Exercising Empathy in the Age of Crisis

derrick chauvin’s knee

killed george floyd

because the officer was not concerned

with hurting another human being

but rather just doing his job

although floyd yelled i can’t breathe

the officer simply ignored his cries for

help

meanwhile the world watched

some empathized but others just

categorized floyd

as a criminal

this action demonstrates that we’re in a

crisis

okay okay it’s 2021 and i know everyone

thinks i’m talking about a global

pandemic here

but no i’m talking about an empathy

crisis

and the 280 characters on twitter

and the willful thoughtlessness help

contribute to this deficit

marshall mcluhan states that the medium

is the message

well our messages today depict a lack

of empathy let’s take a look at a few

tweets

elon musk pronouns suck

donald j trump i won’t let those thugs

dishonor the memory of george floyd

regardless of your political or

ideological ideological beliefs

this demonstrates a lack of cultural

competency

and empathy

i’m a professor in the department of

communication at valparaiso university

and in my classes we talk a lot about

media race class

culture and yes communication so let’s

get at the heart of communication

conversation

benjamin barber states that conversation

is the basic

act of civility however

we’re not practicing this civility here

what are we doing

we’re lacking empathy

and the internet more than any other

medium has significantly

impacted this empathy

chenis de rosta state that the internet

is the new public sphere where people

can voice their opinions

this is true however

we’re missing a key component here

empathy

so what is empathy

according to philosophers and scientists

there are three types of empathy

emotional contagion mentalizing

and empathetic concern and all three

types are extremely important

so what is emotional contagion

emotional contagion is that feeling it’s

the mirror effect of empathy

so let’s just imagine your friend tells

you

that their parents died of covert 19.

what would you do

you would feel that person’s pain

next is mentalizing this is kind of

the mind reading so this is when you’re

putting yourself

in someone else’s shoes

the next type of empathy is empathetic

concern

and this is the action this is the

motivation to do

good so for example when you want to

help your friend and you tell your

friends something

that’s the action behind it it’s part of

a buddhist philosophy

the karuna but all three types of

empathy are extremely important

why because they promote kindness

and they help us celebrate empathy

and hopefully we won’t have this crisis

so now i’ve talked about empathy and

what it is but what is its relationship

to technology

okay so earlier i mentioned benjamin

barber and the basic act of civility

so we talk about technology and civility

more than any other medium

the internet has profoundly influenced

the production

and reproduction of conversations

in 2009 there was a study done

and because of the internet empathy

scores have

decreased while self-promotion

has increased and guess what

the internet has something to do with it

according to a 2020

fast company article facebook youtube

and twitter

lack empathy and here’s why

they’re in their echo chambers they

don’t really listen to what everyday

people think they only know what people

in tech

or in communication think

number two they operate in grand

principles

all talk and no action

they value individualism and hard work

what makes it extremely difficult

to promote empathy

however let’s face it technology is real

life

you see me right now so that’s why

empathy is so important

empathy holds us together as a society

because of the internet we’re more

intertwined than we ever have been

before

globalization and tv

they affect us and guess what we

were successful as humans because we

practice empathy

but that didn’t happen

when george floyd was killed

chauvin was not able to put himself

in another person’s shoes

but this speaks more to our society

than it actually does to chauvin

and his personal actions because we gain

our world

views and how we see the world from

society

and social media whether they’ve done it

consciously

or unconsciously specifically user

generated

has invoked this crisis

media’s pervasiveness has been seen not

only

in 2020 but it’s been seen in history

for example rwanda

the holocaust united states hate crimes

and the u.s insurrection

okay so now i’ve given you all the bad

news

i promise there’s something good here

media and user generated content can

also

heighten empathy

so i know some people think that empathy

is like a superpower something that

it’s born with but according to jamil

ziki and carolyn callaway thomas

you can build your empathy like a

superpower

like eating well like exercise so you

can learn it too

so let me go ahead and tell you how you

can bridge that gap although my list is

not extensive

here are three things that you can think

about to build

empathy on and offline

first of all imagine a friend is a

stranger

if your friend tells you that they

cheated on their significant other

you once say you’re a terrible and bad

person

you would ask why i encourage you to do

the same

with a stranger on line

number two be mindful that humans are

complicated

and complex our race our class our

gender

our economic status

all shape our identities so often

we hear people say all white people are

all black people are or all lat x people

are i know this is an easy thing to say

but allow a human to be themselves

allow someone to surprise you i know

it’s easier to hang out with somebody

who looks like you but i

ask you to step back and enjoy

the complexities of human beings

and my final point use

empathetic language so you can be the

bridge

so when you’re in opposition don’t point

fingers

instead ask questions

why would you think that when you’re

doing that you’re actually practicing

what we call empathetic concern

so the next time you send a tweet

or you’re in a face-to-face conversation

i hope that you practice the empathetic

imperative

so you can be the bridge because

remember

we cannot not communicate