I'm going to push back on this little-And at the same time be a hypocrite. I think it's important to be able to look at someone's view point and have some "empathy" on why they think a certain way. Figuring out their specific situation, what experiences caused them to think this way, essentially looking into their window of perspective. That is empathy to me and isn't a crutch. That's a super power in how we can have a conversation when we don't agree.
Discussion
I think a little bit of empathy is constructive, but too much is corrosive.
How much empathy one can and should have I think is a personal thing. If it is so much that it’s unhealthy then that is a shortcoming of the individual doing the empathizing, and they should look at themselves for the reasons for it and grow from that introspection so they can empathize in a healthy manner.