Tag: Opinion

Posted on

empathy (part 1)

empathy
[ˈempəTHē]
NOUN

  1. the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

ORIGIN

early 20th century: from Greek empatheia (from em- ‘in’ + pathos ‘feeling’) translating German Einfühlung.

“Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another’s position.”

When we view a person as anything else, we allow for biases to takeover. We allow ourselves to dehumanize each other and allow for fear. When we spend the time and empathize with another being by feeling their pain and their sufferings we can get beyond our biases and come to understand them. We would understand that we are not so different. Our stories are not that different and scientifically speaking we are the same. We are 99.9% similar. When we look for differences, we will find it, it is confirmation bias and it  perpetuates an endless cycle of biases and fear.

Fear is an animal like instinct. It was meant to protect us in the wild when we were the weakest of the species roaming Earth. This was well before our technology overcame any physical shortcomings we have as a species. The fear we now face is produced by fellow humans. Sometimes produced intentionally to assert power over another. Fear is the easiest idea to instill into another. The fear of the unknown, the fear of something different, the fear of loss, etc. The Nazi’s used this fear quite well as did many dictators. Making each of us different when we are not that different.

These tactics were used throughout history and continues to be used today. It is effective because it plays into our innate biases. These biases had its purpose for the survival of our ancestors, but it is no longer needed. We must start thinking about how to change this within our societies.

I believe that teaching empathy at all levels of schooling is the best way to change this dynamic. It is also quite easy to do. Even simply adding in-class social experiments while teaching history would be significant. If we were all more emphatic would we be willing to hurt another person for gain? Would we be willing to hurt another person because they look different?

Posted on

We need something different. (Part 1)

We have had some interesting election cycles since 2016. The 2016 presidential election showed how people wanted something different. If we simply look at the passion on social media, you can see that people are angry. We are angry because it has been the same repeatedly. The wealthy continues to get wealthier; the inequality gap continues to widen … We are tired of the status quo and yet, nothing has changed for a long time.

I will disclaim here that I personally decided to abstain my 2016 presidential vote. This is because I was sick of having to choose between two candidates and pick which candidate I disliked less. Why are our choices a matter of choosing between two parties? I believe that having only two parties to vote for is putting us in this predicament.

Having a two-party system is like a market segment that only has two Companies, or a duopoly. If Company A and Company B are the only options eventually, then they have the power to dictate everything and we would not have a choice. A two-party system is similar. Eventually, the two parties will only speak the language that makes their corporate donors and lobbyists happy. There is no incentive to listen to the people because our voice does not really matter when the two parties become nearly identical with only the occasional pandering to the masses that might make us thing it is different. We the people, lost our voices over time but we lost our voices.

There were third-party candidates in the running during the 2016 election cycle. When some of these candidates gained momentum, we argued that voting for them would be a wasted vote or a vote for the opposing candidate. But who told us that our votes would be wasted? If every vote counts why would voting for a third-party not count?

I believe that our vote is truly our voice. Without at least 15% of votes for these third parties, they cannot debate with the other candidates. This stands at odds with the 5% requirement to get public funding. Regardless of these requirements, having a third party gives another viewpoint and voice to the policies that need attention. If we continue to say that voting for a third party is a waste and not viable then a third-party will never happen, and we will maintain our status quo.

I believe it is crucial that we vote with our values regardless of what everyone else says otherwise your voice is always being shaped to something not our own. Our government was founded with a system of checks and balances.  This system has three branches.  Why shouldn’t we have a third party to check and balance the other two?