“The fundamental weakness of western civilization is empathy,” said Elon Musk in Joe Rogan’s podcast this February. While he acknowledges the moral good of empathy in everyday situations, his statement seems to target not only immigrants but those in the LGBTQ community, pro-choice advocates, and other marginalized groups, and has been accompanied by government actions that would be unthinkable decades ago—“ASMR” videos being posted of the jangling shackles and chains of undocumented immigrants being deported.

Musk’s statement seems to follow in part from the great replacement theory, a theory that white populations in western countries are being “replaced” by non-white peoples who are to eventually control them, rendering white people a minority. As most of the country has moved to the left on social issues in the 21st century, with the majority of Americans now supporting same-sex marriage and abortion, some, particularly those in the fires of white Christian nationalism, have pushed back on the basis of white-sympathy. A notable example is the president’s recent claims of a false white farmer genocide in South America. In truth, 26,232 people, most of whom were black, were murdered in South Africa in 2024, and only 8 of which were farmers. Despite the dubious basis, conservatives have capitalized on this sentiment, provoking fear of the “other,” particularly immigrants to the U.S., whom they call “Killers, Rapists and Drug Dealers,” as stated by the White House.

This is not backed up by data, nor by sensible logic. Not only do undocumented immigrants commit fewer crimes on average than native-born Americans do, they have a clear incentive to follow the law: committing crimes, especially egregious ones, is more likely to call attention to their undocumented status and get them deported. Immigrants are also a necessary fuel for the US economy, providing it with a young working population that often performs jobs most Americans are unwilling to do, such as in construction or food industries, and, overall, help grow the economy, benefiting all Americans.

This rising sentiment also seems to rhyme with a not-so-distant past. In the 1930s, less than a hundred years ago, Hitler and the Nazi party rose to power in a crumbling Germany, using Jewish people as a scapegoat and claiming they are the cause of all the country’s problems. One of Hitler’s goals was to create an “Aryan” race, a superior, purebred peoples in Germany, and forcibly placed not only Jewish people but also minority groups such as LGBTQ peoples and the disabled into concentration camps. Ironically, the Third Reich pushed out many scientists, such as Hans Bethe, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, Rudolf Peierls, and Klaus Fuchs, to name a few, who put their skills towards the Allied effort to create an atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project. Looking back at history, it is clear that diversity is a strength and the racial purity that both the Third Reich and some in the U.S. now seek a weakness.

Nativism, however, is not the only reason some are backing away from empathy of the “other.” Some Americans have voted for President Trump on the basis that he is a “strong” leader—that he will deliver on the immigration “crisis” and stand firm on the world stage as America’s leader. While some conviction is necessary to perform his role adequately, it seems to go against the very Christian values he campaigns on and those apparently shared by his religious followers. So-called “masculine” traits, such as physical or territorial dominance, a firm conviction bordering on the suppression of empathy, and self defense (relating to his support of the second amendment) not only are associated with the most primitive, ape-like aspects of human nature, they are not desirable in a civilized society, nor are they taught in the Bible. In fact, Jesus often preaches the opposite. In Matthew 5:38-40, Jesus proclaims: “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.” That, if Jesus were alive today, those on the Christian right would likely label him a weak man is very revealing to the nature of this movement—how the subscription to the ideology blinds and blots the values it was first founded on.

Meanwhile, the so-called “feminine” trait of empathy, also exemplified countless times by Jesus in the Bible, not only allows us to understand the hardships immigrants go through, both from their homeland and in the United States, but also how those experiences breed hard workers that are more likely to become entrepreneurs, fueling the U.S. economy and driving innovation. Suppressing empathy because of potential social stigmas surrounding it only shuts the doors on immigrants who, yes, benefit from their stay in the United States but also give back to their country as humans and not as vermin. Their successes are everyone’s, just as empathy does not destroy civilizations—it builds them.

Not all Christians, however, agree with Trump’s and his administration’s views. As the first American pope, formerly Robert Francis Prevost and now Pope Leo XIV rises to the head of the Catholic church, his compassion and empathy to those in great need are set to continue the legacy of his predecessor Pope Francis. In due time, Americans will hopefully look back on their own history and realize that they all came from somewhere different, that they all are immigrants or descendants of them, and that one struggling, suffering person on the opposite side of the planet whom they will never meet is just as human as they are, deserves just as much love, and deserves just as many opportunities, despite what different experiences, beliefs, and backgrounds they may have, and in helping them seek refuge in the United States, that they may too contribute to that great American dream—but only if they are given the chance.*

*Students, when asked, refused to comment on this issue.