Third World America - Arianna Huffington [86]
King understood that he needed to tap into the empathy of whole constituencies that would not themselves be the direct beneficiaries of the civil rights movement. He set about making a compelling moral case by forcing many in white America to see for the first time that millions of their fellow citizens were effectively living in a different world—a different America—than they were. He created pathways for empathy and then used them to create a better country for everybody.
Conservative commentator Tony Blankley once remarked—only half-seriously—that “evolution, cruel as it is, determined that empathy is not a survival trait.” If you’ve been paying attention to the actions of many of our CEOs—from those running big banks to those running Massey Energy and BP—you would be inclined to agree.149 But if we are to continue as a thriving democratic society, we will need all the empathy we can get. Without it, we’ll never be able to create the kind of national consensus required to tackle the enormous problems that face us, rescue the middle class, and stop our descent into Third World America.
As America’s Misery Index soars, so must our Empathy Index.150
THE EMPATHY INDEX: FROM THE LOCAL TO THE VIRTUAL
“We have to lean on one another and look out for one another and love one another and pray for one another,” Barack Obama said when he delivered the eulogy for the fallen West Virginia miners in April 2010.151 This is a call that transcends left and right political divisions.
David Brooks has written about the need to replace our “atomized, segmented society” with a society “oriented around relationships and associations”—an approach advocated by conservative British writer Phillip Blond in his book Red Tory.152 “Volunteering, especially among professional classes and the young,” Blond wrote, “has doubled in recent months”—proof, he suggests, that “the wish to make a difference is a common and rising aspiration.”153
Those who are working to address the devastation in their own communities are willing to experiment, try many things, fail, and try again, the way you do when you really care. And there is extraordinary creativity in local philanthropy.
In 2002 in San Francisco’s Mission district, author Dave Eggers and teacher Nínive Calegari opened 826 Valencia, a writing lab that provides free tutoring to local kids and has attracted hundreds of skilled volunteer instructors.154 Offering drop-in, one-on-one instruction with a focus on the creative and fun aspects of writing, as well as other learning programs including field trips and in-class learning, 826 Valencia has since fanned out across the country, opening chapters—and enlisting volunteer tutors—in Los Angeles, New York City, Michigan, Seattle, Chicago, and Boston.
In Brooklyn, New York, FEAST (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) hosts volunteer-prepared dinner parties in a church basement, where locals are invited to pitch ideas for community art and improvement projects.155 The 250+ dinner-goers pay ten to twenty dollars to attend the fetes, where they feast on local food, listen to live music, socialize, and vote on their favorite proposals. At the end of the dinner, FEAST organizers present the winner with the prize money, raised from that night’s admission proceeds, for the implementation of the project.
Matthew Bishop, U.S. business editor for the Economist, in his book Philanthrocapitalism, explored how this moment of crisis for capitalism and philanthropy could be used to transform both—how capitalism could be imbued with a social mission, and philanthropy could be reinvigorated with the best practices of capitalism.156 And in seeking to blend the efficiency of enterprise with the benefits of philanthropy,