- The folks who can't take covid seriously until someone they know dies
- The CEOs who don't care about workplace sexism until they have a daughter
- The politicians who don't support marriage equality until their son comes out

This pattern never ceases to depress me 1/

- the leaders that won't pass covid precautions until there is a major outbreak in their jurisdiction
- the manager that doesn't care about the constraints of parents until becoming one

This form of empathy is so incredibly limited. 2/

Many white people may not see themselves as directly impacted by anti-Black racism. Many USA citizens may not see themselves as directly impacted by treatment of undocumented immigrants.

But these issues are urgent & important. Empathy for those beyond your circle is crucial. 3/

Another example of failing to have empathy until directly impacted: 4/ https://twitter.com/avh4/status/1291048081044262912?s=19

I agree that belated empathy is better than doubling down on hate, but what depresses me is that this only works for a pretty limited range of issues (e.g. most white politicians that support police brutality aren't going to discover their child is Black) https://twitter.com/RWerpachowski/status/1291088340914188291?s=20

It also bothers me that people often see such "awakenings" as praise-worthy. E.g CEOs that proudly talk about how their daughter opened their eyes to sexism, without realizing how offensive it is that they didn't care before, or that they are still oblivious to racism 6/