Fake empathy : A psychological tool.

Covid-19 is destroying lives but politicians seem to think they can avoid answering questions about statistics with their empathy quotes such as

"We mustn’t forget that behind every single statistic there is a heart-breaking story..."

"We must never forget that behind every statistic is a family member or a friend."

"Behind every single death is a family’s heartbreak..."

"We must not forget that each of these statistics represents a personal tragedy."

"...every one of them a tragedy, and our hearts go out to all of the loved ones who are grieving their loss at such a difficult time"

Any other variation which precedes their dodging of the questions makes it really difficult to challenge them in the way that they should be getting challenged.

It's a psychological trick that prevents proper scrutiny. Everyone would have used empathy as an excuse to get out of trouble at some point in their lives but this is a government trick used daily to avoid serious answers.

It's basically fake empathy to deflect from further scrutiny which is more noticeable during real-time questioning rather than the at scripted briefings. It's very much in the same way that a salesperson pretends to understand your pain to gain trust. After all, how can a customer be angry at a salesperson who has just shown empathy to them?

A salesman dealing with an angry customer might say "I understand your frustration, I would feel exactly the same, so let's see if I can help" before taking back control. He just wants the situation dealt with and if that means fake empathy to get control then guess what he's going to do?

A politician being questioned about death statistics might start with a slight downward tilt of the head and eyes while he prepares his soft voice tone, before stating "before I answer, let's remember that behind the numbers there are grieving families..." they then proceed to not answer the question. How could you possibly be angry with someone who has just shown empathy?

If you hadn't noticed it before then look out for it. I'm not saying they do not have empathy for the families etc but they are using empathy purely as a psychological tool to avoid answering their failings.

Andy

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Just Saying...