> the best way to get things from others is to understand where they stand emotionally and to show reciprocation and support, i.e. empathy.

This is the dangerous line this article is suggestive toward: empathy as a tool for manipulative gain.

I wonder if someone truly naturally capable of understanding differing perspectives would even write such an article. It sounds more like a robot discovering a trick they can utilize to score points.

I think empathy is a sense. When I read some people talking about it in this way, it feels like deaf people thinking they're able to hear music because they found a trick of feeling the speaker's bass.