Hannah Arendt once wrote, “The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.” As political assassinations shape the sociopolitical sphere, as military occupations of our cities continue to expand and as terror fills our screens, we seem to have lost our ability to react in a compassionate and action-oriented manner.
According to The 2025 Compassion Report, only one-third of Americans report feeling compassion for all groups of people. This seems, at first glance, odd. With a felt increase in global tragedy, such as the ongoing genocide in Gaza anda continued brutalization of marginalized peoples across the United States. This widespread lack of empathy is condemnable and dystopian. Surely we, as humans, as emotional agents, should be able to maintain the ability to meaningfully recognize the deep sadness that permeates the modern moment, even if it feels impossible to change the present circumstance.
Yet we are becoming desensitized, disengaged and unconcerned with the terror that surrounds us. This is not a side effect; it is a cause of further disappointments in the realm of collective care. When we no longer feel a responsibility for one another, it becomes much easier to tune out collective hardships.
As a society, we have shirked our shared duty to indiscriminately call attention to injustice and speak out in favor of the oppressed. In doing so, we have cultivated a culture in which communities of people are systematically destroyed with little to no resistance. Populations are decimated, enabled by civil complacency and violence has become the norm.
Take, for example, the recent development in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) raids. On Sept. 8, the Supreme Court issued an unsigned order that gives immigration agents the green light on racial profiling.
This is not merely a loyalist legal decision made to ideologically support the MAGA regime. Rather, this decision stems from an apathetic and downright cruel American culture that codifies our nation’s lack of empathy.
We have proven to be completely ineffective at extending even the slightest form of care for those who are terrorized in this modern world. Instead, we actively engage in, condone and exist alongside that terror.
“It is a violent act to sit on the sidelines, to continue to participate in business-as-usual in this world that is in chaotic decay.”
Political assassinations have characterized much of this year. The assassinations of Charlie Kirk, Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman are a few such examples. These assassinations are representative of a deeply broken society, and the debates on social media that follow these events do nothing to keep them from abetting further violence.
Further, politically motivated attacks have also increased this year. Thus far, 2025 has seen an attack on Governor Josh Shapiro’s home, a shooting at the Centers for Disease Control headquarters and a carbombing at a Planned Parenthood facility, to name a few instances. These attacks are indicative of a world in which people can think of nothing else but to take up arms and violent means against those with a different political ideology than them.
The embrace of violence by everyday Americans across the country coincides with the heightened militarization of daily life in America. A stark rise in violence and the normalization and advocacy for violence is not surprising when you recognize that we live in a society in which politicians sign bombs that are used to murder civilians, public figures boast openly about feeding migrants to alligators, a Fox news host publicly advocates for the killing of the unhoused and influencers advocate for the bombing of peace activists.
As the modern moment turns increasingly violent, it is a violent act to sit on the sidelines, to continue to participate in business-as-usual in this world that is in chaotic decay.
When we turn away from watching this unfold, when we scroll past videos of apartment buildings in Gaza being leveled, when we turn a blind eye to ICE agents abducting people in plain sight, we participate in and exercise a unique kind of violence. We are all at fault for this, myself included. It is exceedingly difficult to resist the strong urge to ignore, or at least avoid processing, images and depictions of the current brutality.
But, that is precisely why we must digest this. We have a responsibility to engage with widespread brutality, whether through news channels and social media, or reporting it ourselves when it arrives at our doorsteps. To do otherwise, permits the continuance and expansion of it. Being forced to confront this aspect of modern life will motivate a level of action against it that is otherwise unattainable. Authoritarian militarization depends on emotionally crippling us. It depends on the gamble made by leaders that we would rather continue to engage in our daily habits than confront the hatred and onslaught all around us. We cannot, for our sake and for the sake of those who are currently at risk, prove leaders right in our complacency.
It is paramount that we seriously contend with violence we see on our screens and realize that it is not just a backdrop of noise. It is someone’s life, their family, their health, their place of worship, their home being affected. When we consciously work to acknowledge and deeply consider that fact, it becomes much more difficult to ignore the ongoing events.
When you put work into feeling empathy for the people you see being terrorized, suddenly the world feels a whole lot more distressing and unignorable.
Political assassinations, livestreamed genocides, forced deportations and all other ways in which violence cultivates do not have to become the modern norm. We can counter the violence in this era and work towards something more peaceful and less destructive. But, that requires an ability in us to recognize, constantly pay attention to and commit to praxis in preventing the ongoing destruction across the country. The moment we tune out is the moment we lose any chance at empathy, and it is that emotion that has the power to get us to a safer place, only if we let it.
Alex Benach, PO ’28, is from Washington D.C. and swears he is working on this concept called empathy.
Facebook Comments