Blog entry 4

This week I primarily was intrigued by the video The Empathic Civilization. I thought it was interesting how over the course of human history, we have grouped ourselves into empathetic groups based on various things, Culture, religion, language, and ethnicity have all provided reasons for the human race to show empathy to one another. They have also given us reason for conflict, differences in beliefs can, often irrationally, lead to war. The video was closed related to our discussion of what a nation-state is and how they play a role in international relations currently. Following the Cold War era, many states formed began to break up due to cultural differences as their citizens began to seek meaningful representation. Everyone wants to belong to empathetic group that will keep their best interests in mind when dealing with public policy. 

I think it is natural for people to want to find nation-states to belong to to represent their interests. However I think as the world becomes increasingly globalized it is important that we begin to see ourselves as one global nation state -- a nation of humans residing in one global state. Our everyday decisions affect one another. This also ties into our ongoing discussion of human rights vs. cultural rights. Each nation-state will define their own rights, but at some point, as one global body, we need to define basic human rights to protect anyone who may be taken advantage of. I found comfort in the example the video gave of Haiti. As a race, we are inherently empathetic. After the earthquake, the entire globe began to raise relief funds - within hours. We need to channel that empathy into a global discussion on human rights. 

With unlimited resources, I would hope to lobby celebrities and other important figures in society to encourage an empathetic attitude towards other cultures. I think it would also be helpful for people to travel and experience other cultures - and realize that other people aren't quite so different. The video mentioned the biological "Adam and Eve", to whom every person's DNA can be traced back to. We all descend from the same ancestors and inherently posses empathy - we just need to begin to think of ourselves as one human race and express our empathetic nature.