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Allie Beth Stuckey (above) is just one of many far-right female commentators who have realized that they can use hyper-feminine aesthetics to conceal what would immediately register as dystopian, even fascistic sentiments if they came from a man. But what makes her especially dangerous is that she applies this strategy to the concept of empathy. Whether consciously or not, Stuckey grasps that “empathy” tends to be coded as a feminine virtue. When men attack empathy, it comes across as sexist and condescending. But a woman opposing empathy is counterintuitive. In our era of vibes over facts, that twist makes her message feel more persuasive, especially to those who already are sick of hearing that being mean to other people is bad.
