Parasocial Empathy

People from the USA are conditioned to only have empathy in parasocial contexts because those can be safely sublimated without threatening the system.

This is why you can witness the same person feeling sad about a NASA space probe powering down, then express anti-houseless sentiments or anti-immigrant politics in the next minute. The US system of imperial Capitalism is very good at conditioning us to feel only selective empathy, through media.

We might feel worse for the death of an actor whose movies we’ve seen than for the death of hundreds of houseless people across the USA during an extreme cold snap like this one. Once you see it, though, you can’t unsee it. The thing is, you can do something for the suffering under your nose — bring warming supplies to people, bake potatoes to hand out, watch someone’s child or pet for a much needed break, form a tenant’s union, out an abuser, educate yourself and others to oppose Capitalism. Do something, and find your people to do it collectively. Always forward.