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Jun. 17th, 2009 12:13 amBack from a wedding at Key West.
A thought striking me as somehow relevant to both that and Iran: Empathy is demanding. Its two closely related main demands, (1) not hurting people and (2) attending to how they're like you (but not quite you), can be rather exhausting. I suspect religion, patriotism/racism/xenophobia, various arbitrary hierarchies and a lot of other nasty things appeal to those they appeal to primarily because they work as alternative directors of conduct. I'm not saying they don't also protect selfish interests, which they obviously tend to; perhaps this is just how they do it - rather than having to choose between selfish and selfless (that ridiculously uncomfortable, absolutely ubiquitous decision) you have this other option, this relief. An alternative to the tug of war of humanity and all-too-humanity. Permission to stop listening to either for a moment. A moment you probably take advantage of to act selfishly, sure, but which may be its own kind of satisfaction while it happens.
A thought striking me as somehow relevant to both that and Iran: Empathy is demanding. Its two closely related main demands, (1) not hurting people and (2) attending to how they're like you (but not quite you), can be rather exhausting. I suspect religion, patriotism/racism/xenophobia, various arbitrary hierarchies and a lot of other nasty things appeal to those they appeal to primarily because they work as alternative directors of conduct. I'm not saying they don't also protect selfish interests, which they obviously tend to; perhaps this is just how they do it - rather than having to choose between selfish and selfless (that ridiculously uncomfortable, absolutely ubiquitous decision) you have this other option, this relief. An alternative to the tug of war of humanity and all-too-humanity. Permission to stop listening to either for a moment. A moment you probably take advantage of to act selfishly, sure, but which may be its own kind of satisfaction while it happens.
