My point is obfuscated by the fact in many contexts the word "empathy" and "empath" are intended to involve not only the person practicing empathy, but also the interaction with the person to be understood.
What it boils down to is that you can understand what people are feeling and still decide to disregard them.
As a child, I was highly empathetic, caring, and frequently overwhelmed by others’ emotions. As an adolescent, I did a face-heel turn and became very manipulative, frequently lying, gaslighting, and emotionally abusing others.
But now it’s the positive aspects of both; I don’t feel emotions very strongly but am quite empathetic toward others, accommodating their needs with perceptive and manipulative skills honed by an adolescence of (frankly) sociopathy.
Being entirely self-serving gets old, actually. There’s not really any challenge in picking pockets or getting laid.
It does not advocating being an asshole, but discusses the "too nice" attitude (which, it turns out, is not nice at all).
Occasionally I feel envy for people with sociopathic tendencies. How nice it would be to only worry about what makes yourself happy.
I've come to the conclusion though that for the most part, someone's level of empathy is mostly physiological/genetic and there's little I can do to change that. If I tried on purpose to care less towards others, I'd probably start feeling sick/guilty -- a biological reaction that I wouldn't be able to suppress.