If you’re not living under a rock (and if you are, good for you!), then you know the topic of immigration has permeated every medium of communication. You’ve likely seen influencers on social media pontificate on the evils of ICE and Trump’s immigration policies. I say pontificate, but honestly, it’s more like regurgitation, as every account posts content sounding like it came from the same script.
Such words are even on accounts from which you wouldn’t expect to see political commentary. For example, a reel from one of my favorite cooking tutorials said it’s OK not to be OK because what ICE is doing distresses all of us. Likewise, a prominent Christian homeschooling account had a long post about what is the most Christian (read empathic) response to current immigration enforcement.
I well remember the black squares posted by almost every social media account and business in 2020 after the death of George Floyd. Did these squares appear because these people patiently waited for all facts to emerge so they could make an evidence-based judgment? No. They posted the square because it was the empathetic response.
So what’s with the rise of empathy over facts? Feelings over logic and justice? The answer? Feminization.
I recently watched a video of Helen Andrews at the National Conservatism Conference making this very point. The strengths of women are empathy and nurturing. Our values are largely around feelings over facts. By contrast, men value facts and justice over feelings. Women have an ethic of caring; men have an ethic of justice.
Andrews observes that if given the choice between free speech and inclusive language, about two-thirds of men would choose free speech and about two-thirds of women would choose inclusivity.
There are some outliers in certain elections, but for the most part, the female voting demographic tends to vote left. Interestingly, the females who are more likely to vote right are young mothers.
Now, what happens when women feel empathy about a cause and it angers them? Well, Mama Bear comes out.
Prominent conservative podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey argues that the reason for some of the vitriol of leftist women is that many of them are childless. They have nowhere else to direct their mama-bear caring and nurturing instincts, so they go on defense for those they view as marginalized.
It sounds all well and good, but often they miss the forest for the trees. They see a ton of media talking about the struggles of people unable to leave their homes because they are afraid they will be detained by ICE because of their ethnicity. Sounds awful right? What they are not asking is whether this fear is reasonable and backed up by facts.
Women are appalled by the many arrests and deportations, but they’re not looking at what made these necessary in the first place. They are quick to share stories of a 5-year-old boy detained or used as bait without looking to see if the story is even true. They are quick to denounce ICE and stand up for immigrants, but they speak not a word for the victims of illegal immigration. All their empathy is directed towards the rule breakers, while not a tear is shed for the innocent people killed by illegal immigrants.
A society built on the masculine values of facts and justice would first ask to see all the victims of illegal immigration, not just how people may feel in a situation. What does unenforced law do to our society, vulnerable women and children, and the economy? What are the statistics of those who are unlawfully detained? What is the legal process? Those concerned about facts and justice would not just turn to the sob stories in the news media.
The media knows exactly what set of values toward which to play. So we get headlines which run along the lines of “Marginalized group says new law makes them feel sad!” That’s what you get. Not what the law actually does, what necessitated it, or whether the benefit outweighs the feelings of a small group of people.
An increasingly feminized society breeds wokeness. It creates groups of people who don’t want immigration law enforced because their Mexican friends with valid citizenship are afraid when they go out – even when they’ve walked by ICE 20 times and were fine. It creates groups of people calling ICE “Nazis” even though the claim has absolutely no logical basis in fact or history.
Not all women are this way. I am a woman and I prefer the rational to the emotional. Emotions give me a strong case of the icks and I avoid them like the plague. But exceptions like me do not negate the rule.
We cannot continue to allow emotions to govern our policy debates, for one-sided empathy that fails to regard all victims results in skewed justice. We must return to the masculine values of fact and justice.
Women add value to society, obviously. God created us for a reason. But that means our values should complement, not dominate. We’ve tried the feminine way and the results have been disastrous.
Laura Clark is a wife, mother, and community activist. She currently serves as the interim president of Alabama Center for Law and Liberty, a conservative nonprofit law firm that fights for limited government, free markets, and strong families in the courts. Anything written by Laura for this publication does not constitute legal advice.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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