Giving up on Empathy

I remember sitting with my grandmother and a few others having a discussion. Somehow the idea came up from someone in the conversation in the sunlit church courtyard, that Nazi’s might want to join our group advocating religious freedom. The ridiculousness of this occurred to everyone, but it was part of a larger discussion about how far tolerance goes.

My grandmother kicked in with “this is the one area I have to be a hypocrite, but I am intolerant of intolerant people.” I laughed, smiled and was filled with joy at how much I love my grandmother. Also with the respect due her, it basically stopped the conversation in its tracks, and steered us towards more sensible things.

This was not the only time I heard my grandmother say this. She said similar things often, and throughout her life. I thought it was a cute little phrase, and I embraced it. Proud as I stood up against intolerance, and glad to battle against it.

It was my grandmother's funeral where I discovered some things about her character I did not know. The minister who spoke at her service had been her minister for 10+ years. He shared how much she had done for the community, for the church, for civil rights, and for so much she was passionate about. And then he shared that she had one personal obstacle she truly struggled with. One thing in her life that made her feel she was not everything she could be. This one emotional sore point made her struggle through pastoral counseling in an attempt to find a way to deal with her weakness. “I am intolerant of intolerant people,” she would say. Her intolerance ran deep, and I had no idea till that moment, that this glib phrase was really her cry of frustration within herself. I don’t know if I could have helped if I had known, because to this day, I’m not sure she was right to be concerned.

I think we can only stop intolerance by fighting it, and we can’t fight it if we accept it. Maybe it’s possible to try and have more empathy with intolerant people, and that’s where I fail. I also have no empathy for people with no empathy. I cannot understand the mind that does not feel for others at all, that would yell out “let them die” at a political rally when speaking of people struggling without health care. I can not understand the mindset of people who make an effort to not consider others. I do get people who struggle with certain kinds of racism, and I’m pretty good at putting myself in other people's shoes. Except when they don’t even try to have that same skill. People who close off, who follow people like Ayn Rand who believes that the very trait of having empathy makes you a parasite.

I am intolerant of intolerant people. I have no empathy for those who don’t even try to have empathy. I have no understanding for those who do not even try to have understanding. And I’m proud of it. Because unlike my grandmother, I don’t think there’s a way to accept these things, and still stand against them. And standing against them is the only way we survive. 

Asange: Hero or rapist?

In 1972 Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstien became national journalistic heroes, by digging deep, finding the truth about what’s going on behind closed government doors, and obtaining documents labeled as classified. They made a movie about them, gave them a Pulitzer prize, and they were generally perceived as the greatest most inspirational journalists in history.

In 2008 and 20010 Julian Asange released information about government cover ups and corruption relating to the 9/11 attacks, Iraq, banking irregularities, Afghanistan and more. He is currently hiding out, facing extradition from a variety of sources, is branded a criminal by the banks, the US and England, and is seen by many as a villain.

What the fuck has happened to us. One of the greatest heroic acts of the 21^st century, and he’s fighting for his life. And yes, I believe he is likely to end up dead if one of these governments gets ahold of him.

Fox news gets a press seat up front, and Julian Asange, the last living REPORTER, is hiding out in a foreign country fearing for his life. This is beyond fucked up. Someone finally brings us the truth, and very few hail his name with the credit he does deserve. He does deserve acclaim, even if he also deserves to be executed and strung up by his balls for unrelated crimes.

Because the rape charges are at issue but Government conspiracies do run deep. Is this all a ploy by governments to get him where they want them, or is this a legitimate cry for justice. It’s hard to know the truth, and the one man who has strived to bring us the truth, is involved and suspect, and I have not heard any reporters really bringing home the truth, or thoroughly investigating, because apparently doing that in modern times, is a crime. Asange has made a lot of people very unhappy by doing just that.

Did Woodward and Bernstein have similar fears? Did they think one of them was going to wake up in a dungeon never to see the light of day again? I would love to hear their impressions now about the situation. 

The only thing that REALLY gives me pause, is that It is the Swiss government, which takes women’s rights very seriously, and usually stays out of international politics. That gives it some credibility. But no one has issued assurance that he would not then be extradited to the us, where Bradley Manning has been locked up for 800 days with no trial for the same “crime”. What’s the answer? Someone needs to have a trial based on Swedish law, without risking being biased by the fact that he is considered a hero by many people and a villain by many governments.