You're Wrong, Elon.

Elon Musk told Joe Rogan that "The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy." He's wrong.

The man sitting across from Captain G.M. Gilbert had once been one of the most powerful figures in Nazi Germany.

Now, stripped of his rank and awaiting judgment at the Nuremberg Trials, Hermann Göring was just a man in a cold, gray cell.

Gilbert, an Army psychologist, had spent months interviewing Nazi war criminals, trying to understand what made them capable of such atrocities. Was it ideology? Blind obedience? Something darker?

Göring, Hitler’s second-in-command, was intelligent, articulate, and chillingly honest about the mechanisms of power.

Hermann Göring at Nuremberg Trials

As Gilbert listened, one pattern emerged.

“In my work with the defendants... I was searching for the nature of evil... A lack of empathy. It's the one characteristic that connects all the defendants, a genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow men.” - G.M. Gilbert

A lack of empathy.

That’s what allowed them to justify the unjustifiable, to turn human lives into numbers, to carry out atrocities without hesitation.

It wasn’t a failure of intelligence. It wasn’t a lack of willpower.

It was the absence of just one human trait—the ability to care about someone else’s suffering.

Fast forward to today. Elon Musk recently told Joe Rogan that "The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy."

Elon Musk in the Oval Office

One of the richest and most powerful men in the world, someone whose success depends on thousands of employees working together, someone who appears to be the primary advisor to the President of the United States, just declared that caring about others is what’s holding us all back.

I can’t let that go unchallenged.

Because if we’re talking about weaknesses in Western civilization, my contention is that a lack of empathy should be much higher on the list.

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What Musk Gets Wrong About Empathy

I get it. Musk sees empathy as a liability—something that can be exploited or used to justify bad decisions. But this argument is built on a fundamental misunderstanding of what real empathy is.

Empathy is not blind emotionalism.
Empathy is not being easily manipulated.
Empathy is not a weakness.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. It’s what allows us to build strong relationships, create functional societies, and make ethical decisions. In other words, empathy is what makes a peaceful civilization possible.

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The Science of Empathy

Elon Musk says he values data. He should look at the neuroscience. Studies show that humans are biologically wired for empathy. When we witness someone in pain or joy, mirror neurons in our brain fire as if we are experiencing it ourselves. This isn’t just some soft, idealistic notion—it’s a hardwired survival mechanism.

Empathy isn’t weakness—it’s our evolutionary advantage.

• Anthropologists believe empathy evolved to help early humans survive. Shared caregiving and cooperation increased group survival rates, making empathy a key driver of human evolution.

• Other evolved species display empathy too. Chimpanzees comfort distressed companions, elephants grieve their dead, and even rats free trapped cage-mates rather than seek food.

• Empathy enhances cooperation. The most successful human societies—and organizations—are built on trust, connection, and mutual aid, all of which are rooted in empathy.

Far from being a weakness, empathy is why we exist today. It’s not just a social virtue—it’s our evolutionary superpower.

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Wisdom from Jesus (Sorry, I Rarely Preach)

Many of you know that my early career was spent as a Christian pastor. While my beliefs have evolved over the years, I still consider myself a Christian—albeit a more progressive version than my evangelical roots.

I rarely “preach” here, but on this issue, it’s hard for me to ignore Jesus’ words: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

You simply cannot do that without empathy. It’s impossible.

Jesus doesn’t just suggest empathy—he models it as a core value. His parables, like The Good Samaritan and The Prodigal Son, are built entirely around seeing the world through someone else’s eyes—even when that person is different from you, has failed, or has been cast aside.

And it’s not just Jesus. The Golden Rule, which teaches us to treat others as we wish to be treated, runs through almost every spiritual tradition. In Buddhism, the Metta Sutta emphasizes cultivating loving-kindness toward all beings—a radical commitment to empathy.

Virtually every great spiritual leader agrees: empathy is not optional; it's essential.

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Does a Lack of Empathy Work? (If Your Only Goal Is Power, Maybe.)

I’ll admit something: If your only goal is personal power, a lack of empathy can work—at least in the short term.

History has no shortage of leaders who ruled through fear, manipulation, and indifference to human suffering. Empathy wasn’t a priority for dictators, tyrants, and warlords. And even in modern business and politics, plenty of people have climbed the ranks by exploiting others rather than understanding them.

But here’s the problem:

• Fear-driven leadership doesn’t last. History is full of powerful people who lost everything the moment their grip slipped. No one stays at the top forever, and when you lead without loyalty, no one fights to keep you there.

• Lack of empathy breeds resistance. The most oppressive leaders also generate the most opposition. You can only ignore or mistreat people for so long before they push back.

• Power without purpose is empty. Even for those who succeed in dominating others, the cost is often isolation, paranoia, and an endless struggle to maintain control.

So yes, you can get ahead without empathy—but is that the story you want to live? Because history doesn’t just remember who had power. It remembers who made things better.

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A Challenge to Leaders

If you lead people—whether in business, politics, or your community—you have two choices:

1. You can view empathy as a weakness. You can ignore the struggles of others, make decisions based purely on profit or efficiency, and live in a world where only the strongest survive.

2. Or you can recognize that empathy is an unparalleled strength. You can listen, adapt, and build something that benefits not just yourself but the world around you.

History shows us which of these approaches builds legacies and which leaves wreckage behind.

I know which story I’d rather be part of.

And if doubling down on empathy is the new resistance…

Sign me up.