Actor John C. Reilly publicly challenged Elon Musk’s skepticism toward empathy during a recent podcast appearance, arguing that the capacity for human compassion is a “superpower” rather than a vulnerability to be guarded against.

Mr. Reilly appeared on “It’s Open with Ilana Glazer,” where the conversation turned to standing up for the human rights of the LGBTQ+ community. The actor questioned why the subject had become a partisan one.

“If you stand up for human rights — why is that a right or a left thing?” Mr. Reilly said, as reported by Business Insider. “Why aren’t people on the right wing concerned about human rights? They’re human, too.” 

He then turned his attention to the concept of the “empathy trap,” which he attributed to Mr. Musk. Mr. Reilly characterized Mr. Musk’s position as urging people not to be “fooled” by empathy, to focus on their own agenda, and to “look out for number one.” He flatly rejected that framing.

“Empathy is not a trap — empathy is a superpower,” Mr. Reilly said. “It’s what makes human beings exceptional, our ability to look outside of ourselves. We’re not an alligator trying to just get the next fish.”

Mr. Musk has argued that empathy has been weaponized, particularly in debates over immigration and crime, and has repeatedly said that excessive or misdirected empathy can become “suicidal” for a society. During a previous appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Mr. Musk said he believes people “should care about other people,” but called empathy “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization,” describing it as a “bug.” 

Mr. Reilly framed empathy as the foundation of social order, using traffic laws as an illustration.

“The fact that we stay at the red light and don’t just zoom out because we want to get through the light faster — because what will happen? Well, we might smash into someone,” he said. “Well, you don’t know that person. Yeah, but I still don’t want to smash into them,” he said. 

The “Chicago” star also invoked Catholic teaching, citing the Golden Rule.