The images are relentless. Children’s hospitals overflowing in Gaza, the aftermath of bombings etched into the landscape. Closer to home, the faces of those caught in the crosshairs of immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, the grief of families separated by policy. It’s a paradox of modern life: we are more connected to suffering across the globe than ever before, yet often feel paralyzed in the face of it. This sense of helplessness, experts say, isn’t accidental. It’s a manufactured state, carefully cultivated by those wielding power.
The situations in Gaza and Minneapolis, while vastly different in scale, share a disturbing psychological and systemic commonality. While protests have erupted in response to both the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a pervasive sense of resignation often prevails. This isn’t simply apathy, but a complex interplay of dehumanization, blame, and the normalization of violence – a process that renders witnesses complicit through inaction. The politics of looking away, it turns out, is a powerful tool of control.
Researchers are increasingly focused on understanding why collective responses to extreme suffering are so often muted. Anthropologists and political psychologists point to a deliberate strategy employed by perpetrators: the creation of conditions that foster paralysis in observers. This isn’t merely a hope for indifference, but an active effort to engineer it. The core principle, they argue, is that atrocity thrives in the absence of resistance, and resistance begins with acknowledging the humanity of those targeted.
The Normalization of Violence and Expendable Lives
Anthropological research reveals a pattern in how societies come to accept violence, particularly when directed towards groups deemed “expendable.” Whether witnessing atrocities in the Guatemalan genocide, the ongoing devastation in Palestine, or ICE’s Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, a disturbing process unfolds: violence becomes normalized, a “natural” fact of life. Allen Feldman, in his study of Northern Ireland, demonstrated how politically produced death, particularly the display of bodies, can actually strengthen the power of those committing violence while simultaneously shaping the behavior of onlookers, encouraging them to simply observe.
A central question arises: what allows us to accept that some lives are less worthy of protection, or that their deaths don’t warrant public outcry? Philosopher Achille Mbembe’s concept of necropolitics offers a framework for understanding this phenomenon. Necropolitics describes situations where power operates through the control and disposability of life, rendering certain populations expendable long before their physical demise. Their deaths, evoke little moral shock because they have already been symbolically “killed” – stripped of their full humanity in the eyes of those in power. The accumulation of bodies, particularly in large numbers, transforms them from individuals into political statements.
The scale of suffering in Gaza is staggering. More than two years into Israel’s siege, over 70,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 20,000 children. Despite a ceasefire agreement, violence continues. The tendency to look away from the bombing of civilians or the horrors of starvation is not simply a failure of empathy, but a consequence of this deliberate desensitization. Disturbingly, some individuals even express derision or find humor in the deaths of Palestinian children.
In contrast, the violence enacted by ICE, while smaller in scale, presents a parallel dynamic. In 2025, 32 individuals died or were killed in ICE custody, with at least 6 more deaths reported so far in 2026. While protests have been commonplace, public outrage intensified significantly after a second white American citizen was killed while in ICE custody. This surge in attention, as scholar Benjamin Gonzalez O’Brien has shown, reflects a disturbing pattern: the criminalization of undocumented immigrants has created a category of expendable individuals for some Americans, a category that does not typically include white citizens.
Dehumanization and the Psychology of Sanctioned Violence
Several decades ago, Herbert Kelman identified the conditions that enable what he termed “sanctioned massacres” – indiscriminate violence carried out by state actors against defenseless civilians. He argued that dehumanization is a critical component of such atrocities. When a group is stripped of its humanity, it becomes easier to attribute blame and justify violence against them. This process of demonization is readily apparent in the U.S., with those killed by ICE often labeled as “criminals,” “AWFUL,” “domestic terrorists,” or “assassins” without evidence, significantly impacting public perception.
This isn’t merely a theoretical concept. The more a group is targeted with violence and dispossession, the less human they appear to others. The brutality itself reinforces this dehumanization, diminishing empathy and increasing acceptance of the violence. The combination of demonization and brutalization often evokes disgust rather than sympathy in observers.
Crucially, the mechanics of necropolitics rely on the redistribution of blame. Social psychology demonstrates that when individuals are blamed for their own suffering, sympathy diminishes and assistance becomes less likely. Dehumanized individuals are often seen as responsible for their own fate, justifying atrocities in the eyes of perpetrators and bystanders alike. When aggression is framed as self-defense – as the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota were – the public is more likely to blame the target rather than the aggressor.
In the context of colonial violence, people are not killed for their actions, but for who they are. This is the essence of necropolitics: the use of state-sanctioned violence to erase a people not only physically, but also politically and morally.
The paralysis many experience in the face of mass death is not accidental. It’s a carefully engineered response, cultivated through dehumanization, blame-shifting, and the normalization of violence. The atrocity depends on our remaining frozen, unable to transition from witness to actor. To break this paralysis, we must confront the violence directly, name it for what it is, and reclaim our capacity for empathy and action.
If you are struggling with feelings of distress or helplessness in response to global events, resources are available. The Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) helpline is available at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264).
The coming weeks will likely notice continued legal challenges to ICE’s policies and ongoing scrutiny of the situation in Gaza. The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to review the ceasefire agreement on March 15, 2026, and a federal court hearing regarding the constitutionality of ICE detention practices is set for April 10, 2026. Staying informed and engaged remains crucial. What are your thoughts on the role of media in shaping public perception of these crises? Share your perspective in the comments below.
