Almost every night for the past month, my mother has been watching videos of a baby monkey, crying over it, and forcing the rest of the family to watch with her. Punch, a macaque who lives in the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan, has been rejected by his mother and is bullied by other adult monkeys in his enclosure. Millions of people have viewed videos of him online, and people have been buying the plush orangutan Punch carries around. The New York Post says, “IKEA has sold out of its adorable Djungelskog orangutan soft toy, with the $20 item now fetching more than 10 times the retail price on eBay.”
If a young animal being abused can gain the sympathy of millions across the globe, why can’t the same people share this feeling with the young people suffering in war-torn countries? The reason, most of the time, is selective empathy — the tendency to express care, compassion, or moral concern for specific individuals or groups while neglecting or remaining indifferent to the suffering of others. The topics of justice that become popular with American social media are a clear example of selective empathy.
Many Americans sympathize with Ukrainians due to the Russian invasion. Businesses and homes, many with no ties to Ukraine, raise the Ukrainian flag in solidarity with its people. However, many more Palestinians have lost their lives in the war with Israel, and still, their voices are silenced, and their stories are pushed to the bottom of American media outlets.
It is easier for the predominantly white America to sympathize with other Caucasians or Christians across the globe than with Muslims. According to a Pew Research Center survey from 2016, one out of four adults in America would describe a majority of Muslims in America as “anti-American.” This resentment towards Muslims may stem from scars from terror attacks against the U.S., but should it extend towards the thousands of innocent Muslims being slaughtered in the Middle East? A few buildings destroyed by terror attacks in the US can be rebuilt in a few years, but it will take decades to rebuild entire cities like Rafah, flattened to the ground by bombs and poisoned by chemical warfare.
In a few months, Punch will lose traction, and Americans will find a new idol to become infatuated with, as millions of people across the globe continue to suffer in silence due to selective empathy. Many people living in Gaza share videos of their lives on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, just as Americans do. However, their voices continue to be buried like the rubble of what once were their workplaces, their schools, and their homes.
The people of Gaza’s presence on the same social media platforms we use is proof that they are still there, and still fighting. It’s just a matter of standing and speaking up, just as we were able to rally for a baby monkey in distress.
