1971_02 The Daily Collegian February 1971

              FOOD FOR THOUGHT
4    THE DAILY COLLEGIAN    Thuraday, February
EMPATHY OR APATHY
By Martyn Green
Once, when I was In Vietnam,
I spent a night In a small lookout post on top of a mountain
some ten miles from the DMZ.
With      another     correspondent
d of ■
I got li
a dis
cussion about the war
couple of Marines. In the gloom
of a nickering candle Inside a
cold tent set on the edge of
a precipice, ope Gl expounded
his own unique philosophy for
ending the war. *ZaptheChlnks*,
was his answer to the whole
problem. "Zap the Chinks,* came
his rejoinder to any Issue we
cared to raise. "Zap the Chinks,"
was his one quick solution foraU
the world's ailments. I never
managed to estabUsh If this was
what be really felt or If he was
merely drolly evading the Issue.
But If this was his true feeling
lt Is quite obvious that few problems that we face today can be
settled with such simplistic notions as dropping "The Bomb" on
China,   as   he   so wlUlngly sug-
In retrospect one wonders if he
had conveniently suspended his
humanity - or whether he had
never yet found lt. In a similar
America   there   1
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it   the   Issues at stake
I purposefully clouded
Ides In their attempts
the hearts and minds
ople.' I was reminded
me of the film, 'The
:ame InFromtheCold.'
'Contr
* (Rlc
1   Hurt.
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-our
ie space of
that we too are consistently overlooking, one Idea we constantly
avoid. Let me illustrate with a
more recent example.
Bewildered
Late last year, In
a few days a large ni
FSC faculty or support staff were
Informed of their summary dismissal or of their perfunctory
demotion. The effect on both faculty and students was one of surprise and shock. But perhaps the
overwhelming feeling common to
bewilderment.
A brief period of rallies soon
dissipated the energies released
by the original source of frustration and then we all went back to .
all-pervading sense of alienation.
Except that this time it was a
little   more   acute.   We   all   had
ronment  - the very feeling that
enough.   But   It brings w
common enemy
at FSC, as lt Is, no doubt, with
any poUUcal sltuaUon. Anyone
who naively thinks that any one
side has  a  monopoly of rlght-
they occur are far from devoid
of complications, commitments
and other Interests. *You think
things seem complicated,* says
Professor van der Elst,'but they
are   never   quite  that  simple.*
Discovering Ourselves
In any •political'situation, with
so many conflicting charges and
countercharges, so much 'mud
slinging' and 'character assassination' it Is difficult for even
a 'well-Informed' person to know
whom to- believe. (When, last
year, I called several randomly
chosen Fresno residents about
the situation, most said they were
not sure just who or what to
believe.) Of course, for students
'hi,;   t
•the
Establishment' with US c;
'the guys with the white hats.'
It may be. But those hats are
never quite spotless - at least
certainly not once a mudsUnging
campaign gets underway.
The Establishment, or Dr.
Baxter In this example, despite
the Image our corporate student
body - as our role-reference
group-would have us Imprint on
our ephemer
cannot be all of
less shadow of a man we so
readily accept, and, in a bizarre
sense, would rather like him to
be. Things aren't that simple. We
are, I feel, far too ready to condemn without honour, or to praise
r the others of our group—
ve as  the villains or the
n perhaps to seek true jus-
President Baxter, of course,
IS the Establishment, the local
symbol of .a wider government
against which so many students
volt. Thus his opposition comes
any - or at least most - college
lot seem to escape lt. Our role
s what defines us to others, and,
ess appropriately, to ourselves.
This then Is tbe tragedy. As long
as we secrete ourselves In our
comfortable niches in life, as
long as we fall to reach out as
persons' to other persons, but
rather as roles to other roles,
we wlU fall to connect, we wlU
fail to communicate-and we wlU
thus fall as human beings. Precisely then, our corporate problem Is one of lack of empathy.
We are falling consistently and
Increasingly to Identify with
others. Few of us even try. If
Dr. Baxter, tor Instance, were
able to Identify with the feeUngs
of Dr. Zumwalt, would he have
so perfunctorily demoted him -
at least In so gross a manner? I
adles, lt seems to me then, Is
that which the sociologists have
called 'Alienation' - the feeUng
that one lacks control over one's
environment. And with alienation
comes  Its  concomitant   -  lack
one"
'iyrorc
are falling n
o appreciate
the other pe
angle  on
lfe   -  we  a
futlti
g  to  even
Because empathy
requires fee
lngs, emotions. And, of cours
we don't want to get Involved. W
might begin to care. And tha
THAT Is too i
today's alien;
hundred Catherine Genovese's
are murdered every day because
we don't give a damn when the
hangman   comes   to  town.
(See  R.C.V.'s article, 'Come
the Hangman* on Page 3.)
The Anthropological View
It would seem that we can learn
much from an anthropological
view of this situation. When an
anthropologist talks about adaptive or maladaptive traits he is •
thinking In terms of the survival
value that the trait bestows on the
organism. In the process of evolution lt Is the adaptive traits
that allow an organism to survive, whilst maladaptive traits
eventually cause the organism to
become extinct. In this way, by a
process of random mutations,
producing adaptive and maladaptive traits In different organisms,
our species evolved ai
n.lni
process was in operation; those
societies with adaptive traits -
habits, customs, Ideals - have
survived. Those that had traits
that were maladaptive, died out
— as, tor example^ the Roman
Empire. So, to an anthropologist
(and Indeed to any historian) the
most Important question is: Is lt
Turning once more to the question of alienation and lack of empathy, one Is drawn to ask — Is lt
adaptive? Will lt confer a survival benefit on our species? If
we fall now to stop and think —
we may not have very long be-
And, if now, being aware of
this Idea we fall to Identify with
It, as lt relates to our humanity
— perhaps. Indeed, we are fall-
Students.
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PASSING
THOUGHTS
4. 1971    THE DAILY COLLEGIAN    3
n Page 3)
(Continued fr.
plete. And we mu
our Imagination, since the driver
hasn't died; he has only become
older and has lost his hair and
some teeth. He has conUnued
driving for the cacique — drunk,
savage and homicidal — smiling
at each shot and each Joke. But
now, the day we return to him,
lt is daybreak. The horses need
feed and he has gone to look tor
some In the shed.
Later, the cacique sees a man
coming in the confused Ught of
dawn with a bundle In his hands.
a baldness that shines. The
cacique smiles with a wickedness
that has been diminished by habit
false humanirarianism
'here exists an all to scrup-
II humanltarlanism of which
should  be  very  suspicious,
>   pors
fntis  !•
might well be put In quarantine.
If, In his presence, the word
■revolution* is pronounced as a
term that spontaneously comes
up to confront an unjust social
situation, or as the only consequence of the praxes of an
Ideology that subverts the values held by the society In which
one lives or perhaps simply as
something that is there floating
In the atmosphere of these times
and which comes to the mouth
with the facility of a part that
fits In just the right place; he
draws back Instinctively and,
scandall/ed, makes a gesture of
repulsion In order to deny, ro-
tundly, a solution that would'shed
human blood.' So far, so good,
although "revolution plus blood*
may be a binominal I fear he
:s based on a logic more
n historical,
although this binominal perhaps
doesn't refer to the will of the
present revolutionaries- we all
know the peaceful character of
the major part of the demonstrations. But he finishes with
the emphatic affirmation, 'Even
a revolution that causes one
single death would be unexcus-
able. Human life Is more valuable
than anything else.*
In  this  point  his  humanltar-
II a
Psych class's walk in the 'Black Forest'
Nobody Ukes to be kept In
the dark. But for 15 minutes
one day last semester, 1 was kept
in  the dark about many things.
It all started when I closed~my
eyes and allowed myself to be
led around the campus tor a
psychology class's 'Blind Walk.'
With my eyes firmly shut and
guided by a female fellow class
member I picked my way gingerly down the first big obstacle-
the staircase. Knowing not what
lay I
d of n
I kept rr
i   the   bannister   and
firmly on the ground. Coaxed Into
showing  a  little  daring by   my
one death, I would support lt.
Because this revolution would
not  be  more  than  the struggle
sands of people who are frat-
rlcldally killed each day by hunger and hatred. In other words,
this kind of person Is thinking
about   one   Ufe;   I  am  thinking
Let us unmask him. Perhaps
what he really wants Is not to
avoid the one death but rather
to keep eliminating the thousands
of lives In order to feed his
egoism. Or maybe what he cowardly wants to avoid Is the remote possibility that he would
be the one symboUc victim that
would be offered as a sacrifice
for humanity. At any rate, his
humanltarlanism Is false and his
anti-revolution Is anti-human.
R.C.R.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
•Mo matter how complicated
you think things are - they are
never that simple.*
-Prof. Dirk H. van der Elst,
FSC Anthropology Dept.
THEME FOR CONCERNED
STUDENTS
l. Even the man whoco
AWARE   c
thc  a
:c of th
cessity   that  he  take PERSONAL       RESPONSIBILITY
verrfional way.*
-V.C.Morris
guide, I ventured outside into
the cold morning air-no doubt
accompanied by the stare of more
than one person, amazed at such
early-morning frivoUUes. We
-made a sharp left and I bumped
Into a tree, said a polite 'Excuse me' and conUnued on my
way musing on the manners of
careless passing trees. My
trained guide, Uke all good 'See-
lng-eye Dogs' said .not a word.
Feeling such a fool, there was
not much I could say In reply.
Holding hands-It was a good ex-
cuse-we continued down the path.
Presently we came to a crossing
path-I could hear the note of the
clonk of my shoes change from
D   minor  to  E  flat  as we hit
across some grass-at least I
did- and passed a bunch of guys
who scattered as I walked blindly
through them. By this time my
trust was really building up-
untll I walked gaily Into a small
bush that sprang out In a vicious attempt to upset me. We
were somewhere near the Men's
gym, I thought In my mind, having
followed our rambUngs with stud-
led attention and amazing sensitivity. When we clonked down
from the sidewalk to a noisier
surface-It sounded Uke an' F
sharp-and then on lo some grass,
I felt pretty sure of myself. So
relaxed my guard
hand completely and strode a-
round like a man with a sense
of purpose, Instead of the lost
soul I was supposed to be. I was
sUU a little wiry when my guide
pulled up suddenly-for I knew
then that there was a step ahead
or at least afoot. I plopped down
them Ukeayoungtoddler, wanting
to be Independent, but sensing
(rlghUy) that I might come un-
caslon, but my steadfast faith In
my guide and my indefatigable
sense of dignity prevented any-
untoward incident trom occurlng.
When I at last opened my eyes,
the sun hit me full In the face
and nearly blinded me. So for
the next fifteen minutes I staggered around the campus trying
to guide my partner-truly a case
of the blind  leading the blind.
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