>his sounds good but I actually don’t buy it anymore. I consider myself to be a pretty empathetic person, but over time I’ve realized empathy doesn’t solve any problems unless you’re forced to put your money where your mouth is
Exactly. Modern society suffers from a dearth of people being forced to practice what they preach because everyone is happy to look the other way when someone in their tribe is a hypocrite.
I don't think "both sides are the same" is accurate, so allow me to push back. One party ousted a leading politician because he violated their ethical code. [1] The other party stands by its leading politician even as said person violates national security. [2] In the former case it's very unlikely the policitian will ever become a presidential candidate. In the later case it's very likely he will. Both sides are not reacting to violations of their values in the same way.
I'm sure there are cases of hypocracy on both sides, but one side at least attempts to condemn gross violations.
With the advent of the internet, one can pick and choose copious examples to cast either political party as hypocrites. This is because political parties are formed of lots of people, and most of their leaders will not live by their claimed prinicples (because lying and signalling is a much easier path to winning elections than living by principles).
I cannot emphasize enough how much both parties are corrupted by this. Both parties are beholden to corporate funding, and to the groupthink of their elite friends whose problems and concerns are not representative of Americans.
And the Republican leadership will have secret affairs and secret abortions, while the Democratic leadership will send their children to private schools (or the public schools of exculsive enclaves), while the former preach about the sanctity of life and marriage, and the later preach about the importance of diversity and public education.
In response to "Don't do the 'both sides' thing", with a clear and humongous example of the difference between the sides, you... do the "both sides" thing.
The problem with your example is that
1] actually happened.
2] is a media/political fabrication being proven in a court of law at this very moment.
And to the point of this article, and many comments here, the news is much more homogenized than people think, because I'm quite sure you've heard no factual coverage of the latter from ANY pundit who sits in front of a TV camera.
Exactly. Modern society suffers from a dearth of people being forced to practice what they preach because everyone is happy to look the other way when someone in their tribe is a hypocrite.