Every once in a while, my wife and I will get a call from a
charitable institution seeking a donation.
Sometimes, depending on what the cause is, we will send in a check. Over the last few years, though, the
predominant answer has been either a no or a response along the lines of, “I’m
sorry but the homeowners are away. Could you call back?”
It’s not that my wife and I don’t want to contribute, or can’t;
it’s because, though we have been quite fortunate to both be employed during
this economic downturn, we are ever mindful – at least I am, anyway – that the
storm clouds are still on the horizon.
Nothing is guaranteed. Empathy
often comes a distant second to taking care of your own. And this from a self-described progressive!
It makes me wonder how many other people have succumbed to
such fearful thinking. I have a theory,
and it’s one that quite frankly gives me the shivers. In rough economic times, people’s hearts tend
to turn colder and more indifferent.
Worse, there is almost a resentment of those who are perceived as a
drain on their standing.
A case in point, recently I came across this posting on
facebook:
What struck me most wasn’t the actual sign, but some of the
comments that followed:
Here Here!!! There should be
better control over Welfare recipients and where they spend their money since
it's actually our money they are spending :(
Just clicking like is not
enough for me. This motto should be spread across every billboard, every
newspaper, and announced in church every Sunday. I don't know who created this,
but my hats off to them! Right on!!
Ain't that right! Someone
who is on welfare, 2 kids, gets $2k a month, food stamps and wic OVER double
what I make working 40 hrs a week!
Let’s not forget IPhones!!
Or any other handouts you
claim to be entitled to.
What I found most revealing about these comments and the
others – some of which were truly depraved – was how completely devoid of even
a semblance of empathy they all were and how very angry all of the respondents clearly
are. Obviously there is a deep resentment
towards this particular group who they see as moochers; people who they feel
are stealing from them.
I have seen this before in American society and, without
exception, it is most evident when times are tough. It’s as though the uncertainty
and fear that often define our circumstances turn our hearts cold to the
suffering of others. Indeed, one could
make the case that the relationship between empathy and callousness lies in
direct proportion to how well the economy is doing. When times are good, people tend to be more
upbeat about their personal circumstances, hence they are less concerned about
whether someone might be mooching off of them and are, therefore, far more
likely to be giving and compassionate; but when times are rough, the need to
scapegoat and blame others rises dramatically along with resentments.
Not only does empathy tend to vanish during bad economic
times, it is replaced by a self-righteous indignation that strikes out, not at
the true villains who caused the calamity in the first place, but at those who’ve
been victimized the most.
That’s the irony of it.
You’d think that a bad economy would foster greater empathy from the
general public towards those less fortunate.
In fact it is just the opposite.
Empathy is replaced by antipathy.
Maybe it’s because at a core level we see in their plight what could happen
to us and, rather than deal with the fear, which is real and legitimate, we
transfer our rage onto them. Someone
must be to blame. Why not the one with
his hand out?
The idea that the poor and indigent in this society are
somehow getting a free ride at the expense of our hard-working tax dollars is
not even remotely supported by the facts.
Most of these people barely scrape by on the food stamps and subsistence
checks they receive each month. For the
most part they are not splurging on luxuries; they can barely afford the
essentials to keep them alive.
That the idiots who made this sign, along with the dozens of
respondents who chimed in, can’t process what’s really going on inside their
souls, is the real problem in America today. Fear and resentment are certainly
nothing new. But in tough economic
times, they often become the fuel for an unrest that seeks to take its vengeance
out in the ugliest and, sometimes, most violent means. What happened in Germany in the 1930s started
out as nothing more than pent up frustration that was quickly exploited by sick
and twisted minds to unspeakable ends.
We must always be on guard that our fear doesn’t get the
best of us, lest we say or do something we truly regret.
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