In this time of end-stage capitalism, when everything is for sale -- our time and attention, our emotions, and our empathy -- it's important to know that we have a choice.

Empathy is not simply the ability to feel alongside people; it's our capacity to interact with anything -- people, animals, art, literature, music, concepts, ideas, and even inanimate objects. Our capacity to empathize is a part of our capacity to interact and make sense of our world.

If people ask you to drop your empathy (completely, or toward people and groups), they're asking you to be less functional. That's not workable in the short run or the long run.

Here are some ideas about how to retrieve your empathy from the control of others.

Karla mentions the group Leaving MAGA: https://leavingmaga.org/

Books mentioned in this episode:

Karla's books, The Art of Empathy and The Language of Emotions at Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/lists/karla-mclaren-s-books

Books from this episode that help you take multiple perspectives (an excellent way to develop robust empathy) at Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/lists/the-off-ramp-project

Missing the Solstice on Kindle and in paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F6TRWRBZ

In a time when our emotions, our empathy, and our loyalties are being manipulated constantly -- and when we're being pitted against each other for the benefit of the people in power -- how do we find our way back to ourselves and each other?

How do we reclaim our good minds, our empathy, and our emotional lives so that we can face the serious troubles in our world together, with courage, camaraderie, hope, and a sense of humor?

And how can we do that when we're surrounded by intentional chaos, polarization, dehumanization, and intense manipulation of our emotions and our empathy?

In The Off-Ramp Project, we explore the undercurrents that have led us to this painful and chaotic time, and we focus on protecting our emotions and empathy from manipulation, understanding the end goal of polarization and dehumanization, seeing clearly through high-control and cultic tactics, and understanding the end-times thinking that drives a lot of what we're facing.

This podcast is focused on the crisis in the United States, but it's helpful for anyone facing emotional manipulation, injustice, abuse, authoritarianism, cultic control, extremism, and the hijacking of empathy.

I have devoted my life and career to developing "empathic badassery," a form of empathy that is deep, muscular, and willing to dive into the shadows of human nature. Therefore, The Off-Ramp Project doesn't support the creation of enemies, of sides, of polarization, or of "those bad people who are creating all of the problems."

We're in this together. We broke this together, and we'll fix it together.

And we'll build new off-ramps. Together.

Episode 16: How do we create off-ramps for ourselves, and become able to offer off-ramps for other people -- especially people we're being urged to distrust, hate, or even dehumanize?

In the 16 episodes of this season, we've looked at some of the complex factors that have led us to this polarized and endangering time of emotional manipulation, cultic mechanisms of control, cruel hierarchies of human worth, and the constant manipulation of our attention and our emotions in this time of unregulated endstage capitalism. It's a lot.

But it's not everything.

There are things we can do to support ourselves and each other in this time of trouble. We can become off-ramps for ourselves and step away from polarization, distrust, and dehumanization to reclaim ourselves again.

We can refuse to become weaponized, and instead offer our presence to people we're being urged to exile.

We can find ways to become off-ramps to others -- if they're ready to step away, and also if they can't quite do so yet. The time to make up your mind about people is never.

This marks the final episode of season 1 of The Off-Ramp Project. Thanks for listening. Take care of yourself, and I'll see you in Season 2.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Missing the Solstice by Karla McLaren: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F6TRWRBZ

Beyond the Politics of Contempt by Doug Teschner, Beth Malow, and Becky Robinson: https://beyondthepoliticsofcontempt.com/