1. In Bloom’s article on empathy, he discussed how empathy is biased towards people you know, or those who are closer to you. He talks about how much energy it takes to show empathy to everyone who needs it, which is basically the entire world since nobody’s life is perfect, and how there are other ways that you can spread kindness. Bloom made three main points in his nine total claims, one that empathy is biased, another being that empathy causes irrational and unreasonable responses, and the third being that there are better ways to spread kindness than empathy. In Bloom’s third paragraph he talks about how it’s “easier to empathize with those who are close to us, those who are similar to us, and those we see as more attractive or vulnerable and less scary” (2). When he says this, it highlights how empathy is a spotlight on a singular person, and we tend to only see into the lives of those who are close to us which allows us to see the bad things that occur and show empathy towards them. His second main idea was about the responses that occur in the act of empathy, like in paragraph six he mentioned that “hundreds of volunteers had to be recruited to store the gifts and toys that got sent to the city, which kept arriving despite pleas from Newtown officials for people to stop”(2). Empathy causes people to feel as though they must do something to try and make the pain worse, like in this scenario it was sending gifts and toys, but these actions aren’t always necessary. Finally, Bloom preaches that “the negatives outweigh its positives – and that there are better alternatives” to empathy and spreading kindness (4). Bloom gives examples of alternatives, some being self-control, intelligence, and compassion to better the outcome and spread kindness. 
  2. I personally do agree with Bloom’s argument that empathy is overrated. There are days when I notice that people around me are searching for empathy, instead of trying to do something to help themselves. I tend to not pay much attention to social cues like these, so when I do notice them that means that the begging for empathy is intense. Bloom also made memorable points and arguments that swayed me further to agree with him.
  3. Bloom challenged my initial understanding of empathy because I always thought empathy was able to be given to a large number of people at the same time, but now looking back on it after reading that paragraph I can see that it wasn’t empathy, it was just me feeling sorry for them. I also didn’t realize that there is a spotlight with empathy, and that you only see what people allow you to see so maybe they don’t have a spotlight but they need kindness and support too. 
  4. “Further, spotlights only illuminate what they are pointed at, so empathy ref;ects our biases” (2). I support this claim that he makes because it is true, and looking back on my own life and experiences, I definitely empathize much more with those I’m closer to. When you know the person that this incident occurred to, it makes it so much easier to empathize with them because you always think ‘they didn’t deserve this’, or ‘why does this have to happen to them’ since you know a lot about their life. I’ve noticed it’s harder for me to empathize with people I’ve never met, or people in different countries.
  5. Why do people feel the need to send things like gifts to communities who have been hurt as a form of empathy?