mintcar

Despite perpectival theories, I believe there is a certain degree of justice in this world. I don't understand how those who claim to be such fierce proponents of justice in this world can live on such ambivalent terms in their daily lives. I think it has to do with experience. It is very easy for those who live unoppressed, and have limited (or naive, generalized) understanding of forces unapparent in their mundane existences, to have true empathy for the politically weak, the powerless. It becomes the premise for a farce.

Lack of complexity (simpleminded-ness) can be virtuous in some respects, but it is mostly just worthy of pity (or scorn). There is empathy and there is virtuous, feigned empathy. I can't say I've never lied to myself, but I can say I attempt to regulate my points (or planes?) of hypocrisy. (Although my own ideological code is subject to constant flux, I like to believe there is a certain solid core). Remember when I said that it's agreed among clinical psychologists that one sign of maturity, (and prerequisite for a decent amount of sanity at the adult age) is fully accepting your parents and the pain they've caused you. (It's particularly difficult to do this when they haven't fully accepted you; I think the point is that regardless, you are independently confident in yourself.) Another indication of a more developed person is their power of empathy (along with the ability to manage it--teetering to the edge means mental disorder. And I'm a firm believer that there IS an edge past which mental disorder manifests; it's not just a way of life!) ... what makes me sad is when light ignorance, (and when people are too fucking lazy to actually pursue truth and just sit around in front of their computers for it to come to them) is mistaken for empathy.

A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring; there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again. (Alexander Pope, 'Essay on Criticism')

I do believe there is a certain depth and perceptiveness in many who have grown up with neurosis and maltreatment (not just mistreatment) -- a daily onslaught of humiliation, shame, and guilt, a daily fear of parents, peers, and self, upon which empathy cannot be feigned. Like I said, false empathy becomes the premise for a farce, and moreover, it's insulting. Those who struggle everyday with self-doubt, defeat, and fear of failure are extremely difficult to understand to those who have only experienced these things superficially. There is a break in understanding. Can it be resolved? I don't know.

Siqi and I were talking about innate empathy yesterday, and she said some people are born with less empathy. I guess I've just lived so long with egalitarian notions of human nature, a tablusa rasa (more or less), that I accepted this concept fully only yesterday. And this less empathic fool pays rent with you. This less empathic fool also aspires to grab (or already have secure for them) MDs, MBAs, PhDs, offical positions, positions in which they can influence others who have less knowledge and less power.

There are so many things, which trouble me, and they all involve the depths of human cruelty.

(Which is subjective in itself. Shit.)

TONIGHT: jazz at Yoshi's
TOMORROW: Point Reyes beaches