DFA Progressive Values group name change to Empathy Cafe.

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Aug 10, 2009 11:19 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for NYC, Democracy for New York, Sacramento For Democracy, Florida DFA, Democracy for Illinois

Greetings

The DFA What are  Progressive Values? group
has not had much activity for some time. I wanted to let you know I've just
changed the group name to Empathy Cafe. http://democracyforamerica.com/groups/2285-empathy-cafe

 From my work of interviewing people about progressive values I've come to see empathy as a core progressive value. It's also the value that Obama ran on. See this compilation video I made from Obama's speeches on empathy.
http://progressivespirit.com/Empathy/Obama/ObamaOnEmpathy.htm

So with that in mind I've been refocusing my work on supporting Obama's call for standing in each other's shoes.  Below is some of the work we've been doing.  More to come shortly.
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Obama and the New Spirit of Empathy Group: Updates

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Feb 27, 2009 12:10 PM EST

Linked to groups: blog for America Test and Poll Group, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Democracy for Florida, Florida DFA, Oakland DFA Meetup

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

The capacity to know emotionally what another is experiencing from within the frame of reference of that other person, the capacity to sample the feelings of another or to put oneself in another’s shoes.   D. M. Berger

Barack Obama is leading a movement based on values and at the core of this is the value of empathy. Barack talks about empathy and the importance of 'standing in other peoples shoes', in many of his speeches (I've collected 50 so far).  Empathy is the most basic value he ran on and he says the country has an 'empathy deficit' that needs to be filled. We are forming an Empathy Values Group to build on Obama's call to address the empathy deficit. 

A sense of similarity in feelings experienced by the self and the other, without confusion between the two individuals.^{Jean Decety}

As part of this empathy movement, we are also putting together a video of his talking about this topic to give it some context and promote this foundational progressive value. Let's help fill the empathy deficit by making people more aware of the topic. This is a collaborative project and we invite you to take part.  See.

Barack Obama and a New Spirit of Empathy (rough cut 1)  (1 hr 15 min)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6504935098489252112

A Chronological Video of Barack on Empathy - Compiled from about 30 of Barack's speeches and interviews, etc on the topic of empathy. 

Here's a review of the video:  Hi Edwin, It is truly wonderful that you and others have grasped the brass ring of the progressive movement by highlighting the core issue of Empathy. I now see that everything about the rising of Barack Obama and the revolution in America is based on this principle. Thank you, thank you for your effort and the timely reminder to me of what is really important. It's easy to get lost in the dust that is being raised by so many who sincerely want to see change and see it quickly. But it is crucial to remember why we are being called in this time in history to change. You are exactly right, it is Empathy. Warmly, Terri  Jan 28, 2009.
 

Some more Video About Empathy

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      •  
        •     Nova: Mirror Neurons and Empathy
              A video about Mirror Neurons which could be  the physiological source of empathy.

      •     George Lakoff on Empathy
            Lakoff talks about Obama and empathy.

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Next Empathy Group Meeting Dates
   (online and in person)
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How might we nurture, promote or foster empathy within ourselves, as a group and within the larger culture through a balance of action and reflection?

Attend In Person meetings in the Bay Area. El Cerrito, CA. Meetings are ongoing, every week .
Sign up at:

Saturday, Feb 28, 2009, 2 - 5 pm  
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpt2lv
At this meeting we'll brainstorm  about projects to work on.

Saturday, Mar 07, 2009, 2-5 pm
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gptyrd

Saturday, Mar 21, 2009, 2-5 pm
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gptyrg

Saturday, April 04, 2009, 2-5 pm
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gptyrl

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An affective response that stems from the apprehension or comprehension of another’s emotional state or condition, and that is similar to what the other person is feeling or would be expected to feel.   Nancy Eisenberg

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Resource Links
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Group  Website: Barack Obama and the New Spirit of Empathy
     http://progressivespirit.com/Empathy/

Video: Barack Obama and a New Spirit of Empathy - Rough Cut 1 (1 hr 15 min)
    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6504935098489252112
    Compiled from about 30 of Barack's speeches and interviews, etc on the topic of empathy.
    It clearly makes the case that the most important value that Obama is promoting is empathy.

Online Discussion Group
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProgressiveValues/
     Take part from anywhere online. We hold ongoing online discussions, brainstorming and meetings.
      Join the project discussion list by sending an email to:
     ProgressiveValues-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
      http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProgressiveValues/
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Best

Edwin Rutsch

Obama Empathy Values Movement Meetings and Video Now Online

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Jan 27, 2009 3:53 PM EST

Linked to groups: Democracy for Washington, DFA at Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) July 17-20, Framing Committee, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for NYC

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

I recently uploaded a video I compiled from about 30 of Barack's speeches and interviews, etc on the topic of empathy. It clearly makes the case that the most important value that Obama is promoting is empathy.  You can see it here;

Barack Obama and a New Spirit of Empathy - Rough Cut 1(1 hr 15 min)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6504935098489252112

I've also collect about 50 speeches from Barack and Michelle where they talk about empathy. You can see the full list and text here
http://progressivespirit.com/Empathy

Obama Empathy Values Movement Group
Barack Obama led a campaign based on values and at the core of this is the value of empathy.  Obama repeatedly says the country has an 'Empathy Deficit'. We are forming a group to build on Obama's call to address the empathy deficit. We are holding weekly meetings to form a group to promote a  national ethos change to greater empathy.  The weekly meetings are from 2 to 4 in El Cerrito (near Berkeley),  CA.  You can also join us for online discussions on the Yahoo discussion list at  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProgressiveValues/

At the next meetings we'll brainstorm about how to build the group.

As part of this empathy movement, we're also putting together a video of Barack's many speeches on empathy.  You can see the first rough cut here. Compiled from about 30 of Barack's speeches and interviews, etc on the topic of empathy.
Barack Obama and a New Spirit of Empathy
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6504935098489252112
 

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Howard Dean for President Tees & Stuff

Written by: Emily Duffy on Jan 4, 2009 3:15 PM EST

Linked to groups: DFA Blog Network, Blog For America, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, California for Democracy, blog for America Test and Poll Group

I was recently doing a long-delayed cleaning of my art studio and came across several boxes of stuff leftover from the 2004 campaign when I was the Northern California "Swaghag". Our local DFA group designed and produced some great tees, sweatshirts, hats, stickers and pins, all of which I have overstock of. I've posted a listing on Craig's List but it'll only be up for a few days more. I'd really love to get these materials out to folks who will really appreciate them so if you're interested in buying up any of these historic items please let me know:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/clt/974687171.html

"...she came from a place where people didn't know better. " ???

Written by: Susan Rowe on Jan 4, 2009 2:37 AM EST

Linked to groups: Empathy Cafe, Blog For America, blog for America Test and Poll Group

Good grief, these people are 21st century United States citizens who are obviously using less than 10% of the brain's potential.  What will the bone diggers say about us?

" A man walks down the street. He says, Why am I soft in the middle now? Why am I soft in the middle? The rest of my life is so hard. I need a photo opportunity. I want a shot at redemption. Don’t want to end up a cartoon. In a cartoon graveyard." ~Paul Frederic Simon, You Can Call Me Al Graceland, 1986 American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 13 October 1941)

'What happens in war happens'

In 2004, photographs of abuses at Abu Ghraib shocked the world. Seven people were charged, but the face of the scandal will always be Lynndie England, the 21-year-old private grinning at the camera. Emma Brockes meets her

[...]

It is almost two years since England returned home after serving half of a three-year sentence for maltreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib. In mid-December, a report by the Senate armed services committee concluded that, contrary to the US government's assertion that a few "bad apples" were to blame for abuses at the prison, responsibility ultimately lay with Bush officials, including the defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for policies that "conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees". (A spokesman for Rumsfeld rejected the findings as "unfounded allegations against those who have served our nation".

Whatever the official findings, the face of the scandal will always be that of the then 21-year-old Private Lynndie England. She wasn't the only woman soldier in the photographs - Sabrina Harman and Megan Ambuhl were both court martialled for their roles - but England was the most arresting looking, like a 14-year-old boy who shouldn't have been there in the first place. Her legal defence, that she was unduly influenced by Specialist Charles Graner, the father of her child and the only soldier still serving time for abuses at Abu Ghraib, was compounded outside the courtroom by assumptions about her background; that she came from a place where people didn't know better.  ... Do read the full interview HERE.

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963 Assassinated US civil rights leader & clergyman (1929 - 1968)

"Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil." ~Plato Greek author & philosopher in Athens (427 BC - 347 BC)

Obama's Team says it's our turn to lead

Written by: Susan Rowe on Dec 16, 2008 3:35 PM EST

Linked to groups: DFA of Stanislaus County, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , blog for America Test and Poll Group, DFA-CFD of Fresno & Madera Counties, Sierra Foothills Democratic Club

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

Obama's Team wants to hear our ideas about healthcare!

Failure of Center-Right Conservative Values, Principles, Ideology, Philosophy & Polices

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Nov 4, 2008 4:58 PM EST

Linked to groups: Alameda for Democracy, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for Illinois, Democracy for Florida, Democracy for NYC

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

In the face of a great defeat, conservatives have their new talking points. They are trying to make the case that America is really a Center-Right country. See this video from ThinkProgress of how conservatives are trying to make the case.

Center-Right Country Watch: Conservatives Grasping At Straws

What Conservatives  fail to acknowledge is that Center-Right  Values, Principles, Ideology, Philosophy & Polices have failed and that the country is looking for a new direction. In case they need some help in understanding this,  they can always listen to what people say about Center-Right Conservative values below.

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Failed Conservative Values: Bill Honigman on Restrictive Intolerance and Porcupines

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Nov 3, 2008 12:29 PM EST

Linked to groups: Lake Park, Sacramento For Democracy, Walnut Creek DFA, Democracy for Washington, San Francisco for Democracy

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

 I interviewed Bill Honigman, who is  the California State Coordinator of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA). He said conservatives are restrictive and intolerant like porcupines. While he doesn't think the values of individual conservatives have failed, he feels the values of the conservative movement have failed. I have to disagree with him there. I feel that individual conservative values have manifest themselves in the conservative movement and individual conservatives need to take 'individual responsibility' for these failures.

 Failed Conservative Values - Bill Honigman on Restrictive Intolerance

Conservatives tend to, in the nicest use of the term, want to conserve what they’ve got.  And so they are looking to hang on to, say their property, or their bit of family and what they perceive of as their family’s rights in a kind of identity of self that way.  It’s a little too, as far as I’m concerned, restrictive, meaning they’re not willing to reach out to people outside of their circle.  And to me that’s probably a fundamental difference. 

In the concept of rounding up or circling the wagons  and taking a little too much and being too guarded about themselves, and not being willing to share with their community.  And that translates into things like not wanting to contribute to, say, things like education and the infrastructure, and the whole tax revolution that occurred in this country in the last 30 or 40 years.  It’s all about people saying, “I’m tired of giving of myself.  I don’t seem to be getting back in return.” 

They just want to hang on to what they have.  And instead of saying to build society will require an investment, and maybe we just need better caretakers of the investment instead of not  giving money and our own resources.

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Failed Conservative Values: Markos (Kos) Moulitsas on Self-Delusion

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Oct 26, 2008 1:28 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Sacramento For Democracy, DFA Film Club, Democracy for Washington, Framing Committee, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP)

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

I interviewed Markos (Kos) Moulitsas, founder of the Dailykos.com and asked him about the failure of conservative values. For him, the conservative value of self-delusion was the greatest failure.  He says conservatives value their ideology over actual reality and he pointed out a series of examples of how this ideology  ignores reality.

"As long as our civilization is essentially one of property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Failed Conservative Values: Markos Moulitsas - Self-Delusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=figH0eedcMY

 Edwin:  Have conservative values failed?

Markos:  Oh, yeah, the failure of conservative values, the bottom line is that it has no bearing on reality.  They created an alternate reality – cut taxes, lower the deficit, balance the budget – where global warming did not exist, where the world was invented 6,000 years ago, where science is bogus, where the best way to educate kids is to defund the schools. 

And this is the comeuppance.  When you base your reality on an ideology that has really no basis for reality, you’re doomed to failure.  When you have an ideology that says that government cannot work, you have to by default run a shitty government.  What’s the alternative?

Let’s say George Bush says the government can’t work, we need to shrink it.  So, when I appoint my director of FEMA, instead of appointing a horse lawyer, I’m going to appoint an experienced administer who knows about disaster management and logistics planning.  So when Katrina happens, the government does a fantastic job, making people’s lives better.

Suddenly, you have sort of a collision of ideologies.  When you say government can’t work, and you have government that works, where does that leave the conservatives?  In a really, really piss-poor place.

So, by default, Bush had to appoint the horse lawyer to FEMA, I could go down the list – in department after department it’s scandal after scandal.  I mean, it’s all because he appointed people who are not qualified.  Because they need to fail, they need to prove that government cannot work, and the way you prove government does not work is by running a government that does not work.

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Sorry America, its not new to us. (on the mcCain/Palin smear events)

Written by: Jim Nichols on Oct 10, 2008 1:35 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Latinos for America, California for Democracy, Morrow DFA, DFA-CFD of Fresno & Madera Counties, Stockbridge Progressives

Being Chairman of the Henry County Democratic party has taught me a lot about organizing. But it is not surprising to watch the tone and invective that has appeared in the past week. Fear tactics, intimidation, and personal threats that lie just below the surface of far too many Republicans is something Democrats here in the South find to be quite common. I saw it as a human rights organizer after 9/11, as an anti-war organizer in the run up to the war, and have watched it grow during this campaign.

After the conservative take over of the Republican party, the base of that party is fixated on beliefs that have no bases in reality. They hold these beliefs very strongly and it resonates within the culture here at a near pathological state.

Its important to note the pathology--these are good people, they work hard and try to live upstanding lives. But in the midst of fear, and lacking the security of knowing things are going to be okay, that pathology starts to surface. Traitor, Communist, unamerican, the devil, satanist, f---'in coward; I've been called all these things right to my face by men far larger than myself swinging their arms in an erratic style. The aggressive postures, the tone, lack of any valid reasoning's for their beliefs has caused many who support getting affordable health care, a sane foreign policy, or books in our schools, to stay silent. I have citizens who want to volunteer for the Democrats but are terrified that their neighbors will find out they are a democrat and will therefore not do anything that can connect them to the party or Obama.

Haven't you seen the emails-- Obama is a terrorist, Obama is a socialist... why haven't you heard Obama Osama, isn't that clear enough! Our way of life is at risk, it reads. I knew the "kill him," "terrorist" screams at recent events were on their way when my nephew sincerely asked me what I thought about people saying Obama is the anti-christ. He truly wanted to know what to think of this, you could see it in his eyes. And the reason he was curious was because kids can see when people are serious in their beliefs. Just below the surface of every smear email, or chuckle from a joke at a dinner party is someone who at some subconscious level is fearful and doesn't know how to protect their families from the outside world. I responded without blinking an eye and in a very serious tone said, "they have no integrity."

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