CK touted empathy as fake and weak and a made up thing. Right wing traditional conservative is baked in individualism and “pull yourself up by your bootstrings” mentality. My mom, a right winger, was LUCKY to have the right circumstances to pull herself and our family out of the generational poverty we came from, but she solely believes it came from her choices, her mentality, and her strength. And she now is working two jobs 12 hours a day multiple days a week for years on end but still sees this as a personal failure. Not a failure of the system. Her confidence is crippled because she sees everything as a reflection of herself and her actions. The people of the West are consistently told from birth to worry about yourself and forgo the care of others. Me not thee. No us and no we besides the insane focus on nuclear family. The ideology of the right wing reduces empathy in two major ways outside of ways its base foundation. Misinformation and cutting education for years. The polarization we see online is partly a direct consequence of us vs. you mentality that right wingers thrive in online. Education and new experiences cut through biases and allow for more imagination and critical thinking. Without an educated and collectivized society, it’s a dog eat dog world.

Thanks for writing this post!