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Ben Shapiro’s recent clip arguing that compassion beats empathy is more than media theater; it’s a needed lesson for a country drowning in feeling-based politics. Shapiro tells audiences that empathy—feeling what another person feels—can be co-opted into bad public policy, while compassion—wanting others to flourish and acting to help—keeps the nation grounded in practical solutions.
That point came through clearly in a campus exchange where Shapiro pushed back on the claim that conservatives lack empathy, explaining that empathy in politics often leads to decisions skewed by emotion. He warned that making policy by standing solely in someone’s shoes ignores the consequences for millions beyond that single case and can institutionalize victimhood.
Intellectuals like Paul Bloom have made the same distinction, arguing in Against Empathy that empathy is a poor moral guide and that rational compassion produces better outcomes for society. Conservatives should welcome this nuance: moral feeling without reason becomes a tool for grievance entrepreneurs to reshape policy in destructive ways.
Shapiro has long hammered the point that facts matter more than feelings, and his critique of empathy follows that playbook: policy must be rooted in objective realities and incentives, not transient emotional surges. When leftist activists weaponize empathy into permanent entitlement narratives, the result is perverse incentives and social decay, not uplift.
Make no mistake, this is not a plea for coldness; it is a conservative defense of true charity and responsibility. Shapiro and other conservative thinkers insist we should be driven by compassion that empowers people to work, build families, and thrive—policies that reward virtue instead of rewarding victim status.
That means supporting faith-based charities, private-sector solutions, and targeted assistance that restores dignity and independence rather than fostering dependence. If conservatives lead with disciplined compassion—firm expectations paired with help—we reclaim the moral high ground from those who peddle perpetual grievance.
Americans who love this country should reject performative empathy and embrace a compassion that delivers results: school choice that gives struggling kids a chance, apprenticeship programs that restore pride in work, and community efforts that heal without enabling dysfunction. The battle for the soul of America is won not by sentimental slogans but by policies and people who care enough to demand better.
