The
heading is an extract from what the US President is reported to have said in
the aftermath of the jury verdict on Trayvon Martin killing in Florida last
year. Obama was referring to the victim whose parents said, “President Obama
sees himself in Trayvon and identifies with him.” Identifying with someone is
going beyond sympathy, borders on empathy.
That
is fine, but I would extend this identification parade just a little bit and
see who else joins. The only twist is who joins on the side of the accused and
the now acquitted, Zimmerman.
Who
is honest enough to admit that he or she may have pulled the trigger in an approximately
equivalent setting? Likewise, in caste based violence in India; in religion
based violence in India; in gender based violence in India? Empathy demands
identification across the prey-predator divide.
Just
a question, just a thought.
Raghuram
Ekambaram
10 comments:
Forget empathy, people seem to have forgotten basic goodness. It's a mean world!
Thanks Matheikal ... But, my emphasis is on situating oneself within the spectrum of human behaviour. One is typically too ready to identify oneself with the victim but the threshold on the other side is way too high.
I was questioning whether I would have acted like Zimmerman did, all legal, of course.
I am not sure I had explained myself clearly. But, the post was more exploratory than definitive.
RE
I think it is just that Zimmerman had the wrong skin color when he pulled the trigger. As for the outcome and what Obama has said, I would prefer to be on the one who lived rather than the one who died - right or wrong.
Amrit, if I understand you, you are saying this happens all the time, among blacks themselves. Well, ...
But, the way I see it, the desire to be on the side of survival,no matter what, is quite discomforting. What I am saying is this incidence seems not to have evoked the question, "What would I have done in a similar situation had I not been Trayvon?"
"Would I have done what Zimmerman did (had I been armed)?"
The translation to a personal context is near impossible. But, no one is even trying.
RE
Zimmerman is there in every one of us Indians who are. Divided in every conceivable basis.
That is precisely the point, Balu ... thanks for understanding.As I wrote in response to Matheikal, I was trying to figure out how to assess how much of Zimmerman is within me.
RE
Raghuram, all that I am saying is that anyone, irrespective of the color of their skin, would probably have done what Zimmerman did. It so happened that Zimmerman was white. I am for gun controls and despise killing, but in the situation where I have a gun and if provoked enough, I probably will use it. Now what that 'provoked enough' is, is not known to me.
Yes, Amrit, isn't that the point ... we do not know the threshold? My question is where will one draw even a tentative line. How will we draw such a line? What are the counterfactuals? What will be the contribution of the "Stand your ground" law to one's stance? As I said, one has to show empathy with both the predator and the prey. I truly find the cheetah pouncing on the deer very beautiful, by the way! But, is that a parallel to Zimmerman and Trayvon? I do not think so.
RE
no one wants just undersatanding or symathy
yes we need to sturggle to empathise..
thanks DS sir.
RE
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