Lack of Empathy in Modern Society: Critical Analysis

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What is considered the norm in society? Is it our race? The way we look? Dress? But what is even normal? There is no such thing. We all have this view in society of someone who is “normal” being “perfect”. Societal pressures encourage people to lack empathy to attempt to promote stereotypes and ignore guilt, in order to get what they want. It’s a consistent struggle that everyone deals with daily. Every society, ethnic group, and culture has expectations, but they can be very different from group to group. Look beyond the stereotypes.

Even if though we are culturally similar, we tend to not empathize with people until we experience it ourselves first hand. For example, in the video “Color of Reality” (by Alexa and Jon Boogz) there is a part in the video that shows on TV a black teen getting shot, and other race based shootings. Their emotions are transparent not just on their faces, but also in their movement. It is a constant sadness and overwhelming feeling that hits your heart like a train. One friend pressures the other to go outside disregarding his concerns. He pulls his arm almost implying “come on the world is not like that let’s go see for ourselves” kind of visual. As soon as they walk out into the world their eyes finally open to the reality of society. It only occured after experiencing it themselves. They both pay the price.

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Another example is from the short story “Indian Education” (by Sherman Alexie). Sherman says, “When I spelled all the words right, she crumpled up the paper and made me eat it”. In this part of the short story, Sherman was very smart for his class and the teacher was not a fan of his drive, or interest for knowledge. She was hoping he would be a normal student. When he did well on a high school leveled spelling test, she crumbled it up and made him eat. This shows complete lack of empathy to me. Whether it’s based on jealousy or just not caring, a lack of empathy, especially in this story, revolves around stereotypes and how having a lack of empathy can lead you to make assumptions about others. It’s easier than caring and getting too truly know them.. It’s like the golden rule, to treat others the way you would like to be treated.

My last source regarding lack of empathy is from the movie “Mac-chef”, this example is showcased when the head chef of the restaurant kills the owner of the restaurant so he can own the restaurant himself. In the moment, empathy is not an emotion he can even convey, but as the movie goes on and he has to live with what he did, he suffers gilt which is a direct consequence of his lack of empathy.

The core problem of these examples showcases the worsening lack of empathy, connecting to the American society today. Not only did lack of empathy affected all characters individually, but it continued to affect everyone around them and spread like wildfire.

People will ignore guilt to get what they want, without thinking through the long term consequences. An example supporting this argument is from the movie “Mac-chef”, after the head chef kills the restaurant owner he feels this terrible guilt throughout the entire movie. He becomes obsessed and starts seeing things that aren’t there. The night after the murder he went to cook in the kitchen. He was cooking a plate of meat just like any night. The raw meat was leaking blood, when he saw the blood, he had a panic attack, zoned out and screamed in his head. Later, he drank a jug of milk from the kitchen, he took his lips off the glass and looked at the milk and his eyes got huge. In his mind, he saw a glass full of blood. He yelled and threw the milk jug across the room and grabed his head with anger and sadness, letting the guilt take over his mind fully.

Another example I have supporting the idea of guilt is from the video “Color of Reality”, I saw one of the dancers feel guilt for bringing his friend into the real world. Showing him reality did not have the effect he thought it would and completely backfired. He was trying to prove the world was nothing like he was seeing on TV, but boy was he wrong. People shove them, ignore them left and right.

My last example relating to guilt is from the short story “Indian Education”. When he was younger, he had this consistent guilt about being different. Acting too white for his reservation school, being too native in his white school. He was confused, felt a consistent disconnect, he felt like he didn’t belong. Not knowing how to act or not being “good enough” to be part of a certain place. Feeling as if how the teachers treat him and how the kids treat him was his fault in some way. In his head, he doesn’t see what was wrong with how people were treating him, he saw it as what am I doing for people not to like me, for people to pick on me. Letting guilt walk all over him, impacting his decisions and how to see the world. It also made him headstrong overtime.

In order to achieve your dream you will need to overcome social stereotypes. Stereotypes play a huge role in each of these sources. First example is from the video “Color of Reality”, the paint on their skin almost showing like they are out of a painting is showcasing them as “different”, not the norm. When they walk out into the real world, they experience a lot. There is a man on his phone, as the dancers were trying to talk to him, he was 100% ignoring them, showing he didn’t care and he was not interested. Another example from this video is towards the end when the main characters get “shot”. The camera focuses on their stomachs where there is red paint symbolizing blood. They slowly and dramatically fall to the ground and die on the street alone. People walk past them on the street, literally walking over them, not stopping, not asking for help, not caring for their well being. They lay dead, ignored by the world around them.. Showing and symbolizing that because they look different, society does not care for them.

My second example concerning stereotypes is from the short story “Indian Education”, In this short story there is many examples of stereotyping and I will name a few. The first form of stereotyping I saw in this story was when he passed out at a school dance and teachers asked him if he had been drinking, assuming he had gotten drunk and passed out because that’s the white stereotype of the native american family. Some Native Americans drink, so all must too at a young age. In fact, he wasn’t drinking at all. When the teacher assumes that he is dumb and gives him a hard test to see him fail, but in actuality he nails it. He loves school, he wants to succeed, go to college, and be a valedictorian of his school. He was committed to school like no other. He was so smart and good at school, teacher’s just assumed he was cheating, because “a native hates school, you can’t be good at school”, that was the teachers mindset. It wasn’t based on if he was smart or not, it was the assumption the he must be cheating. The coach assumes he has to be amazing at sports because he’s native. He isn’t amazing, so his coach just doesn’t think he is trying hard enough, when in reality he cared a lot more about school than sports. The last stereotype example I have from this short story is based on the kids in the reservation and the white school. He didn’t know how to act or how to be like at school. He wasn’t interested in fitting a mold. He felt too white at his reservation school, for caring about school as much as he did, but also felt too native at his all white school. It was hard trying to find balance in how to fit in, how to be set for success.. He finally found himself and realized he didn’t need to fit in, cut his hair short in his reservation school which was very uncommon, then grew his hair long while he was at his all white school because he wanted to be different and be noticed. Be different, embrace it, everyone is in their own self, so own it.

My last source referencing stereotypes is from the movie “Mac-Chef”, regarding the guilt of the head chefs wife. Since she indeed was part of the crime she had this feeling of guilt over her head, but of course the steroetype is that she would have never had anything to do with that crime because she is a woman. Throughout the movie she is undermind, her ideas ignored, her husband disregards her even after supporting him through the murder. She gets stereotyped constantly through the movie, whether it’s by her husband or men in general. She comes to her senses and finally gives up, thinking she is not enough, that she has no reason to be. Her anxiety and depression finally strike and everything goes downhill, everything people have been saying through the movie start to become her reality. “She is weak”, “She is a woman”, “She is a woman she can’t help manage this restaurant”, then it takes a dark turn and all ends. Enjoy womanhood, know yourself, love yourself, gender should not determine, if you are weak, strong, driven or smart. You know you, don’t let others ever use the gender label, is toxic and we fought years to overcome it.

In conclusion we all can pretend to be something or someone we are not, that is how much society takes a toll on our lives, too fit in, get the next promotion, or be someone’s friend. We base each other on stereotypes because that’s how society has always functioned. Yes, it has gotten worse overtime, granted we have phones and social media, but even just people’s values in society are all backwards. We let guilt impact how we treat people, the way we see people which connects with stereotyping. Yes, we feel guilt, but we don’t build upon it, we don’t make a change to better our society. Lack of empathy has a huge tool on society as a whole, makes us disconnect, not relate and not care. These three areas, if worked on, could strengthen us as human beings, give us the utopia we’ve been striving for so long. Take a minute to look around you, look at all the beautiful different people we have in the world, no one the same as anyone else, everyone unique in a very special way. Different. Let’s celebrate those differences. Rise above stereotypes, guilt and a lack of empathy and open your eyes to a brighter future for society and all of us.

Citation Page:

  1. Battaglia, Soheila. “The Theme of the Short Story ‘Indian Education.’” Pen and the Pad, 10 Jan. 2019, penandthepad.com/theme-short-story-indian-education-1669.html.
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  4. Parenthood, Planned. “Gender Identity Empathy & Society Roles & Guilt | Feminine Traits & Stereotypes.” Planned Parenthood, www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/sexual-orientation-gender/gender-gender-identity/what-are-gender-roles-and-stereotypes.

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