The subthread had arrived at a discussion on the definition of privilege, and that’s the context where I made those comments. That context required a focus on a specific subset of injustices. I didn’t mean or expect it to be understood as a dismissal of all other types of injustices.
Determining suffering and determining injustice are two different strategies.
I can emphatize with a person who’s suffering without going into an intellectual analysis of whether his suffering is just or injust.
If you think in terms of injustice you need to presume that you understand the plight of the other person well enough to be able to tell whether they are suffering justly.
That means you won’t emphatize with people who suffer for reasons you don’t understand.
I can see a person suffering without understanding why they are suffering. I don’t need to judge the suffering as right or wrong in oder to emphatize.
Knowing about the fact that native Americans get slaughtered hundreds of years ago doesn’t allow me to determine whether a native American I’m meeting is suffering. It’s quite irrelevant to the question of whether the specific person is suffering.
I do much better by actually engaging in empathic listening. Instead of judging a person based on what happened in the past I can interact with them in the present.
If you would advocate to be empathic towards everyone then why speak about those ancient crimes?
The subthread had arrived at a discussion on the definition of privilege, and that’s the context where I made those comments. That context required a focus on a specific subset of injustices. I didn’t mean or expect it to be understood as a dismissal of all other types of injustices.
Determining suffering and determining injustice are two different strategies.
I can emphatize with a person who’s suffering without going into an intellectual analysis of whether his suffering is just or injust. If you think in terms of injustice you need to presume that you understand the plight of the other person well enough to be able to tell whether they are suffering justly.
That means you won’t emphatize with people who suffer for reasons you don’t understand.
That’s part of the point I was trying to make. Privilege blinds you to the suffering of people who you may not even know are suffering.
I can see a person suffering without understanding why they are suffering. I don’t need to judge the suffering as right or wrong in oder to emphatize.
Knowing about the fact that native Americans get slaughtered hundreds of years ago doesn’t allow me to determine whether a native American I’m meeting is suffering. It’s quite irrelevant to the question of whether the specific person is suffering.
I do much better by actually engaging in empathic listening. Instead of judging a person based on what happened in the past I can interact with them in the present.