4 ms·

One of the things I learned quickly, living in the Bay Area, is the power of giving a crap. You're completely right! Empathy and sympathy, translated effectivel

by Kalium 10y ago

One of the things I learned quickly, living in the Bay Area, is the power of giving a crap. You're completely right! Empathy and sympathy, translated effectively into policy, can and do work wonders. You're not going to get these things where people don't care. That said, there's a potential wrinkle. Empathy, sympathy, and compassion may be necessary but are not sufficient for effective policy. The idea that empathy compels people to find effective policy is incredibly attractive. Who doesn't want to do good? Who doesn't want to help the helpless, who so clearly deserve aid? Who doesn't want to believe that a blossoming of pure intent will help? Empathy compels us! Compassion compels us! We are moved to act, and we must! Yet, it's not enough. More than one pure-hearted program in the past has gone awry. Wasted limited funds or political capital. In some cases, gone so awry as to make things worse. You're absolutely, completely, 100% right. We need to care!. We should think carefully about if giving a crap is sufficient. If it was, I would anticipate that San Francisco's very expensively given craps would have gotten the homeless off the streets by now.

germinalphrase 10y ago
I think my focus is less program-specific than it is interpersonal, i.e. that I as an individual have a responsibility to take part in my community as a member of that community. This means giving my time, my effort, my compassion - not just throwing some money on the table and saying "someone else fix it".
- Kalium 10y ago
  Awesome! Out of curiosity, what does that look like in terms of action? The idea of an individual taking the individual responsibility as a member of their community to help other members of their community represents a wonderful blooming of pure intent, but is perhaps slightly abstract. Also, there's maybe a potential issue with how community is defined. How do you define your community? What could happen if others possibly have different definitions?
  - germinalphrase 10y ago
    That is, of course, the problem for this answer. We have abstracted away our reliance on other people so effectively (whether in reality or perception) that most people don't feel the need to give back. I would feel comfortable considering public service as a requirement of citizenship, to some degree. We don't have military conscription in the United States - but requiring a year of paid public service at age 16-18 would be a reasonable option in my mind.
    - Kalium 10y ago
      Great! A solid idea. What do you propose people who are not 16-18 do in their regular lives to take part in helping members of their community that isn't sending money to specialists? It's of course very possible that your experiences and memories may vary significantly from mine, but my experience as a teenager with public service did not consistently inspire empathy for people others in my community. Teenagers are not generally known for their broad-minded feats of empathy, and I was not an exception. As an adult, I have retained a general distaste for people who seek to tell me what community I am a member of. This is not because I resent being part of a community. It's generally because being told I am a member of a community I may not consider myself a member of is a precursor to being told I have a moral duty to provide some resource. I do not enjoy having my empathy tugged at people who only seem to see me as a member of their community when I have something they desire and who will not regard me as a member once I have provided such.
      - sdflkd 10y ago
        > I do not enjoy having my empathy tugged at people who only seem to see me as a member of their community when I have something they desire and who will not regard me as a member once I have provided such. So you helping others is for your own self-satisfaction, and not to help others? You're looking for someone to convine you to be happy with the decision of helping others. That's what all your comments here read like. :) I'm not surprised you're from the Bay Area, given that.
        10y ago
projektir 10y ago
I think you're confusing empathy and giving a crap with the appearance thereof. Very few people, in my experience, genuinely give a crap in a way that fully affects their person.

by Kalium 10y ago

germinalphrase 10y ago

I think my focus is less program-specific than it is interpersonal, i.e. that I as an individual have a responsibility to take part in my community as a member of that community. This means giving my time, my effort, my compassion - not just throwing some money on the table and saying "someone else fix it".

Kalium 10y ago
Awesome! Out of curiosity, what does that look like in terms of action? The idea of an individual taking the individual responsibility as a member of their community to help other members of their community represents a wonderful blooming of pure intent, but is perhaps slightly abstract. Also, there's maybe a potential issue with how community is defined. How do you define your community? What could happen if others possibly have different definitions?
- germinalphrase 10y ago
  That is, of course, the problem for this answer. We have abstracted away our reliance on other people so effectively (whether in reality or perception) that most people don't feel the need to give back. I would feel comfortable considering public service as a requirement of citizenship, to some degree. We don't have military conscription in the United States - but requiring a year of paid public service at age 16-18 would be a reasonable option in my mind.
  - Kalium 10y ago
    Great! A solid idea. What do you propose people who are not 16-18 do in their regular lives to take part in helping members of their community that isn't sending money to specialists? It's of course very possible that your experiences and memories may vary significantly from mine, but my experience as a teenager with public service did not consistently inspire empathy for people others in my community. Teenagers are not generally known for their broad-minded feats of empathy, and I was not an exception. As an adult, I have retained a general distaste for people who seek to tell me what community I am a member of. This is not because I resent being part of a community. It's generally because being told I am a member of a community I may not consider myself a member of is a precursor to being told I have a moral duty to provide some resource. I do not enjoy having my empathy tugged at people who only seem to see me as a member of their community when I have something they desire and who will not regard me as a member once I have provided such.
    - sdflkd 10y ago
      > I do not enjoy having my empathy tugged at people who only seem to see me as a member of their community when I have something they desire and who will not regard me as a member once I have provided such. So you helping others is for your own self-satisfaction, and not to help others? You're looking for someone to convine you to be happy with the decision of helping others. That's what all your comments here read like. :) I'm not surprised you're from the Bay Area, given that.
      - 10y ago

projektir 10y ago

I think you're confusing empathy and giving a crap with the appearance thereof. Very few people, in my experience, genuinely give a crap in a way that fully affects their person.