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Rachel Isaacs's avatar

Shared!

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Colleen's avatar

I am extremely happy to have watched this Live Event and to have seen 2 young doctors discuss the "softer side" of medicine.

It gives me great hope in passing the torch!

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Ben's avatar

"Empathy is not idealism; it articulates a pragmatic vision of our shared fate." Of course it is very easy to celebrate your friend's column and the human that he is but I think empathy often runs counter to sound policy, particularly when utilized to rationalize and any and all policy decisions. And the juxtaposition in the quoted sentence doesn't really describe the perspective among my brethren on the left when it comes to empathy. Empathy is the impetus (rationale?) behind flawed policies like rent control, anti-windmill legislation (the birds!) and my kids sitting at my kitchen table well into 2021 with remote schooling (although I personally enjoyed the time with them). Thomas Sowall once said, "There are no solutions. Only trade-offs." While I might not go that far (Jonas Salk created a solution) in most policy situations it is the case that there will be unintended consequences. What we need are uber-wealthy people to be more generous with their dollars rather than empathy as a driver of government decisions. Empathy is far too simplistic.

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Nurse Jenny's avatar

Awesome!!’

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