Compassion for the enemy can feel like a betrayal of one’s own loyalties

Evidence

Sami was getting more worried by the bloodlust he saw in Andrews’s eyes. But at the same time, he worried that if he were seen showing too much mercy to the Iraqis, he would be branded as being soft on the enemy. “I am wearing name tapes that say ‘U.S. Marine, United States,’ but my parents are Arab, and I can’t forget that,” he told me. “I wanted to treat them as good as I can without showing bias. It’s not like I didn’t want us to win the war or to rectify what happened,” he said, referring to the September 11 attacks, “I just wanted to be mindful of Arab people, to show some compassion.” — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 240

Categorization

• XREF: The double bind of dual identity and military duty connects to the reader’s interest in small decorum acts that are actually risky — extending care here carries a personal cost. — connects to: Forgiving perpetrators can feel like betraying the dead to survivors — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1314
• DEEPTHINKING: The passage shows compassion under asymmetric identity pressure: showing mercy is suspect precisely because of the Arab name, which forces him to prove loyalty while still wanting humanity — a genuinely paradoxical position worth sitting with.