Here's a comment I posted on Facebook in response to an article in a post I shared a while back (see links below):
👍🌈👍🏽👍🏼👍🏿🌍🌎🌏🗺
"But human dignity means more than the absence of violence, discrimination, and authoritarianism. It means giving individuals the freedom to pursue their own happiness and purpose—a freedom that can be hampered by restrictive social institutions or the tyranny of the majority. The liberal ideal of the good society is not just peaceful but also pluralistic: It is a society in which we respect others' right to think and live differently than we do."❤
I would like to spring off from this and address a different issue that still, to my mind, involves empathy although I doubt people will have necessarily seen it that way. Data privacy and protection: Empathy means institutions should not store data on individuals who have passed through their doors be they as students, staff, admin, or others. An individual must explicitly consent to their data being stored. If an institution doesn't acquire this consent prior to storing data then they have to have a very specific, legitimate and explicit reason for doing so.
In fact, consent or not that's the way data must be processed. Frankly, I can't think of one good reason for storing any data other than the barest minimum e.g. name, degree, level attained, year attained, where degree attained. Everything else is none of anyone's business! It certainly doesn't and shouldn't include your social media activities or a tale told by a so-called friend - not, about you. Indeed, according to the 2018 GDPR, laws have been modernised and thus are more in line with the demands of modern life. It means that an individual has more control now over their data and how institutions/organisations use and abuse it.
How does empathy relate to data storage? It seems a contradiction. Empathy is seen as an emotion-based response to someone or something occurring or one that has occurred. One example of the latter is the June 10 1942 Nazi massacre of Lidice, a village in the now Czech Republic, on the orders of Hitler, in retalliation for the assassination of the Nazi Heydrich. One should feel genuine horror that such an event as Lidice could ever occur and empathise with the suffering of those women, men and children. Of course, it's not possible to have the same feelings as those who went through the ordeal. However, it is possible, through an emotional and cognitive approach, to gain some identification with their suffering and feel a call to action. In that way, we empathise and demand #neveragain. However, if people have an empathy blocker then they fail to have the correct emotional and cognitive response to an event such as Lidice and are prone to repeat past atrocities. They fail to learn from history because they look at historical events without engaging their empathic response. To them it's merely a story from the past. The people within it are not real to them.
In a similar way, institutions storing data unnecessarily and inaccurately can seriously damage an individual's life and in that way it is a malicious act. How does malicious misinformation impact on someone? 🤔
No-one should hold extensive data on an individual so it should be easy to erase all data, especially if the institution/s did not let you know they were collecting every single detail about you from 3rd party tittle tattle to every time you talk to someone, your present and past jobs, your relationships, what activities you participate in, how you socialise, basically all information on you so that, in the end, you have zero privacy and can suffer discrimination based solely on such data. Profiling people to track and predict their actions and behaviour is beyond outrageous, appalling, ethically wrong and sinister! This discrimination can spread to all areas of your life. In this way, such unacceptable, malicious data can seriously disrupt your life so much so that you cease to be able to exist, which may well be the reason behind its invasiveness. Why attack Facebook for breach of data? It's no worse than some institutions which store data they shouldn't and can leave it insecure in such a way that people can access the data without too much effort. Not to mention it easily falls into unlawful processing, storing and accessing data. There are very narrow, strict rules about how and why companies and institutions (including universities) collect, store and use data.
This is where empathy steps in. Why would an institution want to hold potentially damaging, false data on someone? One answer would be that they suffer empathy blockers whereby they are so entrenched in their own prejudices that they justify destroying the life of someone they envy or just dislike/hate. If you pan out from this, it is easy to see how an horrific incident like Lidice can occur. This is why Empathy Day is so important. It raises awareness of the role empathy plays in everyday life and without which the individual, society, and indeed the whole world is harmed and suffers.
This has been made clear yet again when we have seen rich countries hoarding drugs and vaccines for themselves while poor countries have to do without until such time as a country or countries step in and help. Again empathy blockers prevent the rich countries from sharing their good fortune with the poor. This arrogance of the rich towards the poor exacerbates a lack of empathy towards others whereby you fail to identify with them and think that they should be like you and if they're not there's something wrong with them not you. A good example here is the idea of Universal Basic Income. Some rich politicians are against it because it'll make poor people lazy. If this isn't labelling theory I'm not sure what is! It's also a great example of an empathy blocker. On the contrary, it will give poor and/or disadvantaged people dignity and self respect which will enhance their self-esteem and they will flourish and be motivated to have the get up and go. Without the UBI they slump and feel dejected which can lead to serious ill-health costing the country more money than the UBI. It's hoped that well-off people will return their UBI to be recycled to those in need. In that way, there will be enough money to go round. It's called redistribution of wealth and equality. These good, old-fashioned socialist values enhance a society by creating the same opportunities and dignity for all.
This leads on to yet another present day example, 'conversion therapy' aptly renamed by the Bishop of Manchester as 'conversion abuse' . June is #pride month during which we give visibility to the LGBT+ community. Why? Because the enormous amount of discrimination they are on the receiving end of is criminal. Their plight needs to be highlighted. Their human rights were won and should be respected. People, of all ages, need to be educated about the community that, albeit labelled a minority one is, nevertheless, one that has always existed and it's time it was accepted as such. This is why we hold this month. We also hold this month to think about all those LGBT+ people who have suffered violence or death due to hate. A hate that becomes a phobia that, like all phobias, needs curing. If you suffer a fear of spiders or open spaces you attempt to cure yourself of this phobia.
What causes homophobia? Empathy blockers are the cause of much of the homophobia, intersex phobia, non-binary phobia and transphobia, and all shades in between. It's not religion, or psychotherapists or any other reason that brings about hatred towards LGBT+people it's the lack of having an educated empathic response. Empathy doesn't just happen it has to be nurtured, taught and given opportunity to flourish in order for it to be engaged at the right time in the right way. It's not just taking on another's emotion or being in their shoes, it's far more! It enables people to see others as being like them, as fellow human beings, and so wish to offer them a helping hand, sympathy, support, care that disables empathy blockers allowing empathy through.
On this Empathy Day, let's make an effort to learn about empathy and start to practise it in our lives on a daily basis. In this way, we respect people who are different from us and lead different lives allowing them the freedom to do so and to be happy in the lives they have chosen to lead. This means we also respect an individual's right to think freely without judgemental criticism so they can lead a meaningful, fruitful, flourishing and purposeful life. A society should aim to cultivate empathy so that it has happy, healthy and active citizens who contribute positively to it because they feel valued by it. And yes, society does exist and is composed of individuals who possess individual human rights. This is a good society.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3345622795543204&id=100002865503250
https://bigthink.com/institute-for-humane-studies/what-is-human-dignity
