I don’t doubt that this guy actually feels anger and is actually struggling with his feelings of guilt and some kind of morality crisis.
But that’s only because this is actually happening to him and the people he knows firsthand. Because that’s how Republicans are, these types of actions are fine when it happens to others but the minute it affects them personally, then and only then are they all of the sudden concerned about things.
They just don’t have any sense of empathy or thinking about others at all. It’s just all about me with them.
Empathy is something that’s learned. I used to be anti-gay and less empathetic to people of color because I grew up in a super-conservative all-white bubble. When I had some higher-end school friends realize they were gay and started getting to know more and more people who weren’t WASPs, I began to see individual people instead of “others.” And that’s when I started seriously questioning how I viewed the world.
And a lot of people are on the verge of that social empathy without even knowing it. When you hear someone talk about how Carlos at work is “one of the good ones”, that’s someone who is on the edge of understanding. They actually know Carlos, so they don’t see him as an immigrant, but as a person they like and respect who does good work.
We have to help them understand that Carlos isn’t the exception.
I don’t doubt that this guy actually feels anger and is actually struggling with his feelings of guilt and some kind of morality crisis.
But that’s only because this is actually happening to him and the people he knows firsthand. Because that’s how Republicans are, these types of actions are fine when it happens to others but the minute it affects them personally, then and only then are they all of the sudden concerned about things.
They just don’t have any sense of empathy or thinking about others at all. It’s just all about me with them.
Empathy is something that’s learned. I used to be anti-gay and less empathetic to people of color because I grew up in a super-conservative all-white bubble. When I had some higher-end school friends realize they were gay and started getting to know more and more people who weren’t WASPs, I began to see individual people instead of “others.” And that’s when I started seriously questioning how I viewed the world.
And a lot of people are on the verge of that social empathy without even knowing it. When you hear someone talk about how Carlos at work is “one of the good ones”, that’s someone who is on the edge of understanding. They actually know Carlos, so they don’t see him as an immigrant, but as a person they like and respect who does good work.
We have to help them understand that Carlos isn’t the exception.