Empathy? Empathy? Who the f*ck is Empathy? Heh.

[PandoraAwakened]

1. Indeed, you cannot teach empathy

Empathy stems from an area of the brain called the "anterior insular cortex." Deficits in this part of the brain are definitively linked to lack of empathy. So, you're right, empathy is not something that can be taught. Also, it is not something that you can have on one day and then mysteriously lose on another. You either have a healthy anterior insular cortex (therefore, capable of empathy) or you have a deficient and/or diseased anterior insular cortex (thus, incapable of empathy).

Wouldn't it be interesting if we could do MRIs on control groups of right-wingers? I, for one, am willing to hypothesize that regarding their anterior insular cortexes, we would find these people are indeed "brain dead." Would make for an interesting study...

Thanks for venting!