(Nimue)
We need a kinder approach to politics, one that values both human and non-human life and works for the good of all. What we have is self serving, and promoting the interests of those who have most. We're seeing the far right voices getting louder, promoting ideas that the answers to humanity's problems lie in hate, oppression and cruelty,
What can any of us do in face of this? It poses a huge conundrum. When you're dealing with people who can only be fought, and silenced, but your entire approach is rooted in the need for kindness, it's hard to know what to do. This is of course the tolerance paradox and we know that if you tolerate the intolerant you facilitate them, and that has to be avoided.
One of the things that I've picked p on the psychology side is that empathy is something we normally develop early in childhood. Or don't. People who grow up in environments that don't teach empathy, have a hard time learning it later on. Change is always possible, but for the person who can't empathise with others there may not be much of an incentive to even question that. Even so, trying to promote empathy and understanding seems important to me. There are everyday opportunities to do that, and to gently push back against the unkind narratives.
I'm not much of a fighter. I don't handle conflict well and my body responds to aggression with panic, all too often. That limits what I can do. I'm not cut out for punching Nazis and there are times where that's clearly absolutely necessary. To preach peaceful responses to violent people isn't workable. There is a difference between wanting to stop people from causing harm, and wanting to cause harm, although there are those who would have you believe these things are exactly the same.
The ideal of course is to avoid getting into that conflict in the first place. Developing empathy and compassion, and getting people to a point where they don't feel like harming someone else is the answer. Protecting diversity and minorities, refusing cruelty and eugenics, and countering this monstrous idea that it is those who have least who are causing the world's problems.
For people who don't have much power or self esteem, cruelty to others can be a way of feeling powerful. It especially attracts people who feel like they ought to be powerful. People who do have privilege, but not enough privilege to feel secure or comfortable. People who have far more in common with the people they would hurt by punching down, than they have with the people inciting them to hatred. These are not easy issues to tackle.
I'm a firm believer in the power of small, everyday actions. Cultures are made up of people doing stuff. What we do contributes to that. What we say, what we tolerate, what we ignore, what we allow. Every single one of us is part of co-creating human society and every single one of us has some small amount of power to affect others. Humans are profoundly affected by what's in our environments, and we all have the scope to inform the environment that impacts on others. Kindness is a powerful thing, and the small acts of good that each of us can do will produce ripples that go a little further out into the world.
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