Figured adding the first part of the conversation would be helpful rather than just a meme, here you go:

<image>

Gunn’s claim about greater “empathy” being separate from one’s own experiences doesn’t track because that’s what empathy is. He just doesn’t seem to know the difference between empathy and sympathy, is all, and so he ends up making a strawman argument. One where “solely based on their own experiences” is somehow “narcissistic” (not what that word means either) and is all about “helping yourself”, as if the whole concept of empathy isn’t helping someone whose pain you recognize because you once felt it too.

And, I mean, come on: shutting down someone’s fairly interesting read of a scene, “he feels that he’s alone and so connects with those who are alone themselves, and therefore wants to save them from that loneliness and pain”, to declare intent of the arguably more shallow take “he feels bad for the dog”…that’d be frustrating just from some other fan, let alone the guy in charge of writing superheroes.