The ethical divide reflects the rupture in our shared sense of humanity. Ethical beliefs are rooted in our capacity to recognize and care about the impact of our actions on others. When this capacity is eroded, people can justify cruelty, indifference, and even violence under the guise of order or tradition. What we’re seeing is a fundamental split between those who are anchored in empathy and relational accountability and those who have normalized domination, hierarchy, and dehumanization.
In a climate shaped by fascism, ethical disconnection is strategic. It isolates people from one another, turns fear into a tool, and rewards those who refuse to feel with power. IPNB tells us that we are shaped in relationship, and when those relationships are based on control instead of mutual respect, it alters how we treat ourselves and others. The divide now is about whether we’re still willing—or even able—to care, to stay present to suffering, to protect the vulnerable. That’s not a political difference. That’s a collapse in what it means to be in community.
To confront this fracture, we must each take responsibility for nurturing our capacity to feel, to care, and to act in ways that protect and affirm life. Individually, this means staying present to discomfort, choosing truth over denial, and refusing to dehumanize others even when the culture rewards it.
Collectively, it means building communities grounded in relational accountability, where ethical courage is cultivated and supported. We have to create spaces where empathy is not just possible but expected, and the measure of strength is how well we protect each other, not how effectively we dominate.
Reweaving the fabric of our shared humanity begins with the daily, deliberate choice to remain connected, even—and especially—when everything around us is trying to pull us apart.
