommage au compte antisémite et soralien @revelateur_de_C 🫵🏼 @BilongoCarlos @LachaudB @ErsiliaSoudais @JulieGarnierFI 🫵🏼 Par ailleurs, plusieurs éléments laissent penser que ce compte aurait pu mettre en scène sa propre mort, par pur narcissisme… #Antisémitisme #Politique #Justice

Vi er på fjerde generation af narcissister - altså især voksne, som prioriterer sig selv, også over deres egne børns interesser. Fordi feminismen og den øvrige tidsånds credo er, at *jeg* er vigtigst. *Min* umiddelbare glæde trumfer andres behov. Jeg havde psykoterapeut Torben Haugaard i studiet til en samtale om, hvorfor børn og unge mistrives, og Torben peger især på skilsmisser - men vi taler også om den tidlige institutionalisering af små børn og hvad det gør ved tilknytningen (som er så afgørende for børnenes videre liv og trivsel). Derudover runder vi feminisme, manderoller, faderløshed og moderskabets tab af status. Hvilken forbindelse er der mellem det og de unges dårlige psykiske helbred? Hør hele programmet og find ud af det! Link i kommentarspor 🔥 #narcissisme #mentalhelse #feminisme

Trump hijacked America’s 250 and turned it into a theatre of the absurd. This milestone birthday feels particularly joyless: a demoralised, self-doubting nation has fallen prey to culture wars and its leader's narcissism. Trump as the ultimate party pooper https://t.co/TgeiI5ARYE #Trump #CultureWars #America250 #US

The man who accused me of ''witchcraft'' - after every other attack had failed - continues to champion institutional narcissism. Yet the message for him is clear: Enough with the bullying. Not every UN senior official accepts to be intimidated into silence. #Witchcraft #Bullying #UNJustice #Nospecificcountrycodesarementionedinthetweet.

10 millions de personnes en France vivent sous le seuil de pauvreté, l’agriculture française a perdu 80% de ses exploitations et plus de 5 millions d’emplois agricoles en 60 ans au détriment du monde paysan, l’hôpital public s’effondre et l’éducation n’arrive plus à tenir sa promesse républicaine, mais Gabriel Attal est monté sur une table et il a sauvé la situation ! Écouter ces gens là, subir leur culture du vide, devoir applaudir leur narcissisme, nous rend malades ! #Pauvreté #Agriculture #Éducation

Trump’s Blasphemous God Complex: Posting Himself as Jesus Christ is Deranged and Dangerous Donald Trump has once again revealed the staggering depths of his narcissism by posting an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ on Truth Social. In the picture, he appears draped https://t.co/Zh6K2WIiEK