Compassion and Superiority
Jun. 6th, 2014 12:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lenora_roseNot sure this is a terribly profound thought, but lately it has been my thinking, and it seems to hold up against a large number of tests, that a lot of modern conflicts - between genders, between political sides, among policies - can be summed up as a battle between compassion, and the desire to feel superior.
Complaints about the welfare system or publicly supported health care? On one side, "We don't think any person should starve or die of preventable sickness just because they can't afford food and hospital time o their own." versus "*I* work to earn my benefits. *They* just laze around getting money for nothing." A feeling of superiority over the poorer person. (Also a divide and conquer tactic by the rich to keep the almost-poor and the poor from noticing who's really taking all the money. But then again, when you look at the weapon used...)
Complaints about feminism and women's rights? (Or anti-racism. Or Gay Rights. Or trans* rights) A disturbing number of them boil down to "I see the women/black/gay as my inferior (and my potential property). I am better than them." Which is often defeated by people who actually look at what the experience of being (female, gay, black, trans*) is like. (Superiority is the tool of the Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminist, too; cis women are "better" than trans women in that worldview. Before yet another person brands me a man-hater.)
I'm also at a loss to see where superiority over another group EVER has remotely the benefits of compassion to society as a whole, rather than to a handful of often already-on-top individuals.
And I'm finding it a good way to frame things to make me rethink some of my own blind spots; am I just doing this because I feel superior? If so, what makes me think I am?
Discuss?
Complaints about the welfare system or publicly supported health care? On one side, "We don't think any person should starve or die of preventable sickness just because they can't afford food and hospital time o their own." versus "*I* work to earn my benefits. *They* just laze around getting money for nothing." A feeling of superiority over the poorer person. (Also a divide and conquer tactic by the rich to keep the almost-poor and the poor from noticing who's really taking all the money. But then again, when you look at the weapon used...)
Complaints about feminism and women's rights? (Or anti-racism. Or Gay Rights. Or trans* rights) A disturbing number of them boil down to "I see the women/black/gay as my inferior (and my potential property). I am better than them." Which is often defeated by people who actually look at what the experience of being (female, gay, black, trans*) is like. (Superiority is the tool of the Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminist, too; cis women are "better" than trans women in that worldview. Before yet another person brands me a man-hater.)
I'm also at a loss to see where superiority over another group EVER has remotely the benefits of compassion to society as a whole, rather than to a handful of often already-on-top individuals.
And I'm finding it a good way to frame things to make me rethink some of my own blind spots; am I just doing this because I feel superior? If so, what makes me think I am?
Discuss?
