What Does It Mean for Empathy to be “The Fuel of Democracy”?
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Democracy is in danger, not only in foreign places where autocrats rule, but also here at home. We are divided between those who would let the people rule and those who would allow rule by the powerful, greedy few. Defending our democratic system takes a new kind of democratic practice. It’s not only the practice of communal celebration; it’s the cultivation of self. President Biden said, “Empathy is the fuel of democracy.” Could that be true? Sherry Turkle, author of the Empathy Diaries, and MSNBC’s Joshua Johnson, a keen cultural critic, discuss how empathy might save us — and where it could fall short.
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