Stop Tolerating A Lack Of Empathy

It will only lead us to ruin

January 16, 2025

woman in blue and white bikini bottom holding brown wooden signage

The United States in 2025 is, to put it lightly, in a very precarious position.

A political party led by a convicted criminal and insurrectionist re-elected that leader to the highest office in the land. He will be empowered by a Supreme Court that ruled he has criminal immunity from official acts, a clause not yet tested in any courtroom.

The criminal cases brought against him have been discarded, delayed, and defanged simply because he ran for President and his hand-picked Florida judge did all she could to assist him, alongside a SCOTUS who did the same.

On Bluesky, YouTube, Discord, TikTok, and here I am repeatedly asked some version of this same question:

How did we get here?

In the Ken Burns documentary, Civil War, writer Shelby Foote talks about how the U.S. as a whole ended up in a place where brother against brother was possible. His response has always stuck with me:

It was because we failed to do the thing we really have a genius for, which is compromise. Americans like to think of themselves as uncompromising. Our true genius is for compromise. Our whole government's founded on it.

And, it failed.

Compromise is a tricky thing. Ideally, both sides get something they want out of it, while neither side gets everything. When constructed in that manner, compromise creates a situation where all involved parties feel satisfied, and there’s no room for remorse or resentment.

MAGA’s core philosophy doesn’t allow for compromise. Key to reaching an agreement is some level of empathy, the ability to see the plight of the other side, including a desire to see them fulfilled by the end result.

Instead, we have a political party built around a desire to see suffering and cruelty, and in fact to celebrate it. It’s an ever-present orgy of hate paired with a strong need to witness that hate bring about as much sorrow as possible.

Those who hate the most, and manifest the most consequential amount of heartache are celebrated by the MAGA faithful.

How can a compromise be reached? What middle ground exists between people who care and those who react joyfully when seeing their fellow Americans harmed?

I believe it is vital that we call this out whenever we see it. Not only as a way of highlighting the evil MAGA assembles, but to illustrate why there is no long-term survival for these kinds of authoritarian systems.

The fascist beast will always require a new group to consume, and eventually, everyone makes it onto the dinner plate.