The Compassion We Have for Strangers and Its Relevance To Climate Change Mitigation
Here’s a video that’s doing very well on Facebook—and for a good reason: it’s a reminder of how selfless and generous people can be with perfect strangers in the time of a crisis (in this case, 9/11). I hope you’ll check it out; it’s inspirational.
It’s also thought-provoking. If people are so good in helping out in crises, why are they so indifferent in other times? Why are we so uninterested in helping to avoid the disaster in the first place? What is the “crisis threshold” that must be passed before people start to transform themselves into Good Samaritans?
Sadly, our civilization may be about to find an answer to that question, as climate change and the other catastrophic effects of our wanton disregard for environmental stewardship start to play themselves out. What will we do with throngs of climate refugees? How anxious will we be to bring relief to victims of famines and super-storms?
While “only time will tell,” there are plenty of anthropological and political reasons to fear the worst:
• We’re descendants of hunter gatherers, who had no interest in change. “If it worked last year, that’s what we’re doing this year.”
• We have evolved to have microscopically short attention spans. We have no interest in news stories that aren’t accompanied by compelling photographs and videos, and we get sick of any story in a matter of days, regardless of how concerned and involved we were initially.
• We’re programmed by our capitalistic way of life to watch out for ourselves and our immediate families, and to be relatively uninterested in others’ suffering. I recall something I read in college a million years ago: “Capitalism boils down to the maxim: “Let us ignore the needs of others.”
Again, we’ll see.
(Note: I received the hilarious yet poignant meme above from my colleague Glenn Doty, a man whose enormous heart is matched only by his intellect.)
It is instructive to observe how refugees are treated.
In all countries, there are people who are very concerned about the plight of refugees and, when personally confronted with refugees, do all they can to help. On the other hand, in all countries there are people who are hostile to refugees and seek excuses to degrade them.
For those unfamiliar with the Bible, the illustration is of the Good Samaritan helping the traveler who is in distress as the result of being attacked by robbers. When Jesus was asked which is the most important command, the second part of it was to love one’s neighbor as one’s self. He gave the parable of the Good Samaritan to expand the definition of neighbor and illustrate what was meant by “love”. Of course one need not be of any particular religion to see the value of that and act accordingly as many people of all religions and no religion have done.
It is likely that the number of climate refugees will greatly exceed the number of refugees who currently exist. That is likely to result in extreme political instability and actually threaten civilization. Considering my age, I am unlikely to be around to see the worst of it.
Craig, it is not a crisis that will move people to help others. It is something that we often see at a time of crisis but it may be a bit more fundimental.
People are moved when they identify with the plight of another. When victims of any situation ask for help or through some agency ask for assistance, success most often flows from a picture or video. We are a visual race. Again if we hear screams, laughter, or music we can also be moved but the visual impact is often the most powerful.
The corollary is also true that when we are not inclined to assist or are moved to resist it is because we see someone as “other” then ourselves or our situation. It is a problem when a society becomes isolated by money, wealth, education, race or location. But it could be anything.
It is too easy for the wealthy to say “why can’t they work for a living” It is too easy for the healthy to say, “they should take better care of themselves.” It is too easy for the schooled to say, “they are stupid, ignorant or uneducated people.” Or … the well fed to say “Let them eat cake.”
The opposite of this is to identify with our situation in the world, in the universe the whole and all its parts. We might go further and suggest that the success of social media is a technological attempt to establish or maintain a connection. There are many philosophies. There are a few “keys” to understanding. This is a basic one for our condition.
Imagine however the possibility of a different reality where we have a constant sense of connected-ness. Having traveled a bit I consider the US one of the most disconnected parts of the world. NYC in normal times is one of the most disconnected places in the US.
Crisis can give people an excuse to set aside or sometimes build up barriers as we put aside the normal and move into “crisis mode.” Crisis changes the rules but only for a time. Stress can also change the rules and the crisis of which climate change is a part will bend our way of life long before crisis breaks it.
Breath,
I am not necessarily disagreeing with you. However, I wonder if you could be more specific about your statement that NYC is one of the most disconnected places in the U.S. And no, I do not live in NYC and haven’t been there since 1950.
Frank, when it comes down to proving such a statement I will have to admit it is subjective and based on personal experience. Over years I have been lucky enough to visit over 25 countries. In many places I was able to spend several weeks. I have been some part of every state in the US…but I have also lived in and around NYC for a long time. There are certainly people who have traveled much more but I feel somewhat confident with the contrast of how people live in the US and in NYC particularly with other places I have seen.
Perhaps some level of achievement may bring with it a loss of community. In many places, people do seem to bond together to satisfy their particular needs. They need each other. Benjamin Franklin wrote “He who has a trade has an estate.” Perhaps a higher level of education also creates more independence in people. Isn’t it reasonable that dependency will tend to bring people together (connected-ness) and being more independent will act in the opposite direction (unconnected, or at least less connection.)
The US in general and NYC more specifically has a higher standard of living (and more (narrow or directed) schooling. While 911 did see people pulling together in crisis mode, it wasn’t generally Doctors, engineers, scientists or wall street executives who made those headlines.
NYC is a very stratified society. Queens (one of NYC 5 boroughs) has more countries / ethnic groups represented in the population than anywhere else on Earth. Parts of it are like a 3ed world country. There are parts of Manhattan that are the richest in the country. Staten Island is like a suburb.
Many cities are diverse. But NYC seems to combine crowded conditions, general intensity and ethnic diversity into an individual focus and concentration rather than community awareness. Other cities I have lived in or visited for extended periods seem very different.