Sympathetic Identification

A lot of the time people will tend to not accept their opponents side. This is one of the main catalysts of disagreement. How can anyone expect to come to an agreement without looking at the situation from other points of view? Once in class, we all put something on the table and wrote down what we saw. We then moved seats and wrote down what we saw. We continued to change seats and note what we observed until it was obvious that you saw different things depending on where you were seated. If you are not willing to sit in a different position you will never be able to see what is actually happening.

In Precarious Life, Butler says "we tend to dismiss any effort at explanation, as if to explain these events would accord them rationality, as if to explain these events would involve us in a sympathetic identification with the oppressor" (8). People think that if you try and look at something from another point of view that you are automatically conforming to their beliefs. This is not true. Just because you attempt to understand where someone else is coming from, does not mean that you are going to completely transform your entire identity to live as they do. Butler states as, "Our fear of understanding a point of view belies a deeper fear that we shall be taken way by the thinking of the presumed enemy" (8). Understanding is the key to negotiation and one of the main aspects of being human. People have the ability to talk to one another, (even when we speak different languages) and if we are not willing to exercise this amazing ability then we are cutting out a huge aspect of life that can contribute to immense growth. Understanding, communication, acceptance, awareness, any way you want to put it, listening to others side, whatever, are all part of what give people the ability to survive in communities and civilizations.

In current times people have been talking about the idea of a "global community." How are we supposed to have a global community if we are not willing to accept the way other people think within our own communities? Understanding does not mean conformity. Understanding leads to communication, acceptance, learning, and maybe someday, the beginning of a global community.