Political polarization is at an all-time high in the United States. This deepening divide is being fueled by online echo-chambers, biased news networks, and antisocial rhetoric that demonizes empathy. Unless war, tribalism, and self-destruction are what we want for our future, we need to find ways to cultivate empathy, not destroy it.

As fiction readers know, heroes and villains alike often have tragic origin stories. These narratives intentionally build our empathy by offering a glimpse into a character’s troubled past. Even characters we normally wouldn’t have connected with become surprisingly relatable once we have this insight. Their present-day beliefs and choices, justified or not, make more sense in light of their past experiences.

Humanity as a whole has a origin story too. Understanding our collective past offers crucial insight into why we act the way we do. Centuries ago, tribalism was essential to our survival in the face of starvation and predators. Hoarding resources and attacking outsiders were necessities. In that context, empathy for anyone outside of one’s tribe was completely counter-intuitive.

Today, 8 billion humans are crowded together on this planet. Progress and technology have provided much less brutal means of coexisting and our species now faces entirely different threats – ones that violence and resource hoarding won’t overcome. The strategy of attacking and dominating unfamiliar groups that was once a survival mechanism is now dangerously outdated.

Recognizing our tribalistic origin story provides a crucial first step towards mutual empathy. Despite how destructive these primitive instincts are today, they originated from a legitimate need to protect ourselves and the people we love. When we stare down our perceived enemies across the political divide, we’re essentially viewing them through an ancient lens of fear and desperation. Our current animosity is driven by terror, not malice.

Instead of perpetuating mutual destruction, empathy offers us a more adaptive path. Overcoming our violent survival instincts requires us to reframe who we perceive as the enemy. People who look, think, or act differently from us don’t automatically present a threat. Our modern interconnectedness is expanding the size of our tribe and demanding collaboration as the new survival strategy.

Of course, empathy alone won’t solve all our problems. Intentionally choosing to access it, however, can pave the way for far more productive communication. In practice, this begins with each individual committing to treat others with dignity, regardless of how they are treated in return. By listening to one another’s fears and concerns without immediately perceiving them as a threat, we might actually start to uncover some productive solutions. 

TLDR: Even if our own political opinions remain unchanged, a demeanor of empathy opens new avenues for progress.