I don't think we are losing are ability to emphasize as much as we are shifting that empathy towards the wrong things. In today's society everyone and every group wants to be a victim of something and compare themselves to great and worthy social justice movements of the past. The LBGT community wants to compare their plight the civil rights movement to be a victim, Black Lives Matter wants to compare modern day life to pre Civil War era Slavery so they can be a victim and muster baseless outrage etc. Hell what happened to the good old days when we really could take time the care about the things that mattered.. sick kids, helping your neighbor, hell just helping a friend. Sadly we have just been burned out by the constant media attention to the latest victim of something. I'm a boy, I feel like a girl, I wanna pee in the girls room but can't I'm a victim, feel my plight.. yada yada.. Its so tough to sort through the bullshit to find people or causes that really need help as they have come so diluted with fake causes clamoring for the empathy that should rightfully be theirs.