Instant Empathy?

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http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/081202-body-swapping.html

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An odd and fascinating account of an experiment allowing (or forcing) human beings to experience reality from the perspective of another human being...or even a mannequin. Imagine using this to teach sexists or racists or criminals to experience life from the position of the "other," or their victims.

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I clearly remember the day it finally occurred to me that insects, animals and the like had "inwardness"--that they felt pain and fear the same way I did. I was about six years old, and swinging a kitten around by the forepaws, and there was something so funny about the expression on its face, in its eyes. Almost as if it was scared. Which was impossible, of course. I mean, I'd been told that animals don't feel pain the way we do. If adults told me this, it must be true, right? But the kitten tried to scratch me, just as I would have tried to hurt someone who hurt me. And it meowed in a very different way than it did when I stroked its fur. And its eyes were wide, almost like mine might have been if I was...

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And I put the kitten down, and started wondering about the snails I put salt on, and the butterflies I trapped in the summer heat inside our Studebaker, and the ants I burned with a magnifying glass...

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It took a few more years to work it all out, but that was the beginning. Now, empathy alone doesn't create kind or humane behavior. After all...what if you don't like yourself? But it's a damned good start. The beginning of one entire family of evil is objectifying the "other" ("they don't X like we do..." My favorite of these recently is the "Muslims don't value life" trope aimed at suicide bombers. On the other hand, G.I.'s who jump on grenades are given posthumous medals, and lauded for their love of country and companions.)

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I was asked recently to give my definition of "good." A tough one, and I thought it through for a moment before offering the following: "whatever increases the net amount of order in the world, and also makes the children safer." I'm sure there are lots of holes that can be poked in that, but it was the best I could come up with off the cuff.

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Somehow, a member of the audience took my comments and started off on a Libertarian rant against taxes, as any taxes are the result of an illegitimate application of force, which increases the amount of violence (and disorder?) in the world. I asked my usual questions: how do you pay for schools? And his position was that individuals should pay for their own schooling. And that leaves the poor exactly where? Well, without taxes, there wouldn't be any poor people.

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Hmm. And criminals? He felt there should be private police. And private prisons, each operated by a separate security company? Each with different rules and laws?

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I would have a difficult time even writing a serious story about a world like that, unless I wanted to paint it a total dystopia. Thom Hartman calls Libertarians "Republicans who want to get laid and smoke dope" and I think that's too dismissive. But I'm still waiting for a conversation with one who can explain their perspective in a really useful way. I'm sure it's just the Libertarians I run into, and not the core of the movement, but far too often it seems that they're simply railing against the reciprocal obligations implicit in any society at all. Since birth, we are enmeshed in a web of rules and laws imposed by parents and schools and so forth. You can escape them by dying, or by getting completely off the grid. I'm not sure what the third option is.

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Too often, I hear what SOUNDS like people saying that they want to take advantage of the infrastructure created by generations of those who DID contribute to the commons...but then not give back. Which sounds to me a lot like stealing. Really, it sounds a lot like the "Mine!" scream of a three-year-old who wants to take what you have, but keep whatever he thinks is his. The more reasonable Libertarians seem to say something similar to what everyone else says: "limit government, control waste, lower taxes..."

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Who doesn't say something similar to that? They may disagree on which aspects of government to limit, or what constitutes waste, or whose taxes should be lowered. But I've never heard anyone campaign on "grow government, waste tons, and raise everyone's taxes." So I have to admit to being a bit confused here. I do feel that I have a grasp of the basic positions of Left and Right. But other than "survival of the fittest," I just can't figure Libertarianism out.

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As the economy continues to nose-dive, I hope you guys are doing your damnedest to take care. All my writing life, I've been pretty good at making money, not so good at holding on to it. Trying to turn that around, which can be challenging given that my income is so damned irregular. If you feed a human being irregularly, it seems to encourage their brain to binge. I think that the same thing is true of an irregular income. If you've gone months without a check, and a BIG one comes in, logic says that that check really ain't so big--you have to spread it out over the months to really get a sense of what you're earning, and what you'll need. But emotionally, the brain can go "WOWSA!" and you start looking at all the neat toys you've previously denied yourself.

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It's harder if two artists live with each other, so that there is no stable income at all. But I suppose that that's just part of the burden that accompanies the freedom of an artist's life. Yeah, I knew the job was dangerous when I took it, but still, the suspense of waiting for that next check can curl your toes.

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And the question of the day is: what is the greatest area of insecurity in your life right now?