Social Marxists have long sought to weaponize compassion, to beat the plowshare of love into a sword. And, they’ve been highly successful. For nearly a century, we’ve heard that collectivization is compassion, that the forced redistribution of wealth is the charitable thing, even Christlike. After all, didn’t the early church “have all things in common?”
Liberals tell us that abortion is about a woman’s right to choose, that affirming gender identity is enlightened, that defining love subjectively is inclusive, that unrestrained illegal immigration is cosmopolitan, and that social justice is a virtue to which equality of outcome is the modern analog to the golden rule.
The platitudes sound good, but it’s all a lie. Just as the serpent beguiled Eve with poisonous words imbued with the sweetness of honey, so the Democrat party seeks to turn empathy into a weapon of cultural and political mass destruction. The party’s leadership is either sympathetic or in thrall to the radical left. Every pillar of the civil society which social Marxists have targeted for subversion — education, the press, the law, religion, and the family — are also being undermined by Democrat party policies. What makes America a democratic republic is under constant assault by elements in our government which relentlessly agitate for a soft cultural revolution.
All of this and more is subject to the piercing analysis of author, speaker, and wildly popular podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey. In her latest book, Toxic Empathy (How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion), Stuckey subjects the five primary theses of the American left to the rigorous standards of Biblical truth. The same Judeo-Christian world view that gave birth to the culture, politics, and body of law which make American civil liberties possible.
Simply put, there are no inherent rights apart from the concepts found in the Bible. And what should be of great concern to Christians is, there is no conception of religious liberty in the social Marxist world view. Social Marxism arose in the late 1930’s in response to a critical failure in Karl Marx’s original conceptualization of “historical materialism.” Simply put, capitalism was too attractive to the “workers” to provide an impetus for revolution. In response, social Marxists seek to transform a host society by altering social structures through the use of balkanization and class envy. This is why you always see Democrats defining constituencies by group, i.e. men vs. women, white vs. black, etc.
Woke taboos are, in fact, constructs of social Marxism. This is precisely what Stuckey expertly deconstructs in Toxic Empathy. The book contains a brilliant method of exposition. Stuckey told Townhall, “I thought, how can I best persuade someone who doesn’t agree with me? Yes, this is a book for people who already follow me to give them the equipment to have these conversations, but it’s also for the person I’m trying to persuade. And, it’s typically not…the person who’s all the way on the other side of the aisle, but the person in what I call the mushy middle. The person who is naturally empathetic…rather than telling that person, don’t be empathetic…I wanted to show them…this is how your empathy is being used.”
Each of her five chapters begins with an incredibly empathetic, and true, story. These are anecdotes which give real perspective, and highlight the power of weaponized empathy. Who could fail to empathize with a woman compelled to give birth to a baby suffering from anencephaly, babies which are often stillborn, or who only survive for a few hours?
Toxic Empathy begins with the thermo-nuclear weapon of the left — abortion. Many women, and men, see the issue as a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body. However, Stuckey deftly refocuses on the real question by adjusting perspective. This simple, but smart concept is a hallmark of her book — a subtle shift which brings everything into sharp focus.
In terms of the abortion, or as I prefer to call it, the infanticide issue, Stuckey refers to undisputed science. The logic becomes simple and irrefutable. All of the DNA required to construct human life is present at the moment of conception. Therefore, personhood begins at that moment. To define the genesis of personhood in any other way subjects the question to the capriciousness of power. Who has the power to arbitrarily determine personhood and, therefore, value? Do we allow this in any other aspect of life? And, no, capital punishment is not an analog. Capital punishment is not a question of personhood, but of retributive justice. For Stuckey, the issue isn’t about a woman’s right to choose, but about an unborn person’s right to live. My body, my choice ends where the umbilical cord begins.
Stuckey’s book details how the left is weaponizing empathy and using this tactic to sway many in the electorate. She told Townhall, “Christians are obligated to…look at what is factually true, and more importantly for the Christian, what is Biblically true…It is untethered empathy that I think has the propensity to turn toxic.”
Toxic Empathy wrestles with abortion, gender identity, same sex marriage, immigration, and social justice with the collected wisdom of God’s Word as a guide. Biblical principles are applied logically, and in accordance with objective facts. It is true social science guided by the same principles that have built the most prosperous, equal, and powerful country in world history. Stuckey especially challenges Christians to fulfill their civic duty, and honor those who have sacrificed blood and treasure to secure our ability to vote.
The Democrat party has been engaged in nefarious deception for decades. Infested with social Marxists, Democrat leadership has weaponized government in their insatiable quest to deconstruct our republic and refashion it as a godless, statist utopia. Toxic Empathy is a roadblock to their aspirations. It is a quick and engaging read, and will fully inform you before you make a trip to the ballot box. Find my full interview with Stuckey here!