I am terribly fond of Slacktivist at times (even though I am NOT a libertarian), and find this particular piece very timely in my own life. Personally, I would extend the critique to the left as well as the right, but the point of the essay is quite pertinent to the American social and political climate.
"Empathy, at its most basic level, is epistemic. It is sometimes discussed as though it is identical to love, respect or regard for others, but really it precedes that. It is what makes such love, respect or regard for others possible -- what informs it. Empathy is a way of seeing, and therefore a way of knowing. To avoid empathy is to limit one's own perspective to only one's own perspective -- to choose not to see and therefore to choose not to know. Worse than that -- it is to choose not to be able to know."
Saturday, May 1, 2010
"Empathy and Epistemic Closure"
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2 comments:
Rachel, that's an excellent post by Slacktivist. Thanks for the link. He's onto the Tea Partiers, but getting them from where they are to a better place, and I don't mean the sweet bye-and-bye, is the dilemma. There's a wall that seems impossible to break through.
I agree. My father and his wife are Tea Partiers, and while I understand some of their political concerns, I am also aware of how much complete misinformation they believe, and are constantly being fed through their favorite television network (three guesses as to the identity).
It's alarming the amount of fact correction I've had to do with them over the past few years, especially since Dad was the first person to teach me the value of research, and the need to verify one's sources. Of course, he doesn't really have the desire to do that anymore, but would rather work on his boat. ;-)
The Slacktivist essay really elaborates a terrible social problem, and I really don't know how to fix it on more than a personal basis, and by encouraging others to do the same. Some pastors in various denominations have been attempting to rally people around the banner of compassion and civility, but I'm not sure how widely that's being spread outside of their "constituencies."
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