Empathy, Conservatives, Dr. Tiller, and Sonia Sotomayor

(Cross-posted from UneFemmePlusCourageuse. )

You know, I’ve been reading all over the usual feminist blogs, and the blogs they link to, and the blogs my friends on Facebook link to, about Dr. Tiller’s murder. And on nearly all of them, there’s been some asshole anti-choice troll saying something along the lines of, "this doesn’t really matter, because he was a murderer too, and of course I would never condone the murder of any one, but they’re both guilty."

And I responded to the first one I saw, with some pretty choice words–on one of the smaller blogs linked from Feministing. Everywhere else, other people had already taken the torch for me.

And then there was RH Reality check–and I shouldn’t’ve even read the comments on either article I read there. They’re a good site, but their trolls are always so evil.

And the pattern holds. Look here .

I just don’t see how these people can do this.

Or no, wait, scratch that, I can. I can see how middle-class white men, from fundie Christian denominations, who have never had to deal with the loss of their actual loved ones and who have such an inflated vision of themselves that the thought of their sperm possibly being aborted and not made into a dozen tiny mini-mes is the most tragic thing on earth–I see how they could cheer on a murder. And then say they’re not cheering. Because hey, when people are focused on the death of a good man, of a hero, of someone who legitimately cared about other people, they’re not focused on Little Fundie Man. And that’s a travesty.

Before I read about this this morning I was reading the Cleveland Plain Dealer –and one of the topics up for debate in the Forum section was Sonia Sotomayor, and her ‘empathy.’ One letter to the editor says that judges have no right to be empathetic–and then David Brooks, of all people, explains how this is ridiculous, and emotions form the basis of peoples’ decisions–and that otherwise, we’d all be sociopaths.

I forgot about that for a while. Then I was catching up on my Rachel Maddow viewing and she discussed the same subject a few nights ago. Explaining how Sotomayor is "empathetic," but so is…God, I forget if she said Scalia or Alito or Thomas. Maybe all three. I’ll have to watch again.

So I am bitterly laughing at seeing Sotomayor’s empathy used as a mark against her by conservatives. I scorn the idea that being able to relate to the feelings of others could ever be a bad thing. Empathy should be encouraged . Everywhere. That some people don’t get this is fucking sad . Heartbreaking, really, because lack of empathy–both for Dr. Tiller and for the many women who he has helped in their hours of need–is what led to the tragedy earlier.

Lack of empathy does not assist in justice. It leads to death.

For anyone who doesn’t see that, on a day like today–fuck all y’all. May badgers feast on your cadavers. You’re scum, and you’re supporting terrorism.

To Dr. Tiller’s family, friends, and colleagues–I am sorry for your loss. As badly as I feel, I did not know Dr. Tiller, and I can only imagine how bad this must feel for you. Please know that there are many in the pro-choice community who feel as I do about Dr. Tiller–that he was a hero in life and that his death was a tragedy.