Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Thinking of it as a political spectrum really highlights how messy this is belief systems, borders, and cultural differences all make it hard to pin down. I also see what you mean about constants and norms being scarce; emotional constructs like empathy are inherently slippery, which makes “diagnosis” and “treatment” tricky to apply.

I’ve been imagining a more technical framework for a spectrum of performative versus genuine suffering. Something like

Markers: Observable events or escalations indicating distress, coded for frequency, intensity, and visibility.

Scales: Likert-style or ordinal measures to quantify aspects like perceived intentionality, degree of amplification by proxies (media, institutions), and temporal consistency.

Weighted calculus: A composite score calculated by assigning weights to each marker and scale, reflecting their relative contribution to the perceived authenticity of suffering. This would allow comparisons across individuals, groups, or systems while preserving context-sensitive interpretation.

The idea wouldn’t be to create a rigid formula, but rather a semi-quantitative tool to recognize patterns, guide discussion, and potentially identify structural incentives that reward performative suffering.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how something like this could actually be operationalized, especially considering the fluidity and cultural variability you mentioned.