This is such a perceptive and well-reasoned article that puts the finger on the exact spot that's preventing us from change. Thank you also for the kind review of Fugitive Dreams, Kayla, and am honored you chose to mention it in this exemplary piece.

"Compassion fatigue" is perhaps a misnomer. "Helplessness syndrome" is what's really underneath it. Compassion only becomes painful when you can do nothing in response. The exploitative system maintains itself by keeping us feeling helpless so we don't even bother to try and change it. The deliberate destruction of Gaza and the resultant images of gore serve that purpose. Most people are pained to see those images, but feel they can do nothing, so they tune out.

It is time we questioned our own approach as activists. If you look at my Twitter feed (@RamseyHanhan), I have a policy against retweeting images of gore or posts focusing on victimhood. Instead, I favor empowering posts, like ones from BDS, that relate the miserable situation in Palestine to our daily lives. The money we spend at Domino's pizza is helping fund free meals for the Israeli death squads in Gaza. I can choose not to spend my money at Domino's any longer. That's a concrete action that makes me feel empowered. Feeling empowered, I am inclined to learn more and look for more concrete actions I can take.

The antidote to helplessness is empowerment.

The system, through the media, also works hard to divide us by othering people. They focus on the differences, the exotica, and the sensational, at the expense of the reality you describe: that you can put your finger on a random point on the globe and find someone like yourself. I'm so glad that you could relate to Fugitive Dreams. That fundamental similarity of all people is something I consciously strove to highlight with the book.