Effective progressives are committed to cultivating empathy as central to debate.
Newest conservative hate group, Moms for Liberty, are attacking empathy.
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Here is my latest post about the Southern Poverty Law Center’s newest hate group, Moms for Liberty. If you watched the short video, you saw that these moms don’t teach empathy, the soul of democracy, nurturing families, public education, ethical businesses, civil society organizations, and effective government. But pretty and articulate fascists are not new. Fascism’s roots in conservatism are why human rights, universally declared 75 years ago by the United Nations, are still not protected by the rule of law in the United States.
Communities of strong, nurturing families caring for each other through the above institutions are what most Americans want. The American ideal, where the rule of law protects human rights, is possible when empathy is central to our debate. Protecting human rights with the rule of law gives recourse in state courts for all people for all sorts of human rights violations and abuses. But most people don’t know that none of the 5 of 18 human rights treaties ratified “with declaration” by the limited-empathy US Senate has been enabled as law. Progressives must start showing up at public meetings as cultural diplomats.
Children are shaped by their communities to care for others in all walks of life or to be cruel, wannabe billionaire bullies to suck the life and resources out of our commonwealth. The best way for nurturing families to counter hate groups like Moms for Liberty is to show up at public and private meetings to exercise culture diplomacy and cultivate empathy. That’s why we launched the “Public S.H.O.E.S. Cultivate Empathy initiative:
S - Show up at public and private meetings to cultivate empathy
H - Help elected officials cultivate empathy in civic tasks
O - Organize to cultivate empathy in civic tasks
E - Educate about empathy, the soul of democracy, and human rights
S - Start over each day to publicly cultivate empathy
If there is a silver lining to the short video interview above of the fascist mom who hates empathy, is that she KNOWS what values conservatives must stamp out if fascism is to take hold. However, she has violated the number one rule of framing - refrain from using the values language of your opponent. And, if you must use your opponent’s values language, make sure you use your own language at a ratio of two-to-one.
Our nation suffers from empathy deficit disorder. Your paid subscription gives you access to a Zoom community of practice committed to making human rights empathy the center of our debate, no matter our issue. Developing and uniting around a common human rights empathy narrative has the potential to make empathy for and responsibility to each other a reality. Thanks for subscribing.