The lack of empathy is the central reason for our predicament(s)

IDemo

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sat Jul-09-11 08:58 AM
Original message

The lack of empathy is the central reason for our predicament(s)

"Empathy", from Merriam Webster- The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this

When President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, we saw an attack by Republicans against the concept of empathy when he stated that it would be a desirable trait for a judge. Think of that - they openly admitted that what basically equals "walk a mile in my shoes", being able to relate to another's physical or emotional distress, had no place in the dialogue. That would amount to just another forehead-slapper for the repubs, but their sentiment runs deep in our culture and appears to have grown worse since, well, who would have guessed it - the Reagan years:

from the January 2011 Scientific American :

What, Me Care? Young Are Less Empathetic

Humans are unlikely to win the animal kingdom’s prize for fastest, strongest or largest, but we are world champions at understanding one another. This interpersonal prowess is fueled, at least in part, by empathy: our tendency to care about and share other people’s emotional experiences. Empathy is a cornerstone of human behavior and has long been considered innate. A forthcoming study, however, challenges this assumption by demonstrating that empathy levels have been declining over the past 30 years.

The research, led by Sara H. Konrath of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and published online in August in Personality and Social Psychology Review, found that college students’ self-reported empathy has declined since 1980, with an especially steep drop in the past 10 years. To make matters worse, during this same period students’ self-reported narcissism has reached new heights, according to research by Jean M. Twenge, a psychologist at San Diego State University.

Behind almost any issue you can name lies the simple fact that the perpetrators of bad behavior aren't concerned that the consequences of their actions cause very real harm to real people. And not only do they not care about those they have harmed, they display confusion or petulance when it is suggested that they should care.

I can think of numerous issues which ultimately are the result of unempathetic thinking:

1 - The protection of the rich against any and all attempts to get them involved with paying a fair share.
2 - The theft of trillions from the American people by Wall Street banksters and the refusal by our government to hold them responsible under the rule of law.
3 - The illegal conduct of a war that resulted in hundreds of thousands dead, a country destroyed, and a massive chunk of American taxpapyer money spent on military hardware and pallet-loads of disappearing cash. Again, all with the refusal by our government to hold those responsible under the rule of law.
4 - The conduct of illegal detainment and torture as a result of those wars and a broadly executed "War on Terror". See - 'refusal to hold accountable' above.
5 - The continued use of drone strikes when it has been shown, time and again, to result in the deaths of innocent civilians including women and children.
6 - The fight against environmental issues such as mountaintop removal coal mining, fracking for natural gas, and climate change and clean energy in general.
7 - The ongoing prejudice and bigotry against entire groups of people including, but not limited to: women, minorities, LGBT, Muslims, atheists and other non-Christians, and the poor.
8 - The attack by Republican leaders and many of their rightwing followers against public employees (educators in particular), unions, and the American worker.