Ask Dr. Drew
Allie Beth Stuckey: ‘Toxic Empathy’ Killed Laken Riley & Is Used To Bully Good People Into Supporting Harmful Progressive Ideas w/ Rep. Morgan Griffith – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 427
Sun, 24 Nov 2024
Laken Riley’s killer was convicted of murder, but he never should have been there in the first place. If Jose Ibarra had been prevented from entering the USA illegally in 2022, Laken would still be alive today. So why does this keep happening? The empathy of good people is being manipulated by activists and extremists who yell words like “tolerance” or “justice” to bully others into compliance. Allie Beth Stuckey calls it “Toxic Empathy” and says it’s why so many progressive ideas, like unrestricted immigration or gender surgeries on children, continue to be defended by well-meaning people even as the negative effects dominate headlines. Allie Beth Stuckey hosts the “Relatable” podcast and is the author of multiple New York Times bestselling books including “You’re Not Enough (And That’s Okay)” and “Toxic Empathy” available at https://amzn.to/4eECNg3. Stuckey has interviewed figures such as President Donald Trump, Governor Ron DeSantis, and Dr. John MacArthur. Find more at https://alliebethstuckey.com and follow her at https://x.com/conservmillen Rep. Morgan Griffith represents Virginia’s Ninth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and serves on its Health and Energy Subcommittees. He also sits on the Committee on House Administration. Previously, he was the Virginia House Majority Leader, the first Republican to hold the role. He holds degrees from Emory & Henry College, and Washington and Lee University School of Law. Follow him at https://x.com/RepMGriffith 「 SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS 」 Find out more about the brands that make this show possible and get special discounts on Dr. Drew's favorite products at https://drdrew.com/sponsors • CAPSADYN - Get pain relief with the power of capsaicin from chili peppers – without the burning! Capsadyn's proprietary formulation for joint & muscle pain contains no NSAIDs, opioids, anesthetics, or steroids. Try it for 15% off at https://drdrew.com/capsadyn • FATTY15 – The future of essential fatty acids is here! Strengthen your cells against age-related breakdown with Fatty15. Get 15% off a 90-day Starter Kit Subscription at https://drdrew.com/fatty15 • CHECK GENETICS - Your DNA is the key to discovering the RIGHT medication for you. Escape the big pharma cycle and understand your genetic medication blueprint with pharmacogenetic testing. Save $200 with code DRDREW at https://drdrew.com/check • PALEOVALLEY - "Paleovalley has a wide variety of extraordinary products that are both healthful and delicious,” says Dr. Drew. "I am a huge fan of this brand and know you'll love it too!” Get 15% off your first order at https://drdrew.com/paleovalley • THE WELLNESS COMPANY - Counteract harmful spike proteins with TWC's Signature Series Spike Support Formula containing nattokinase and selenium. Learn more about TWC's supplements at https://twc.health/drew 「 MEDICAL NOTE 」 Portions of this program may examine countervailing views on important medical issues. Always consult your physician before making any decisions about your health. 「 ABOUT THE SHOW 」 Ask Dr. Drew is produced by Kaleb Nation (https://kalebnation.com) and Susan Pinsky (https://twitter.com/firstladyoflove). This show is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is 'Toxic Empathy' and why is it harmful?
Great guest for you today. The second half of the show, we are going to have Representative Morgan Griffith. He is United States Congress from Virginia. He chairs, amongst other things, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the hearings that Jay Bhattacharya has been referencing or referenced on this very show, the HHS, the findings of some of the
Transgressions of the excesses of the COVID response and the COVID pandemics. We'll get to that. First, though, we have Ali Beth Stuckey. Her book is Toxic Empathy. This should be fantastic conversation. Her previous book was You're Not Enough. No, yes, You're Not Enough. Oh, there's toxic empathy, how progressives exploit Christian compassion.
The previous one, you're not enough and that's okay, I think is what it was called. We'll get into that. And Carolla and I have been talking about the misappropriation of empathy and the self-esteem movement and the deleterious effects of that. We'll get into it all right after this. Stay with us. Our laws as it pertain to substances are draconian and bizarre. The psychopath started this.
He was an alcoholic because of social media and pornography, PTSD, love addiction, fentanyl and heroin. Ridiculous. I'm a doctor for . Where the hell do you think I learned that? I'm just saying, you go to treatment before you kill people. I am a clinician. I observe things about these chemicals. Let's just deal with what's real. We used to get these calls on Loveline all the time.
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Chapter 2: How does empathy relate to political ideologies?
Yeah. And gosh, that goes so deep into the differences of worldviews because there are different definitions of even harm. Like whenever I'm talking to a progressive or when I'm reading something from someone on the other side of the aisle, I really have to take the time to to ask about every word, but what do they mean by X? So what is meant by harm?
What they typically mean is that I am hurting this person's feelings. And this kind of goes in line with their ideology, which of course they believe that who we really are is what we feel on the inside. And that physical reality is kind of arbitrary. It's in submission to how we feel.
That's how they land at the conclusion that someone's true identity and true self is not what they are on the outside, but how they feel on the inside. And of course, I don't believe that. I think science, biology, observable reality tells us a lot about what is really true and who we are. So when I say harm, that gender ideology harms someone, I'm not just talking about hurt feelings.
I'm talking about the mutilation of someone's bodies. I'm talking about the harm that comes, I think, not just individually, but societally when you say that two plus two equals five. And of course, all the implications that this has for confused young people and on their ability to function sexually and all the stuff that we know about puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and all of that.
So we have two different definitions of harm. Theirs, I think, is superficial and it comes to feelings. Mine, really, I would say is about the whole person. And I am willing to risk hurting someone's feelings if it stops them from going down a path that is truly harmful.
Well, speaking of harm, protecting feelings from challenge is how you harm people. The most significant advance in psychiatry is exposure therapy. Now we live in a time when the vast majority of psychiatric symptoms are treated with exposure to those symptoms to learn to regulate them. And so by keeping people away from their feelings, you are literally making them ill.
So I see this and I'm going to stand back and tell you, I have a sort of a medical frame on this. I don't disagree with anything you've said, but my frame is you are talking about patients who come to doctors to receive treatment. lifelong therapeutics with potentially dangerous medication and in very invasive surgical procedures that are also quite dangerous and potentially harmful.
You just mentioned a couple of the harms that people get into. That's the superficial harms. I worry about the liver failure and the hepatomas and really the serious things that happen. And so for me,
it is incumbent upon doctors not to be affected by ideology and to just rely on the scientific process that helps them select the right patient for the right treatment and in most countries that's the way they do it i have many transgender friend patients and the ones that do the best
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Chapter 3: What examples of harm does 'Toxic Empathy' create?
And I do believe that telling the truth, especially about these big issues that have such great consequences for people, especially young people, when it comes to things like gender, is actually the most loving approach. So truth and love, I think, is much more effective in changing people for the better than this toxic empathy.
Yeah, I mean, I think you must be aware that the truth has been under assault for quite some time now. Part of the post-structuralist frame is that there is no such thing as truth, therefore everything is subjective and political. And it has adulterated everything. This is a disgusting philosophy. It's fascinating to me.
I heard a French philosopher speaking about this and she said, what is this American preoccupation with these worthless philosophers from 75 years ago that we disposed of 55 years ago? It's like, why are you preoccupied with these essentially... mind games that they invented to sort of screw with the whole functioning of philosophy.
So truth, I agree, is something that has meaning, has, I would say, virtue. And is it not the time to reestablish virtue ethics?
Yeah, you know, I think so. And some people think that we can somehow separate what we believe about God or what we believe religiously from public life and our conversations about law and politics. But the fact of the matter is, is that every single law, every policy,
that we advocate for goes back to a worldview, a definition of morality, a belief in some kind of moral authority who gets to say what's good and what's bad. And I think that we are so scared of offending. We are so scared of coming off as unempathetic that we are unwilling to say, no, this is the definition of what is good. This is the definition of what is bad.
And of course, in a pluralistic society, we're going to have disagreements and we're going to have debates and discussions surrounding those things. But we at least have to acknowledge, that there is a truth, that there is a reality. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, when he is trying to confront this myth of moral relativism, he points out two important things. One is an analogy.
If I'm drawing a picture of New York City, first of all, it's gonna be really bad because I'm not an artist. Versus an artist who drew a picture of New York City, someone would be able to tell you that this is closer to the real New York. My rendering of New York is not just as accurate as someone else's rendering of New York.
Someone who has seen New York can tell you this is what Times Square looks like, this drawing, and this drawing is further away. And morality is the same way. There may be some debate when it comes to the depictions of New York that are actually closer to what it actually looks like. But there is no debate that that really exists and that some renderings are closer than others.
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Chapter 4: What is the difference between empathy and sympathy?
And the second thing that he points out that has been so helpful for me is that no one is a moral relativist when it comes to themselves. You might say, oh, you know, every culture has a different set of rules that's just as good as another. But if someone steals from you or if someone assaults you, all of a sudden a person becomes a moral absolutist.
No one who has been assaulted themselves, been violated, been stolen from says, well, that person probably believed that was fine and it's okay. No, you're looking for vengeance. You're looking for justice. You're looking for some kind of recompense because they have violated you.
So really at the end of the day, we all need to acknowledge that moral objectivity exists and we at the very least have to strive together to get as close to that as possible.
Are you familiar with the trolley experiment?
Yes, I am.
Yeah, and I just think we need to challenge people with it on a regular basis, those sorts of conundrums, and challenge them to address why they feel the way they do and how their moral sensibilities work. Because people have just abandoned it completely, it seems like to me, in the name of, hey man, it's whatever you're into, who am I to say? And again, that's back to a kind of a toxic empathy.
The other thing is, your other book, do you address self-esteem? Is that a lot of what's going on there in that book?
Yes, my other book, You're Not Enough and That's Okay. And both of these titles, I haven't meant for them to be jarring, honestly, but I write to a mostly female audience and I guess they have been for some people, but I'm glad for that because I think it's caught the attention of the people that I'm trying to talk to. And basically what I argue is that this book
industry of self-love is, it's very contradictory. And while these people are simultaneously telling you that you are perfect and enough the way you are, they are also trying to sell you their latest program that's going to make you even more perfect and more enough. And it starts with this lie that women in particular have this inner goddess and she was perfect basically when we were born.
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Chapter 5: How does 'Toxic Empathy' affect discussions on immigration?
whether there's water standing around, whether there's feces all over the walls of the bathrooms in the facility making medicines that you and I are ingesting. And you know what? Doesn't cost you so much money if you do it that way.
And then if you see something where there's a problem, then you can send in your top gun experts with all the credentials to do an analysis of whether or not they're making the medicine right. But step one, see if the place is clean. That would be a big improvement.
Oh, Congressman Griffith, you're so picky and so extreme in your opinions. How dare you? Again, return of common sense. For years, I was saying I wanted to form the common sense party, but I think common sense has reemerged. Well, listen, we appreciate you sharing your thoughts here with you. We are grateful for the work you have done with the HHS committees.
And I hope you'll come back and keep us posted and let us help you deliver the messages wherever they need to be delivered and help you out in any other way we can.
Thank you. And I'd love to come back anytime.
You got it. Senator Mark Griffith. Thank you so much for joining us. You can follow him, Rep. M. Griffith. And for us coming up tomorrow, Susan, you have your show at three o'clock. Very special, super special guest coming in. We can't tell you because of the psychic.
Colby Rebel will be here. She's my psychic medium du jour. And we're going to be live at three o'clock.
Susan's very particular about not exposing the possibility of doubt. So she hasn't let the psychic.
So the guest is a little skeptical.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of 'Toxic Empathy' in society?
Thank you for watching, Liz. And yeah, we're just really doing some numbers here. And I think that your guests are probably really happy to have a good long format.
Well, and to have an outlet, and you guys are so attentive. We are so appreciative of this audience. You're attentive, you're motivated, you're watching, you're thinking. And by the way, to that end, if you have other guests you'd like us to interview, go to drdrew.com slash contact. Is that right? Contact us.
If you want to support the show, you don't have to send us money. Just head on over to drdrew.com slash sponsors. Start shopping for the holidays. We have great sponsors.
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I don't know if you can see it. Wow.
This is-
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