The War on Empathy

When people talk of war, the first image conjured is often of a battlefield thousands of miles away, greeted by the steady rainfall of bombs.  But there are other more subtle wars taking place each day, which can be brutal in their effects upon any given individual. One of these, which has become particularly vicious in this time of global economic discontent, is the war on empathy.  The war on empathy, waged by politicians who lack the imagination or the sensitivity to think of compassionate solutions to the world’s problems, dictates that every time that society suffers as a whole, a smaller and defenceless group must be identified by political rhetoric or policy as the culprit.  The war on empathy dictates, for example, that the lack of jobs is not attributable to the financial crash or the automation of many occupations, but is instead the fault of immigrants coming to our shores and stealing them.  The war on empathy is waged by soldiers who lack any emotional connection with people whose monthly wages have fallen far behind inflation and the cost of living.  It is waged by soldiers who look contemptuously upon those who have not attained their own levels of affluence or social status, and accordingly punish them for it. The war on empathy commits acts of structural violence against its targets, and it is the most dangerous bombless war that you will ever see.

Comments are closed.