Academic Writing Sample

Danielle Kent

Alisha Geary

English 4950

28 March 2013

Awareness Centered On Compassion: Achieving a Sense of Global Identification

Introduction: Feeling the Psychological Effects of Propaganda

            I think most of us could agree that human suffering, discord, and division run fairly rampant throughout the world. Poverty, disease, oppression, and human trafficking are just some of many negative issues that living people suffer from, many or all of which could be prevented or eliminated by awareness and compassion. This paper, in part, focuses on ways more people within our culture can achieve genuine awareness of these issues and progress towards a shift of the common paradigms by which we view them. As such efforts have been made countless times before, the other part of this paper is to hopefully shed light on the obstacles that inhibit this achievement, namely the psychological effects of rhetoric, propaganda, and the media. The social classifications by which people establish illusory senses of identity, such as religion, culture, and economic status, create inhibiting delusions of human division. In order for us to abandon these illusory identifications, an unbiased awareness of the psychological limitations within our varying conditions and cultures must be recognized. By acquiring knowledge of global affairs solely via digital resources, awareness and compassion will continue to grow stagnant unless we integrate real human interaction into our personal education.

            As a recent student to rhetoric, studying such things as the psychological effects of propaganda, I have been made increasingly aware of some of the ways in which people respond to stimuli. Edward Bernays called propaganda scientific in the sense that "it seeks to base its operation upon definite knowledge drawn from direct observation of the group mind, and upon the application of principles which have been demonstrated to be consistent and relatively constant" (72). The artifacts of propaganda then, such as commercials, posters, political debates and personalities, are delivered to the masses in such a way as to modify their emotions and behaviors. The producers of propaganda therefore possess influential power to condition people to feel inclined or disinclined towards particular objects, ideals or issues. This is especially relevant in areas of politics and consumerism.

           

Identification with Objects and Human Suffering

            Eckhart Tolle is an influential author who has studied philosophy, psychology, and literature at The University of London and Cambridge University. In his book, A New Earth, he discusses consumerism by covering the ways in which people identify with objects and instill artificial importance within them. "In many cases," he says, "you are not buying a product, but an identity enhancer" (36). Consider for a moment the sort of commercials and promotions we see: A large part of the appeal for most material objects lies within how we believe they will contribute to our identity, especially in comparison to other people.

            According to Richard Boyd, an American philosopher and scholar, bourgeois societies such as our own are heavily characterized by a conspicuous inability to see ourselves without mediated comparisons to others (524). In his article, "Pity's Pathologies Portrayed", Boyd employs the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau to support his own ideas of democratic compassion. Rousseau's influences in the development of political and social thought are still relevant more than two hundred years after their initial contact with social and political culture in eighteenth-century France. His teachings are perhaps even more valuable today, as a perspective on collective human interaction before our current digital age. Like Tolle, Boyd and Rousseau also contemplate upon the assumed value of material objects connected falsely with our identity, and how easily they can become unreal concepts to which many people attribute irrational importance and urgency. "When you live in a world deadened by mental abstraction, you don't sense the aliveness of the universe anymore" (Tolle 37). It is such abstraction that desensitizes us and corrupts our understanding of human reality and effective compassion.

            More disturbing than the conceptual and abstract way in which we look at material objects, as consumers, is the related manner in which we regard human suffering. This manner has been called voyeuristic, and it is not difficult to see why. In the cases of plays, movies, and television shows that depict dramatic or tragic circumstances, "suffering humanity becomes an abstract, imaginary category identified with charismatic actors rather than the particular individuals we know in everyday life" (Boyd 527). Misery thus becomes the stuff of fiction. So long as the suffering of real human beings lacks the glamorous and epic appeal of romanticized theatrical productions, the majority of our culture will continue to find it difficult to sympathize with actual people.

           

Inspiring a Sense of Human Reality

            Nicholas Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, have strived to bring the reality of human suffering to greater awareness. They have reported on social and political issues regarding the treatment and health of women in such countries as Sri Lanka, Africa, India and Afghanistan. Of the issues covered, some are high maternal mortality rates, sex trafficking, lack of basic health care, nutritional needs, and education.  While financial assistance is beneficial and often necessary to aid in many of these areas, more can be done to generate change than economical solutions. The suffering, or unproductive stasis within humanity, requires ethical solutions, as they are first and foremost human rights issues (122). Kristof and Wudunn believe making people aware of real people and issues is one of the first steps to inspire action and instill a sense of humanity's collective reality.

            Instead of worrying about real people, many within our culture find it easier and more satisfying to become consumed with fictional characters from television shows. Instead of doing something worthwhile with our time and money, we obsess over how soon we can buy the new Apple product, or anything else that will aid us in feeling like we are keeping up with the latest fads and gadgets of our culture. As a result of propaganda in the media, people are left with a desire to find esteem, affection and acceptance from the largest number of people within their immediately surrounding culture. Thus, propaganda "pushes the individual into the mass until he disappears entirely" (Ellul 169). People are thereby limited in their application of thought, and we lose our individual selves along with the ability to think originally, imaginatively, and compassionately. Without compassionate imagination, how are we to consider what it must be like to exist as another person if we can't even fully understand the reality of existing as ourselves? Further, how are we to feel compelled to take action in grander causes?

           

Misguided Perceptions of Altruism

            Kristof has found that reports of suffering people are most influential when they tell the stories of individuals. An experiment was performed that invited people to make donations to the aid of starving children in West Africa. One group was asked to donate money that would benefit millions of children. Another was asked to donate money to a girl named Rokia who lived in the country of Mali. A final group was also asked to donate money to help Rokia, but more information was given regarding statistical information, and context of the larger issue. As was expected, people donated more than twice as much to help Rokia than to help millions of children. However, people were less inclined to donate money to her in the group that was provided with more contextual information. "It turned out that even providing background information on African hunger diminished empathy, so people were much less willing to help Rokia when she represented a broader problem" (99).

            The above experiment represents the selfish side of altruism. People are more inclined to help others when it is represented to them as aiding a large proportion of those afflicted. The amount of lives that could be helped or saved is not nearly as relevant. This is due to the irrational and unconsidered tendency of people to seek the satisfaction of feeling like they have provided aid to a larger percentage of an issue. Assuaging the hunger of just one starving child feels more noteworthy and impressive than contributing to her when she is associated with a hundred others.

            Grant Miller, a scholar at Stanford University, provides another example of an irrational and selfish perception of aid. He found that "when women gained the vote [in early 20th century America], the politicians in that state scrambled to win favor from women voters by allocating more funds to child health care; this did not happen in states where women remained unable to vote" (198). In such a case, we cannot help but ask why spending more money on children's health care was not considered worthy of pursuing before. We can add to our awareness, however, another example of the ways in which particular audiences are targeted to meet specific ends. This further points to charity and compassion as being prioritized by convenience, personal gain, and illusory concepts.

           

Modification Through Propaganda and Desensitization

            Jacques Ellul declared that a person subjected to propaganda "does not remain intact or undamaged" (161). The attitudes and emotional structures are modified in people through such exposure; thus, propaganda codifies social, political, and moral standards (163). Awareness of this and acceptance of its truth should lead us to ask the question of whether or not some of the issues we believe to be urgent and necessary are not illusions created for us for some ulterior, illusory gain. In cases of consumerist influences, certainly, the influences of media and propaganda are arguably desensitizing us from deeper truths.

            This desensitization is not just the case in the Western world with all of our distracting technologies and investments in unnecessary pursuits. Even in third world countries, Kristof reports high statistics of fathers spending their expendable incomes on alcohol and prostitutes while their children die from conditions that would have been less expensive to prevent. We might posit that education and building awareness might solve matters such as these, but it is not always enough. You can teach people about preventable diseases, and they might modify their attitudes and actions. But how do you convince a father that the life of his child is more important than getting drunk? Before we judge such a father too harshly, we might consider comparable methods of escapism practiced within our own culture through the media. We might ask ourselves if there is anything more urgent or relevant to us than spending three hours on Facebook, or watching a TV marathon of reality show re-runs.

            Rousseau distinguishes two faculties, anterior to reason, that are present in natural man. These are: self-preservation and pity. The latter "inspires in us a natural repugnance to see any sensitive being suffer, principally our fellow men [and women]" (Boyd 521). These faculties are insufficient, however, in spurning us into action to aid our fellow sensitive creatures. The faculties of self-preservation and pity, though they seem to imply duties toward other "sensitive beings," the sum total of these is simply to refrain from harming or mistreating others (522); they do not necessarily inspire a duty of action. Acquiring further faculties, such as moral liberty, self-consciousness, and imagination, requires reason and effort. According to Rousseau these do not come naturally, and until they are perfected, "pity and compassion toward others can not bear fruit" (522). The awareness and reason required for acquisition of these transcended faculties is made more difficult by our media-saturated culture and loss of identity.

           

Assistance and The Illusion of Right and Wrong

            In the case of a father who buys himself alcohol and cigarettes when his children are in need of care or medication, we might consider his attitude to be lacking in the standards of basic humanity. Surely it must seem natural and common sense for one's child to seem of greater worth than temporary satisfaction. However, we must consider that the father may just be unaware and untrained in thinking this way. In some cultures, it is an accepted reality that a large number of infants and children will not reach adulthood, and that mothers commonly die in childbirth. It is necessary to understand and sympathize with the perspectives of others before we can rightfully assume to know how to correct a perceived problem. Kristof accurately points out that "any kind of foreign assistance is difficult to get right, as it involves tinkering with the culture, religion, and family relations of a society that we often don't fully understand" (177). It is difficult to not feel divided from or superior to other cultures over certain issues or paradigms that vary from our own. It is more difficult still, and dangerous, to attempt to affect change by assuming that we know what is best for others. That is why this paper is not focused on committing to the aid of suffering people, but on the awareness and modification of our sense of relationship to them.

            "Beyond the realm of simple and verifiable facts, the certainty that I am right and you are wrong is a dangerous thing in personal relationships, as well as in interactions between nations, tribes, religions and so on" (Tolle 69). Feelings of separation and division from other people and cultures have been part of human history for as long as we have record of human history: Me against you, us against them, my truth and my way versus yours. Tolle also discusses ways in which people sometimes consider their own religions and contemplate upon those of others. "If you believe only your religion is the Truth, you are using it in the service of the ego. Used in such a way, religion becomes ideology and creates an illusory sense of superiority as well as division and conflict between people" (71). When viewed in such a way, the conflicting or divergent ideals and actions of others can negatively impact human relations in the same way.

           

Finding the Common Ground

            To combat this lack of understanding and sense of common ground, we can employ rhetorical listening. Krista Ratcliffe defines this as a trope for interpretive invention and more particularly as a code of cross-cultural conduct (196). As a figure for interpretive invention, rhetorical listening "signifies a stance of openness that a person may choose to assume in relation to any person, text, or culture" (78). By this explanation, Ratcliffe emphasizes the existence of choice. She further proposes that "if rhetorical listening is to be practiced, then new ground for this praxis must be imagined, such as a place of non-identification that functions as a place of pause and reflection" (93). In such a place, I imagine a sense of openness to broad interpretations of truths and terms. I imagine a paradigm where people do not sense superficial differences, and instead can relate to one another on the common ground of humanity. In literal terms, I imagine a more common practice of people travelling to new ground, ground that they have not truly visited before, in order to achieve understanding and non-identification. Whether this travel is literal, or through active study and an open perspective of the culture and conditions of other people, is a choice for the willing traveller.  

            Rhetorical listening and compassionate understanding can be achieved through paying full and active attention to opposing views. Objective and open-minded thinking must therefore be in effect when feeling active compassion for people whose perceptions of reality vary from our own. Before we can properly target our actions of compassion, the emotion must be first instilled within the masses as a high priority. This must come through more direct channels, replacing those things which have cluttered our minds and been made artificially important. Imagine the gradual ideological shifts that could manifest if reality television consisted of home videos taken by real people all over the world. Imagine if colleges and universities actively funded students to travel abroad and intern with global organizations, and encouraged them to publish their experiences and reflections. Imagine if blogs that featured the experiences and interactions of the author with people of other cultures and political environments was somehow more inspiring and entertaining than the relationships of celebrities, or rooting for a candidate in a competitive TV show.

            In his Social Contract, Rousseau takes a strong stand against difference. He criticizes religious diversity and those partial societies that limit the political community to something less than the harmonious, homogenous whole (Boyd 534). He posits that natural sensitivity and notions of natural equality are "overwhelmed by manifold conventional differences, to the point where individuals are so different from one another that they can scarcely recognize any common humanity beneath the layers of acculturation" (523).  Further, Rousseau claimed compassion to be a force that, "moderating in each individual the activity of love of one's self, demands that we look outward and consciously attempt to see the world through the eyes of another." (523). This involves the understanding of our individual selves and our psychological tendencies to the extent that we can easily imagine and sympathize with the same type of understanding, however variant, occurring in other beings. True compassionate relation to other people requires more than just wisdom or self-knowledge, but an awareness that such knowledge extends to other people in their own perceptions. Despite the extensive mediums available to us to become aware of global issues, we must consider that a deeper understanding can only come through direct, unfiltered interaction with our global community.

           

Operating in a Digital World and Imagining Solutions

            The Western world is in a digital age, where medias abound that process information[DK1]  for us, entertain us, and substitute our identities. Complex networks of signs and concepts are created; layers of reality that are difficult to detect and distinguish. It is unnatural to remain content and unaware in our limited understanding of the psychological influences that are in effect against us. Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be Programmed, discusses at great length the digital age we find ourselves in and our relationship to it. He states that, despite the wealth of information we have access to, "instead of becoming empowered and aware, we become frazzled and exhausted" by the media and propaganda that overwhelm us. "We sacrifice thoughtfulness and deliberateness ... for the false goal of immediacy" and satisfaction (35). In a culture run by propaganda, we often delude ourselves into thinking that we are only fulfilled if we keep up with those things made to be important within our societies.

            I am not the first one to propose a paradigm shift through a collective view of humanity through education and/or compassionate awareness. The kind of compassion that I envision does not permit feelings of condescension when interacting with people we may deem to be in less fortunate conditions than our own. I do not believe that in order to achieve such a perspective of understanding that we must abandon all of our worldly possessions or refrain forevermore from indulging in excessive spending; we don't have to become extremists. Rousseau advised that "in order to commiserate, we must transcend our self and the illusion of self-sufficiency by putting our self in another's place, seeing the world through her eyes rather than our own" (524). Interestingly, Rousseau calls this process "identification", meaning to discover some common identity among all other people. All that may be required, then, is a gradual paradigm shift, in which we move into a more common and collective mental state that empowers us with knowledgeable consideration of the kinds of things we choose to assign urgency and importance. We must also consider that in order for people to truly see through each other's eyes, we may have to go where they are and put ourselves behind their natural lenses. Once enough people favor thinking in these types of higher forms, a gradual evolution in the way we regard human relations can begin to effect the directions we take in global affairs, politics, and the media.

            Slowly, we could create a generation of people who have a slightly more enlightened perception of human reality. These people would begin to take the places of our leaders and politicians. At the very least, we can all challenge ourselves to consider the larger world through a different lens than our computer or television screens provide. "The defibrillation of the body overloaded with empty signs ... is a very slow process" (Baudrillard 10), so let's get started.

Works Cited

Baudrillard, Jean. America. New York: Verso, 1989. Print.

Bernays, Edward. Propaganda. New York: Ig Publishing, 2004. Print.

Boyd, Richard. "Pity's Pathologies Portrayed: Rousseau and the Limits of Democratic   

        Compassion." Political Theory 32.4 (2004): 519-546. Web. 24 Mar. 2012.

Ellul, Jacques. Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes. New York: Vintage, 1973. Print.

Kristof, Nicholas D. and Sheryl Wudunn. Half the Sky. New York: Vintage Books, 2009. Print.

       Ratcliffe, Krista. Rhetorical Listening: Identification, Gender, Whiteness. Illinois:

               Southern Illinois University Press, 2005. Print.

       Ratcliffe, Krista. "Rhetorical Listening: A Trope for Inerpretive Invention and a 'Code of 
               Cross-Cultural Conduct'". College Composition and Communication 51.2 (1999): 195-224. 

               Web. 14 Apr. 2012.

       Rushkoff, Douglas. Program or Be Programmed. Berkeley: Soft Skull Press, 2011. Print.

       Tolle, Eckhart. A New Earth. New York: Plume, 2006. Print.