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Progressive Values Stories: Joe Brewer on Empathy
Linked to groups: California for Democracy
(This is part of an ongoing series of interviews of progressives telling personal stories about their values for the "What are Progressive Values?" documentary project - ProgressiveSpirit.com ).
I ran into Joe Brewer cleaning the streets of Oakland on Earth Day. Joe works as a fellow at the Rockridge Institute in Berkeley, California. He says empathy is the basic progressive value and tells a personal story about his experiences growing up in a small town and his visit to India.
Joe Brewer: When we talk about progressive values, what we are really talking about is how we care and why we care. So I think the most important progressive value is empathy. By empathy I mean that we feel a strong connection with other people, and we put themselves in our shoes. And when we do that, we feel responsibility to help end their suffering.
So when people are treated unfairly, like with inequality, we have a responsibility to do what we can collectively in our community to care for those people and provide for them, to be sure that they are given the opportunities that everyone deserves. So I think when we’re talking about progressive values, we’re really talking about empathy and responsibility.
Now we extend that and say “What happens when I care about someone else, and I want them to have some kind of well-being”. What is going to be entailed in that? Those values include fulfillment, and if you care about someone else and put yourself in their shoes, then you’re going to want them to have the same opportunities and pursue their dreams as you have. So, you’re going to think about their fulfillment.
And your also going to think about basic levels of material wealth, which means moving into prosperity. Because people who don’t have the basic things they need to take care of themselves are going to suffer, and they are not going to seek their dreams.
And all that is really about freedom, which is another important value. Each person needs to have freedom guaranteed to them, with opportunities to be able to pursue their dreams and goals. As long as those freedoms they express don’t impinging on the freedoms of others.
And a corollary of that is that you need to have another kind of freedom, freedom from harm. Freedom from people restricting upon or infringing upon your freedoms. So we have to work together as a community to guarantee those things.
Now if we start extending those things out on a community level, then we’re going to get to other kind of values. They don’t sound like normal values – values like the common good, the common wealth. We invest in collectively what we each individually can’t afford, so have to provide together.
Things like education, public infrastructure, highways, funding of scientific research and medicine. The things that no one can provide for themselves, that are extensions of basic levels of progressive values. So, when we start talking about progressive values, there’s a lot we can say.
Edwin: The first thing you mentioned was empathy. Can you talk about your own personal experience, how you developed that value?
Answer: Well, I look at it from a perspective of what psychology teaches us. My experience – I grew up in a small town in Missouri, in a place where there was a lot of poverty, and most people fell pretty much trapped where they were. So I was immersed in a living condition of feeling trapped.
What I felt when I was around other people in that condition was I felt the same lack of opportunity they felt, and I resonated – their suffering became my suffering, because I saw in them the hardships that I experienced.
So when I talk about empathy, I talk about it at a really concrete level with the people around you. It’s the people I interact with directly on a daily basis. When I’m around other people, as I get to know them, I care about them. I want them to do well. They’re my friends. They’re my family.
And so, when I look at their condition, I see that it’s just an extension of my condition. So, to put that in concrete terms, it’s that when someone can’t find work, they work really hard and can’t find work that pays their living, and unable to get health care, I look at my own situation and see similarities.
The trick is to look into the other to see yourself in them and them in you. So when I’m talking about empathy, I’m really talking about the connection with other people.
Edwin: I’m also looking for actual stories, some memory or story …
Answer: Yeah, there are other kinds of empathy besides empathy for other people. I’m a strong environmentalist, and I know that the experience that I’ve had, like today picking up trash, is like the experience I’ve had living in squalor. And one example of living in squalor that resonates in me – like a few years ago I visited India and visited old Delphi, a place which has concrete streets and mud-filled streets. And as walked down those streets, I would smell the refuse and garbage. People would use the streets as a bathroom – there were no public bathrooms and public trashcans.
So, as I would walk along the street, I would be surrounded by garbage and human refuse. And so the experience I had was of people not caring for their surroundings. And that was a place where I felt empathy for the broader world in two ways. One, I felt the sickness we are putting on the world by having garbage lying all around. Then I felt the sickness of our communities that depend on a healthy environment in order to survive and be healthy ourselves. So I felt a deep sense of connection with the broader world when I was surrounded by that squalor.
Some Questions To Ponder:
How would you define the word "Values" and "Principles"?
How are "Values" and "Principles" different?
What is personally the most important progressive value to you?
Do you have a personal story or anecdote of how you learned some insight into this value?
How does this progressive value differ from conservative values?
How have conservative values failed?
What Are Progressive Values? Documentary Project
http://ProgressiveSpirit.com
and Study Group
http://www.dfalink.com/group.php?id=2285
Progressives care. I think Lakoff gets to that with his nuturing parent frame.
82.
Michael Ellis
Fri, 03/28/08
81.
Linda in NM
Fri, 03/28/08
_____________
Mccain wins it........is Michelle Obamas own words, "this is America"......I agree with her.......the money, corporations, Wall Steet, the military industrial complex, angry whites and many Hillary supporters will not tolerate an Obama presidency........
The decline of America continues.........
------------------
Mike, you tend to demonstrate sometimes selective memory (although everyone does once in a while...lol). Michelle Obama also said that “this is the first time in my life I’m proud to be American!”
The “decline of America” can’t continue unlimitedly that’s just economical fact. Again, that’s not about Obama or Hillary but about economy which is suffocating now under current conditions and requires reforms. Even Corporate America already understands it.
Those reforms are primarily to be about people having more freedom WHITHIN current economical system and the corporate task now will be to guarantee those reforms been kept in check. That’s what either Obams or Hillary will do.
Will either one of them become successful is a big question.
When people have become “unchecked” it might be tough (if at all possible...lol) to “check” them back.
Do you think anything for the young woman in this story would change, if we had an Obama presidency and (not) Universal Health Care?
...her situation, emergency room, because she was too poor to afford Obama's expensive health care, she would then have been penalized to even use emergency room.
Please read this hearbreaking story and reality.
One Hundred Dollars.
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/27/2237...
Mike wrote "For those of you that think Obama has it in the bag.........Id think again.......dont be fooled like in 2004........"
I'm trying hard not to be. There are so many operators hoping to pull something off.
Linda wrote "Do you think anything for the young woman in this story would change, if we had an Obama presidency and (not) Universal Health Care?"
Is the pope Catholic?
Obama on the View for the entire hour at 11 a.m ABC.
Last nite at our city committee meeting I gave out info about Democracyfest and well, we have a lot of people interested in going. Our Women's caucus has become a sponsor so... hope to see you all there.
the reality Linda is that Congress writes health care legislation and if Hillary had understood that the last time we might be to universal coverage by now
I'll take my chances with Obama bringing everyone to the table including the people.
elements of the Clinton plan appeal to me too, but neither of them will write the bill
the new members of Congress that the grassroots will deliver with Obama will hold key votes
it would be a lot easier to support Hillary's plan if I thought she could deliver a 50 state effort that would sweep progressives into control of the House
Hey karen, you think our minds are alike? this is too funny.
Obama on the View for the entire hour at 11 a.m ABC.
~~~~~~~~~~~
bet ya $10 the ditto head blond brings up Rev. Wright
Edwin
I posed that question to Senator Dodd in person and explained your project to him when he was running, and he had a staffer that was going to do a video production for you, but I lost touch with that when the FISA fight heated up.
he thinks of himself as a liberal rather than a progressive I think, but as we talked he understood what you were doing
I'll see if I can scare that up for you.
They'll be updating it regularly, so you can bookmark this site to keep current. It's called "The Hillary Deathwatch: Gauging the odds that Clinton will win the nomination," from Christopher Beam, Chadwick Matlin and Chris Wilson at Slate:
"Hillary Clinton is as good as dead. This became the consensus over the past week, when the media awoke en masse to the dual reality that 1) Clinton can't close the pledged-delegate gap and 2) Obama has her beat in the popular vote. But the Clinton campaign shows no signs of slowing—she said herself she's prepared to compete for at least three more months. So the question now is not just 'How dead is she?' but 'When will she realize it?'
" . . . .
"To start off, we're putting her odds at a generous 12 percent. (Last week, a Clinton campaign official gave her one-in-10 odds.) At the moment, polls indicate that Obama has survived the Jeremiah Wright flap (for now). Clinton's Bosnia blunder has metastasized from a headache into a five-day circus. Bill Richardson finally climbed down from his fence onto Obama's side. And a Michigan court yesterday deemed the state's Jan. 15 primary unconstitutional and declined to order a revote, effectively smothering the last glimmer of hope for a deus ex Michigana bailout. Meanwhile, a new poll puts her favorability rating at 37 percent—its lowest since March 2001.
"That said, Clinton does have a shot. A heroic margin of victory in Pennsylvania and every subsequent primary, an implosion of the Obama campaign, a sudden mass epiphany on the part of superdelegates, or some combination of the three could lead to a Clinton nomination. But to be honest, we don't expect Hillary's chances to climb much higher than 20 percent. Hence the sinking ship."
TX isn't totally in as yet; and Clinton has hardly "won" TX.
What utter bullshit.
Not by a longshot.
Delusional lies, amok.
11:33 AM EDT
http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/865494,CST-NWS-SNEED28.article
Is Hillary broke?March 28, 2008
BY MICHAEL SNEED Sun-Times ColumnistScoop du jour? Sneed hears major money problems in the Clinton camp may soon become a coroner knocking on her campaign door.
• To wit: Word is the cash feeding into Hillary Clinton's campaign coffers has not only slowed down in a big way, undisclosed campaign debts that have yet to be made public could signal the end and have insiders biting their nails.
...
Cross posted at myDD,* this is from an article by Justin Evers at U.S. News & World Report's Campaign 2008 website. I'm not reading tarot cards, just the writing on the wall:
"[I]n a new survey of more than 2,000 California voters, released today by the Public Policy Institute of California, an independent research group based in San Francisco, Obama appears to have experienced a significant bump since [Super Tuesday]. Over a month after voting in the primary, more Democrats [in California] now say they have a positive view of Obama than of Clinton (78 percent to 74 percent)—a shift, experts say, that may be even larger than it appears, since much of Obama's support in the primary came from independents. Decline-to-state voters, who represent a sizable voting block in California, continue to flock to his campaign (57 percent have a favorable view of Obama, compared with 47 percent for McCain and only 35 percent for Clinton). Overall, more than 6 in 10 voters of all political stripes say they view Obama favorably, compared with 45 percent for Clinton. If the general election were held today, the poll indicates that Obama, not Clinton, would do better here: He polls at 49-to-40 percent over McCain, while Clinton-McCain is a statistical tie (46 percent of voters say they would support Clinton; 43 percent for McCain).
The Bayh approach [of using the number of electoral votes the candidates have acquired to settle on a nominee,] in other words—which assumes that because Clinton won the primary in California, she not only still enjoys the support of most voters in the state but would be more likely to win the state's electoral votes in the general election—seems flawed. 'There's been a shift, no question about it,' says Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Edmund 'Pat' Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State University-Los Angeles. 'A lot of Democrats, who were once supporters of Hillary's—not bedrock supporters but voted for her on February 5—now they're leaving her.'
"It's worth noting, experts say, that the poll was conducted during the week of March 11, one of the roughest stretches Obama has experienced in his campaign, as he faced a barrage of questions about race and his relationship with his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In spite of all the bad publicity, California voters still seem to be moving toward him—or at least away from Clinton. 'That makes it all the more remarkable,' says Regalado."
*For Indy Steve, I am totally kidding.
The Iowa Democratic Party has been dragging it's feet in recognizing a "Progressive Caucus" with the rationalization the "all Democrats are progressive"
Mrs. Clinton called that argument “just specious.” She maintains, and many health economists agree, that a share of the uninsured are “free riders,” typically young and healthy workers who can afford coverage but choose to spend on other priorities.
So they want to pay for their own health care when they get sick rather than paying premiums to health insurance companies and they get called "free riders", like they are getting a free ride at someone else's expense?? Do we believe in personal responsibility and free choice in this country or not. After eight years of the Bush Administration it is amazing that you all still have so much faith in the government to make decisions for everyone. I don't trust the operation to watch my dog for the weekend if out of town, much less something important to me or my kids.
thx for the View reminder. I am in NH and Jo, I know you feel differently & rightly so but I LOVED the big fat snowflakes this morning
nice to see a Michael Sneed scoop here. SHE has been getting the digs for Chicago for many, many years. Never seen her be wrong.
hi Denise! are you swinging thru Vermont? would love to see you! yes, the snowflakes are lovely - but I'm yearnin for green grass and warm breezes. my soul wants me to go dig in the earth, but it's still frozen... for a little while longer!
Obama is such a gentleman, he's thoughtful, he's brilliant - he's having a great interview with the 'goils'. and he's such a contrast to Bush!
"the press loves when someone says crazy stuff"
You got that right Barack
barack is, for those familiar with the term "real people"
Matt wrote "Do we believe in personal responsibility and free choice in this country or not."
I think it has much less to do with accepting personal responsiblity and much more to do with taking advantage of the pool of insureds, only a percentage of whom will be receiving future health care insurance benefits in excess of per capita premiums paid. This is the model employed by all successful, solvent insurance programs.
The flaw in the personal responsibility model is that those electing to forego coverage, based on the assumption that they will simply pay for the health care they receive out of pocket, must pay it in order to receive that care. This may function well for those of substantial means, but for the millions who forego such coverage out of necessity, or out of some blithe attitude towards their unanticipated future health care expenses a la the subprime mortgage crisis, it doesn't. Hospitals don't cut off critical care the way cable companies cut off your television programs. If they do, you get the young mother in Ohio whom Sen. Clinton spoke of.
So they want to pay for their own health care when they get sick rather than paying premiums to health insurance companies and they get called "free riders", like they are getting a free ride at someone else's expense??
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a pretty big chunk of my property taxes goes to pay for long term care for young people severely injured in car accidents that are now the wards of the state (which in Iowa is a county by county reponsibility)
they are only free riders til they end up in the ICU, then somebody pays
Jo I wish I could but I Didn't rent a car this time. I'm on my iPhone so pardon any errors. Left my laptop power cord at work but it should be here soon via fed ex.
http://www.hybridcars.com/shop-by-technology/hydrogen
Hydrogen Cars
Honda unveiled the FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle at the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show, and an announced that a limited number of southern Californians will have the opportunity to lease one next summer.
The BMW Hydrogen 7— essentially a 7 Series sedan—burns sub-zero liquid hydrogen in its conventional V-12 engine
List of all cars
last weekend as I was driving in the northern coutues of the Bay area I saw lots of Obama bumper stickers. Nothing for Hillsry. No lawn signs either. The B&B was in red Yolo county but Obama signs were plentiful. Good to see.
Fox Mulder
Fri, 03/28/08
Reply to this
So they want to pay for their own health care when they get sick rather than paying premiums to health insurance companies and they get called "free riders", like they are getting a free ride at someone else's expense??
=======================
Everybody builds the country...and everybody gets taken care of... it's called community. Something the Europeans learned rebuilding after WWII, but something we have failed at. The only people getting free rides are the insurance companies with their insidious methods of trying to make money off only the healthiest people, and abandoning everyone else.
hi mainefem!!
Feels good to be close to blog friends and old roomies
New Hampshire broke a 100 year old record it seems. Sure is purty
30.
Jo*in*Vermont
Fri, 03/28/08
...
Obama is such a gentleman, he's thoughtful,...and he's such a contrast to Bush!
-------------
Here is the typical sign of “decline” and “dying off”: when normalcy is becoming an extraordinary event..., lol
lol is right! re: when normalcy is becoming an extraordinary event..., lol
'normal' politics has been in sad shape for a long time now - getting back to that kind of normal would be nice. Obama is refreshing, as was Howard.
well the blonde beeotch from the view had her faux talking points today about obama's preacher. he shot her down.
and sheri who said she was a hillary person, after seeing obama's speech said she now wants to campaign for him. wowzers.
Thank YOU Edwin for your wonderful project.
i know this thread is done, but, expecting people to pay for things they don't want is dumb, Fox.
Coastal NH is about 3 weeks ahead of us--you only saw a dusting, Denise.
They're temperate in comparison to VT & ME (esp. Northern/Western mountainous regions).
Town salt piles, labor, and plowing budgets are tanked, fuel prices are killing; and businesses & schools have lost, also.
Naaaaasty winter.
Flooding/freshets & mud season are next.
My driveway is muck.
Bring on summer.
I'm watching the bald eagles attempting to nest in Hancock County.
Jack & Diane (Mellencamp meme).
Edwin - you did the 'Thank You Howard' video, right? I can't find a good link for it anymore - is it still around? (sorry if I'm wrong about that!) this is a great series you're doing!
thanks susan... I'm at CA Dem convention.. will you be here? look forward to seeing you!
Jo*in*Vermont - I didn't do thank you video..
edwin
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