I’ve heard this sentiment before a while back from a person on Tiktok (unfortunately I cannot remember their name) and it has stuck with me since I first saw it because it is undeniably true.
People’s unchecked empathy will end up getting us hurt. I say this because of what is happening in Venezuela. I see a lot of people, many I followed until now, who are very pro-Palestine now spreading misinformation about Venezuela and its election as a show of solidarity and empathy. This is not right and is incredibly frustrating. Not every “Free [insert country]” movement needs support. Yes, your empathy and want for justice for Palestine and Palestinians is well placed but do not extend that to every movement you see because it might end up backfiring big time. The same people you oppose for the genocide being inflicted on Palestine are the people you are supporting in Venezuela, how do they not make this connection? It’s the lack of critical thinking alongside their empathy that really gets me. These people claim to be anti-imperialist, and I truly believe that they are in their hearts, but at the end of the day they are also supporting a very imperialist coup attempt in Venezuela because their government tells them Maduro is a dictator.
There is also a call to “listen to Venezuelans” but fail to listen to Venezuelans who are actively opposing the coup on the streets. If they let their empathy run wild without critical thought they end up supporting globally detrimental movements that will end up causing so much fucking damage, and when the deed is done I hope they’re happy.
Sorry for this rant but seeing people I liked and respected, many of them artists, falling for this crap and spreading misinformation and propaganda to their large audiences is incredibly frustrating and disheartening. Pro-Palestine and yet you support Maria Machado? Give me a fucking break…
I agree with the underlying point, that they need a grounded actually anti-imperialist view (and in this specific case, they really need education on color revolutions). But I’m not convinced misguided empathy is the issue, as much as western chauvinism is; western chauvinism, and its relationship with the longstanding colonial mythos of civil and savage, enables people to think of the world as carved up into the developed civilized “democratic” world and the undeveloped savage “tyrannical” world. So I guess what I’m putting forth here is: is it really empathy alone that is making them so easy to manipulate or is it more that it’s easy for them to have a patronizing “we know better” view of what they may see as the “savage” parts of the world?
I do agree with this take and I think it works hand-in-hand with mine, why? Because I do see these same people have a monolithic view of other cultures even if their own (western, American, etc.) is anything but. What I mean by that is that they’ll post at us to listen to Venezuelans, North Korean defectors, Uyghurs, etc. but fail to listen to those people when they say something contrary to what they believe. They can agree that saying “listen to Americans” isn’t a great statement as there are many Americans who are wrong, but they for some reason can’t extend the same complexity towards other groups of people and cultures. Am I making sense? I hope I am. I am agreeing with you, it’s definitely chauvinism and I still think it has to do with unchecked empathy; they have empathy but it can be misguided due to their chauvinism; they do not have empathy for the “enemies.”