Where I live, “empathy” has become an empty word that simply serves as a wild card to justify state coercion through taxation. E.g., “if you don't pay taxes, you are not empathetic towards people who depend on social assistance.”

But those same people are incapable of voluntarily helping those who cannot help themselves, and they publicly attack private charitable organizations. Because in their unconditional love for the state, they believe they are indirectly helping it through the bureaucratic apparatus (they call it the “welfare state”). They ignore the fact that this only maintains the million-dollar salaries of political operators, while the people who really need it get crumbs. If they get anything at all.

In short, empathy is an empty word for those who like to applaud themselves.