Empathy is not endorsement | Dylan Marron | Day 42 – 100 Days 100 Thoughts

Hello Folks !!

We have always felt that the people from the other side of the spectrum never understand us. But have we ever tried to understand their perspective? We always firmly believe in our ideologies and have we ever tried to understand why they are standing at the other of the spectrum. These questions may have been asked numerous times but, we always had a bit of restraint from thinking from their shoes. Thinking from their shoes mean are we following their ideologies? Watch this wonderful TED Talk by Dylan Marron on the topic “Empathy is not Endorsement”.

Welcome Back !!!

This is one of the most interesting and much-needed talks for this era in my humble opinion. Dylan started a podcast named “Conversations with People Who Hate Me.” In this podcast, he talks to the people who spoke against him, his detractors and tries to learn their stories. And most of the stories show a different side of them, and by listening to their stories Dylan says he was able to empathize with them. But at the same time, empathizing with them doesn’t mean accepting their ideology. Dylan says that “Before I started this project, I thought that the real way to bring about change was to shut down opposing viewpoints through epically worded video essays and comments and posts, but I soon learned those were only cheered on by the people who already agreed with me. Sometimes — bless you. Sometimes, the most subversive thing you could do — yeah, clap for him.”

This is something very important for all of us to note down is that we don’t want to understand our counterparts. We have come a long way which is good and only by empathizing with our counterparts and understanding them can improve our understanding and make us a better human. By no means it is an endorsement of their idea but by empathizing we can dig deeper and understand the root cause. Also, it keeps us grounded and helps us in learning more about ourselves, our privileges, our growth, and much more. Empathy is not endorsement !!! Period !!