Beyond Our Own Feelings, Empathy
Empathy can be a difficult thing for some people to experience. Those who are very self centered (narcissistic) can especially have trouble feeling empathy; that is, the ability to place one's self into the emotional shoes of another person, so to speak.
We've seen Republican Rob Portman change his views on gay issues, after his son told him he is gay. Similar happened with former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter is a lesbian, but Cheney's supportive views go back further than most politicians, who have tended to hop onto the bandwagon as public opinion raced ahead of them on the issue, but at least they hopped. Some prominent Democrats, on the other hand, like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, also evolved on the issue, although they hadn't expressed outright opposition to gay marriage, but rather took the more nuanced position of favoring "civil unions," before fully embracing equality. Vice President Joe Biden stated his support for marriage equality right on national television during an interview, getting out in front on the issue, even before President Obama. In fact, there was speculation that Biden's stance forced the President to publicly commit before he may have been fully prepared to do so. Whatever the case with any of those I've mentioned, or others, progressives need to embrace people who come to our side, not find fault with why they chose their course. They evolved, and we should be supportive of that evolution. I shudder to think that I would be forever bound to my views on a given subject from 20, 30 or 40 years ago, or maybe even last week. Being supportive on specific issues doesn't mean you agree with all of their views, as I most certainly DO NOT agree with many of the views of Cheney or Portman. Many people detest Dick Cheney, especially in the progressive ranks, and I'm no fan of Rob Portman, but these men took positions on marriage that ran counter to the opinions of many members of their own political party, including the spewers of hate, whose names I needn't recount. They chose to be fathers FIRST, before being politicians, and Portman's change of heart was very touching, as he talked about his love for his son. That was a father talking.
Similarly, John McCain has spoken out about torture and he has opposed the use of such tactics by anyone, including Americans. He has come into conflict with Dick Cheney and others on the political right, who have claimed that valuable intelligence information has been gotten by the use of various torture tactics, including waterboarding. McCain was a prisoner in North Vietnam for six years, during which time he was tortured by his captors. There's no question that McCain's personal experience at the hands of his captors has made him an outspoken critic of torture, as he can empathize with those suffering the treatment, no matter how despicable they might otherwise be.
Franklin Roosevelt contracted polio in the early 1920s and there's no doubt in my mind that his personal struggle against this affliction, and its crippling aftermath, made him empathize more than ever with America's downtrodden, making him the almost perfect president to deal with the economic hardship of the Great Depression. During those times, so many Americans developed a major connection to Roosevelt as a man who was on their side, in spite of the fact that FDR was a man of wealth. It was a connection perhaps typified by the story of a man present as FDR's coffin arrived by train in Washington, D.C. When asked if he knew FDR, the man answered, "No, but he knew me." What a tribute!
Do we have to experience suffering ourselves in order to understand the suffering of others? I'm not a psychologist, but I assume they would likely answer, "No, but it helps." How do we convey to Cheney, Portman, McCain and others the need for understanding and empathy for those who are struggling in matters other than those matters they have experienced themselves, either directly or through family members? How do we get them to see the fallacy of giving billions of dollars to people who already have billions of dollars, while so many are treading water or sliding down the economic ladder?
WORD HISTORY:
Empathy (Pathos)-This is a fairly recent borrowing (early 20th Century) from Ancient Greek "empatheia," which meant "passion, emotional condition." The term was used by English psychologist Edward B. Titchener to translate German "Einfühlung," the German translation of the Ancient Greek word. It comes from Greek "en," meaning "in," and "pathos," meaning "feeling, emotion," with the underlying notion of "suffering." It was used to describe one's ability to put themselves into the feelings of another person. "Pathos" comes from "pathsko," meaning "suffer, endure," which goes back to Indo European "kwenth," which meant "to suffer." In more modern times, the Greek word's meaning took a dramatic turn, although still connected to emotion, as it means "animosity, hatred."
We've seen Republican Rob Portman change his views on gay issues, after his son told him he is gay. Similar happened with former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter is a lesbian, but Cheney's supportive views go back further than most politicians, who have tended to hop onto the bandwagon as public opinion raced ahead of them on the issue, but at least they hopped. Some prominent Democrats, on the other hand, like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, also evolved on the issue, although they hadn't expressed outright opposition to gay marriage, but rather took the more nuanced position of favoring "civil unions," before fully embracing equality. Vice President Joe Biden stated his support for marriage equality right on national television during an interview, getting out in front on the issue, even before President Obama. In fact, there was speculation that Biden's stance forced the President to publicly commit before he may have been fully prepared to do so. Whatever the case with any of those I've mentioned, or others, progressives need to embrace people who come to our side, not find fault with why they chose their course. They evolved, and we should be supportive of that evolution. I shudder to think that I would be forever bound to my views on a given subject from 20, 30 or 40 years ago, or maybe even last week. Being supportive on specific issues doesn't mean you agree with all of their views, as I most certainly DO NOT agree with many of the views of Cheney or Portman. Many people detest Dick Cheney, especially in the progressive ranks, and I'm no fan of Rob Portman, but these men took positions on marriage that ran counter to the opinions of many members of their own political party, including the spewers of hate, whose names I needn't recount. They chose to be fathers FIRST, before being politicians, and Portman's change of heart was very touching, as he talked about his love for his son. That was a father talking.
Similarly, John McCain has spoken out about torture and he has opposed the use of such tactics by anyone, including Americans. He has come into conflict with Dick Cheney and others on the political right, who have claimed that valuable intelligence information has been gotten by the use of various torture tactics, including waterboarding. McCain was a prisoner in North Vietnam for six years, during which time he was tortured by his captors. There's no question that McCain's personal experience at the hands of his captors has made him an outspoken critic of torture, as he can empathize with those suffering the treatment, no matter how despicable they might otherwise be.
Franklin Roosevelt contracted polio in the early 1920s and there's no doubt in my mind that his personal struggle against this affliction, and its crippling aftermath, made him empathize more than ever with America's downtrodden, making him the almost perfect president to deal with the economic hardship of the Great Depression. During those times, so many Americans developed a major connection to Roosevelt as a man who was on their side, in spite of the fact that FDR was a man of wealth. It was a connection perhaps typified by the story of a man present as FDR's coffin arrived by train in Washington, D.C. When asked if he knew FDR, the man answered, "No, but he knew me." What a tribute!
Do we have to experience suffering ourselves in order to understand the suffering of others? I'm not a psychologist, but I assume they would likely answer, "No, but it helps." How do we convey to Cheney, Portman, McCain and others the need for understanding and empathy for those who are struggling in matters other than those matters they have experienced themselves, either directly or through family members? How do we get them to see the fallacy of giving billions of dollars to people who already have billions of dollars, while so many are treading water or sliding down the economic ladder?
WORD HISTORY:
Empathy (Pathos)-This is a fairly recent borrowing (early 20th Century) from Ancient Greek "empatheia," which meant "passion, emotional condition." The term was used by English psychologist Edward B. Titchener to translate German "Einfühlung," the German translation of the Ancient Greek word. It comes from Greek "en," meaning "in," and "pathos," meaning "feeling, emotion," with the underlying notion of "suffering." It was used to describe one's ability to put themselves into the feelings of another person. "Pathos" comes from "pathsko," meaning "suffer, endure," which goes back to Indo European "kwenth," which meant "to suffer." In more modern times, the Greek word's meaning took a dramatic turn, although still connected to emotion, as it means "animosity, hatred."
Labels: Dick Cheney, empathy, English, etymology, Franklin D. Roosevelt, gay family members, gay issues, German, Greek, John McCain, Rob Portman, torture
posted by Randy at 5:53 PM
1 Comments:
Okay but the thing is that many Republicans are ONLY empathetic when the situation applies to them or their family - for instance, the Reagans and stem cell research - but where was their empathy when they were systematically discriminating against minorities during the war on drugs? What does it take for Dick Cheney to become a human being? Only when his own daughter is gay and he can sense her own struggles due to laws which persecute against her. Well, maybe our country during the recent administration has sometimes been empathetic to a fault. But, a greater fault of our society is a lack thereof of empathy and it is further enhanced by the isolating effects of technology and social media... ugh.
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