If there is a time for everything, then there is a time when even virtues become destructive.
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"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"
- Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
Kindness, empathy and altruism are often lauded as the highest virtues in Western societies. These concepts, rooted in our nature and promoted through Christian teaching, are generally associated with positive outcomes, fostering a sense of community and care.
Many see empathy and altruism as only ever good. After all, many problems would be solved with more care. After all, Christ Himself told us to be peacemakers, to share our food and drink with those who need it, and to welcome the stranger in need.
These perspectives are generally right, and are a part of the reason the West was able to build a high-trust society. Within strong national boundaries, the application of these kinds of altruistic endeavors ensured care for widows and orphans, the ending of the global slave trade (for the first time in history) and many other of the advances we now enjoy.
However, Christ also told us to be wise. Part of wisdom is understanding that there can be times when too much of a good thing can be bad.
Wisdom recognizes that societies, like people, tend to lean toward certain practices to a pathological degree. It recognizes that when this is happening, it is necessary to reverse course to recapture the balance that is required for the survival of all things.
Rome, for example, leaned heavily toward what we today might consider Nietzschean pursuits of power above all else. Strength was revered and mercy derided. In a world like that, the wise recognized the need for greater altruism, and Christians won over the empire by doing exactly that.
However, the reverse is also true. A society that leans too heavily on kindness and mercy will find that they can produce equally as horrible outcomes as one that leans too little on such qualities. Just like good food leads to gout when overindulged, so too good ideas, when used in the wrong situations or in a pathological way, can result in unintended and sometimes destructive consequences.
This concept, known as pathological altruism, illustrates how good intentions, when unchecked or misdirected, can lead to harm both for individuals and society at large.
PATHOLOGICAL ALTRUISM: A DEFINITION
Pathological altruism refers to situations where empathy or altruism leads to negative outcomes, either for the person exhibiting these traits or for those they intend to help. In her book Pathological Altruism, Barbara Oakley discusses how excessive empathy can sometimes cause more harm than good. This can manifest in various forms, from enabling destructive behaviors to ignoring practical considerations in the name of compassion.
The underlying issue is that these actions, though well-intentioned, are often based on emotional impulses rather than a rational assessment of their consequences. In other words, they are based on flawed human feelings rather than genuine wisdom.
One example of this is demonstrated in the brilliant book, Boundaries, by Drs. Cloud and Townsend. In this work, they tell a story of a mother who, out of love and compassion, does everything for her teenage son who grows to resent her for it, while also failing to learn how to care for himself. Her compassion, sadly, resulted in a stunted child who could not function in society properly due to having always had his mother do everything for him.
For parents, this is always a tough issue. Do you call back your child and make sure they clean their room (for example), or just do it for them? In this case, the mother confused taking the easy way and just doing the cleaning herself as compassion and care; not realizing she was creating a problem for herself, her son, and eventually the society that would have to bear the responsibility of a child who was never taught to take responsibility for his own actions.
SOCIETAL MANIFESTATIONS OF PATHOLOGICAL ALTRUISM
We see the same behavior of the mother in this story across Western society today, where pathological altruism can be observed in several areas, including criminal justice, immigration policies, and identity politics.
When it comes to crime, there has been a growing trend across the West toward soft criminal justice policies. The reason given is always couched in empathy for offenders and a desire to focus on rehabilitation, rather than punishment.
You may hear stories of a shooter who only acted the way he did because he had a bad childhood, or a robber who stole Louis Vuitton bags because he grew up in poverty. Even more maliciously, the blame is often placed on (usually false) abstractions such as criminal behavior being a product of "racism."
While the intention behind these policies might be noble, prioritizing the welfare of offenders without sufficient regard for public safety has led to increased crime rates in every place where they have been enacted. One can look at Canada, the UK, the EU, or the United States and see the exact same results of these policies displayed.
Like a spoiled child who only acts out worse when its parents fail to punish bad behavior, by focusing excessively on empathy for the perpetrator, these policies create injustice for the (increased number of) victims and incentivize antisocial conduct.
Immigration policies, particularly those related to illegal immigration, generate similar problems. Most of the current open-border policies across the West are framed as an issue of empathy. Those pushing for open borders focus narrowly on poor families, even though this specific demographic makes up a tiny percentage of the total number of migrants; meanwhile, open-border advocates fail to note how their policies negatively impact their nations.
The current, overly-permissive, approach has encouraged mass human trafficking efforts; that are then supported and protected by global agencies (such as the UN), NGOs and religious charities – including Catholic Charities.
The result, of course, is as tragic as it is predictable. Public resources (housing, emergency services, prison and court systems, healthcare, schools, etc.) are being overwhelmed. The massive cost of feeding and housing the seemingly never-ending flow of people looking to live off Western taxpayers is becoming an ever greater drag on the standard of living. And the inflow of "young, unmarried, unaccompanied males," is bringing with it a mass influx of foreign criminal gangs and a horrific increase in heinous, violent crimes.
While touted as kindness, the allowance and encouragement of mass immigration over the last decade has created social tensions, and undermined social cohesion across the Western world.
When empathy for newcomers outweighs consideration for economic and social stability of the host society, the result is increasingly negative.
These policies are the societal equivalent of a father who begins to take people off the street into his home. At first, his compassion may lead to him helping genuinely needy people, but if he does not use wisdom to discriminate between those who are truly in need and those who are malevolent, his compassion becomes destructive. Worse yet, he puts his innocent children's lives and futures at risk. While those in need should be helped, doing so at the expense of the safety and future of those who God has placed under your personal responsibility (children, if a father; citizens, if a leader) is not just unwise and unjust – it is actually destructive.
The concept of pathological altruism serves as a reminder that even the most virtuous traits, like empathy and altruism, can become destructive if not tempered with wisdom.
It reminds us that there is a time for everything, and that as wise stewards of what we have been given, it is our responsibility to ensure our children receive at least as much. In the parable of the talents, Jesus warns of what becomes of the unwise servant who wasted what he was given. I believe the same warning applies to those who would destroy their nation to feel better about themselves. Compassion has an important place in society; but so do justice, wisdom, and the protection of what God has entrusted to us.
When we act in ways that threaten the safety of innocents entrusted to our care, we are no longer being compassionate.
Arthur is a former editor and consultant. Born in India to missionary parents, he spent his early career working in development for NGOs in Asia, Central America, and Africa.
Arthur has an educational background in history and psychology, with certifications from the University of Oxford and Leiden in the economics, politics, and ethics of mass migration and comparative theories in terrorism and counterterrorism. He is currently launching CivWest, a company focused on building capital to fund restorative projects and create resilient systems across the Western world.
"The current, overly-permissive, approach has encouraged mass human trafficking efforts; that are then supported and protected by global agencies (such as the UN), NGOs and religious charities – including Catholic Charities." This is a blatantly false statement. I would encourage the author to view this FAQ page to get more accurate information: https://www.usccb.org/migrationministries
No analogies used in this article actually work or equate to what is happening in the US. The myths it perpetuates are also the same old nativist tripe that have been used against immigrants for decades. They weren't true when used against your ancestors, and they aren't true now. Immigrants, whether they come through officially approved channels, or less so, the statistics continually show that they are often the hardest working, and most law abiding residents in their communities.
The fact is, no one leaves their home without good cause. Be it economic collapse, violence, or governmental repression, if people choose to leave their homeland and risk their well being to emigrate to a place where they don't speak the…
Today, I've read two views on this same topic: yours, and Pope Francis'. You Arthur, speak soundly with common sense and reason; the Holy Father does not.