this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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“The fundamental weakness is empathy,” Musk recently told radio podcast host Joe Rogan. “There is a bug, which is the empathy response.”

As Musk has established himself as at least the second most powerful person in an administration seeking a wholesale remaking of institutions, rules and norms, what he said matters, because it encapsulates a political plan. What the Project 2025 report set out in over 900 turgid pages, Musk’s remark captures in a simple pithy mantra for the social media age.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago

For those of you who haven't yet, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with Curtis Yarvin's "Dark Enlightenment Theory," because that's what's informing all of these chuds.

JD Vance has cited this guy. Peter Thiel is a huge fan. Based on his views, Musk is almost certainly reading this stuff.

The "theory" basically boils down to that tenet: empathy is weakness, might makes right, and it's only natural for the strong to dominate and brutalize the weak.

Remember that kid in elementary school who refused to play with anyone at recess and just spent the whole time frying ants with a magnifying glass? That kid grew up and has an "intellectual following" now.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Empathy is strength, love is strength, unity is strength, solidarity is strength, divided we may fall but as one united working class we can stand forever.

While we stand together they tear eachother apart and in their disunity we the workers shall have our revolution. For they are weak and we are strong, they produce nothing and we create all of the value.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Musk: "The fundamental weakness is empathy" Also Musk: "Why are people so mean to me"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

Oxy, meet moron.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago

The fact that this is even a real headline should trouble everybody. I know the answer, but the question still is:” what kind of a state is the USA in where someone even feels the need to write this, rather than it being an assumed norm?”

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You know who lacks empathy? Psychopaths.

This paper says this about it:

Importantly, empathy is such an essential component of healthy human social interactions that absence of it may lead to severe social and cognitive dysfunctions. A personality structure often marked by a lack of empathy is psychopathic personality.

Musk is once again pretending to know about things he's clueless about.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lack of empathy is how I characterize Republicans or conservatives in general. It explains every single one of their policy position.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

there also very good at pretending to have empathy, which is another key trait. hence why we seen "so many people" become super right wing as time goes on.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

he's right. we need to let go of our own empathy to make us more effective soldiers in the fight to defeat him and the people like him.

i look forward to the day when these guys beg for mercy as we ease them into their excruciating fate with cold, unblinking eyes.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

he has neither intelligence or empathy. he turned intoa space karen, because he mangled his penis in a botched surgery

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

I'm down with calling him Space Karen from now on, actually.

All opposed?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Billionaires live in a weird bubble. Money and power twist the mind and destroy the soul.

Never idolize a billionaire, they're the closest thing to evil incarnate that walks the Earth. Remember, the Devil will present itself as friendly, alluring, and attractive. So, at least we know they aren't the Devil, but as close as reality can get, maybe.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 day ago

Empathy is one of the foundational blocks of the society he abuses.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago

Empathy is a weakness for sociopaths, and only sociopaths can be billionaires. So it's not a universal weakness, but it is a weakness for him.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 day ago

The fact he says this, he proves that he really never cared for the human good, all that talk was just to people buy his shit.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 day ago (6 children)

I guess it closes the debate about Musk being autistic. Autistics are more likely to be hyper empathetic.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Narcissists can display similar traits similar to autistic people. You’re right, he’s not autistic, just a narcissist.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

Narcissistic Personality Disorder, perhaps?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

Musk is a weakness

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Musk found out that the people that like him now, after pissiing off the nerds and tech enthousiasts, base their world view on the works of Ayn Rand, who peached that empathy and governement help is bad.

Disregarding that Rand died penniless and on governement hand outs.

But musk will find out again that, no matter how much money he flings at it, nobody will like him for who he is and that void will eat him up though it may make him do more silly things. And That's a shame

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Empathy is a skill and he doesn't have it.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (12 children)

It's a useful skill if you're trying to cultivate a popular following. The funny thing is that he used to have it and was quite good at feeling people out for a popular vibe. Now he's too ketted out to feel anything. Just a rolling ball of Id, bouncing between hungry, cranky, and horny.

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[–] [email protected] 181 points 2 days ago (6 children)

The lack of empathy, however, has been linked to psychopathy by study after study after study.

[–] [email protected] 70 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yep. They can't even comprehend the notion.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 day ago

Empathy as a weakness is exactly what I'd expect to hear from a sociopath. If everybody thought this way, we'd have no civilized society.

[–] [email protected] 94 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Believing empathy is a weakness is a symptom of psychopathy.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 2 days ago (11 children)

Fuck Joe Rogan for letting him say shit like that unchecked.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 days ago

Fuck Joe Rogan, period.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 days ago (5 children)
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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

What an asshole

[–] [email protected] 64 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Ohh now it all makes sense.

Dude got bullied, felt miserable and couldn't deal with that. So he convinced himself to try and not feel feelings. Spoiler: doesn't work and often ends in drug addiction.

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 2 days ago

He's really leaning into the villain trope. So many sci-fi villains claim that empathy and/or compassion are weaknesses. Their lack of it is usually their undoing.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago (2 children)

"I'm a sociopath." - Elon Musk

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If empathy is the weakness to my species, I'm glad we're committing suicide by capitalist made climate change.

Without empathy, we have no redeeming characteristics and nothing of value will be lost.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago

#shitsociopathssay

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (7 children)

I would recommend reading the quote in context, and not just headlines. It is not quite as insane as it seems at first glance, although just slightly. Transcript from Yahoo Fact Check:

Musk: The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy. The empathy exploit. They're exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response. So, I think, you know, empathy is good, but you need to think it through and not just be programmed like a robot.

Rogan: Right, understand when empathy has been actually used as a tool.

Musk: Yes, like, it's weaponized empathy is the issue.

The point, as I understand it, is that empathy lets people manipulate you into making short-sighted decisions based purely on feelings, without properly investigating the facts. This is true. However, I strongly disagree that this is the fundamental weakness of Western civilization. I think that greed and selfishness are way bigger problems, and this is also what leads to people taking advantage of people's empathy.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago

I get saying it's wrong what he said (you would be right) but imo it's kinda missing the point. The most important thing to see imo is it's extremely pathetic. This is the same mf faking Path of Exile and diablo accounts so he can seem cool (he kept saying he was a top player so he would get kudos from the gaming community).

This man is probably the most thin skinned idiot I've ever seen. So it must be extremely convenient for him to see himself as the bad guy with no empathy whose cold rational calculation leads to emotionless decisions or whatever huge cope he tells himself every day. The reality is he's got more money than God and is running the current US administration and yet is still so mentally weak he is posting on Twitter hundreds of times per day about how he's being persecuted and actually arguing in the comment sections

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago

Greatest thing I did with my life was to increase my understanding of other people's lives. He is toxic, whether he's trolling or not

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 days ago

Greed is a weakness. Empathy is a strength.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 2 days ago

Personally, I don't take advice or inspiration from a figure named Elon Musk. For me, empathy is a fundamental human value, not Tesla or Starlink. With empathy, I believe highly wealthy people can already solve world poverty and be happy together. But no, they use us as a source of income.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 days ago

The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.

— Hannah Arendt

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