End Of Empathy: Kirk, Zarutska Deaths A Social Media Wake-Up Call

(MENAFN- Asia Times) The tragic deaths of Charlie Kirk and Iryna Zarutska are not isolated events. They are stark indicators of a nation in moral decline where freedom is under attack, empathy is eroding and digital platforms are amplifying both threats.

This crisis is not solely of our own making. China is complicit and its hypocrisy is glaring. But so too are the social media giants in our own backyard: companies are raking in billion of dollars off outrage, division and dehumanization with almost no accountability.

China argues that unregulated online freedom breeds instability, which is why it tightly controls platforms like WeChat, Weibo and Douyin (the domestic version of TikTok), promoting nationalism , praising the Communist Party and prioritizing collective harmony over individual expression .

Abroad, however, the same company exports TikTok into the US, where its algorithm promotes viral content that often fuels chaos, addiction, radicalization and divisiveness.

In a recent interview with the author, Suisheng Zhao, a leading scholar on Chinese nationalism, noted that the United States has become a tool for Chinese propaganda for showcasing America's perceived decline and elevating the“China model” as superior.

Beijing points to American flaws, such as gun violence, polarization, drug abuse, mental health crises and algorithmic echo chambers, as proof that its governance system is more stable. While Douyin at home is censored , educational and time-limited , TikTok abroad thrives on shock value and exports dysfunction.

But let's be clear: this problem does not begin or end with China. American social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) and others, have operated on the same principles.

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A Tulane University study highlights that social media exploits basic psychological impulses, drives engagement by promoting outrage and measures success not by the quality of connection but by the number of views. These platforms have also monetized content creators who generate attention and clicks for their pages.

The result is a steady erosion of empathy. Human beings are social by nature -we read emotions through eye contact, body language and tone of voice. These cues invite comfort or celebration and help us feel connected. A tear invites a comforting embrace. A smile deserves a shared toast.

But online, those signals disappear. A moment that once called for compassion now becomes content, and often content designed for shock value.

I remember a childhood filled with real-life connections through playing sports with neighborhood kids, sharing slices at the local pizza parlor and learning empathy not through a screen but through lived experience. We picked up on one another's cues. We looked each other in the eyes. We listened.

Today, that has changed. Having taught in higher education across the US, I've seen it firsthand. Generation Z, the first generation raised entirely online , experiences life through a camera lens and often records moments for views rather than connection. Students record everything: arguments, accidents, even emergencies. Not to help. To go viral.

Instead of building memories, they build brands. Connection has been replaced by content. And content, increasingly, is defined by shock value. Users compete for likes, shares and views not out of joy but out of ego.

The content must constantly outdo what came before: more daring, more outrageous, more shocking. The more extreme or outrageous, the greater the reach. What we're left with is a generation taught to value likes over character.

Therefore, when someone is being assaulted or set on fire in the New York Transit System , people don't call for help; instead, they hit record. Exposure to increasingly extreme online content dulls their reactions to real-world suffering. Tragedy is no longer a call for compassion. It's an opportunity to gain followers.

There clearly is a fundamental flaw in how these platforms fundamentally operate. The algorithms powering them are designed to feed us content that enrages , excites or validate us. No matter how absurd your belief, whether it's flat Earth theory, or anti-vaccine propaganda, which science has proven otherwise, you can find content that confirms it.

Algorithms deliver so-called“experts,” videos and communities that affirm your biases and demonize dissenters. They don't just radicalize, they dehumanize, pushing people to act on extreme beliefs. And once empathy is gone, society is left with division, intolerance and apathy.

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Decades ago, a Marine returning from Vietnam might struggle with PTSD so severe that even a grandchild's hug triggered flashbacks. Today, millions scroll past images of violence and tragedy without reacting. The trauma hasn't vanished; our capacity to empathize has been dulled by constant exposure. The deaths of Charlie Kirk and Iryna Zarutska must be a wake-up call.

Foreign-owned platforms should not operate freely in the US if they export harmful practices while protecting their own citizens. This is a matter of national security. American companies are also culpable. Section 230 currently shields platforms from liability for most user content and for how their algorithms amplify it.

That immunity must be reconsidered so that platforms are accountable not just for user posts, but for the ways their algorithms drive division, radicalization and harm. Additionally, platforms should be required to remove content that shows real people being harmed or dying, prioritizing human dignity over engagement.

The time has come for these platforms to prioritize morality and ethics over virality.

Derek Levine's commentaries on technology, education and US-China relations have appeared in The Hill, National Review, The Diplomat, RealClear Media and Asia Times. His forthcoming book,“China's Path to Dominance: Preparing for Confrontation with the United States”, is due out later this month.

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