The act of compassion begins with full attention, just as rapport does.
You have to really see the person.
If you see the person, then naturally, empathy arises.
If you tune into the other person, you feel with them.
If empathy arises, and if that person is in dire need,
then empathic concern can come.
You want to help them, and then that begins a compassionate act.
So I'd say that compassion begins with attention.
Daniel Goleman
Earlier One-Off Post: The Third 2016 GOP Presidential Debate: My Review
Tweet of the Day
GOP debate moderators recite ideological claptrap: Quick's discredited '77 cents on the dollar'; Bartiromo's 'Hillary's superior resume'.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 12, 2015
Bartiromo: Clinton's resume more impressive? 8 yrs in the Senate, no leadership or policy accomplishments;no executive experience; Benghazi.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 12, 2015
Income equality reminds me of a childhood incident.My aunt served her kids full glasses of soda;we got juice glasses.I was happy to get pop!
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 12, 2015
Ted Cruz, in pandering to economically illiterate Know Nothing immigration restrictionists, is in material breach of the pro-liberty cause.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 13, 2015
Immigration restrictions over past century are unconstitutional morally corrupt policies imposed by populist tyranny over individual rights.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 13, 2015
Prohibitions against labor, whether in the form of minimum wage, government licensing, or restrictions on immigrants, are anti-competitive.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 13, 2015
@RandPaul and @RealBenCarson need to simplify foreign policy, reject the high-cost, interventionist policies of the Clinton-Bush-Obama era.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 13, 2015
@RealBenCarson would be better served by studying Eisenhower's critique of the mlitary industrial complex. https://t.co/DNtAz96KiN
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 13, 2015
I like Ike. I don't like @realDonaldTrump. Bracero program temporary work visas reduced immigration arrests by 95%. https://t.co/m7aiz0Yjmb
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 13, 2015
Chart of the Day: Canada's More Competitive Regulatory Regimen |
| via Mercatus Center |
More on Academic
The Surviving Bee Gee Goes Solo
Political Potpourri
The poll for the day is one out of my native state of Texas which shows Cruz in a tie with Trump, each with 27% of the vote. I think this is the first time since Trumpmania started in August that I've seen any politician break 20% against an Outsider. I'm not sure I believe the poll in that Trump and Cruz tend to attract the same type voters, and the last Texas poll I saw had Carson in a near tie with Trump and Bush polling much higher, with Carson and Bush support collapsing in the new poll. (Carson places a distant third, and Rubio fourth.) Trump seemed to actually increase his share since the last poll, which he hasn't been doing elsewhere. I haven't seen Carson fade anywhere else yet; whereas Bush has collapsed elsewhere, I would think he would do better in his native Texas, given the Bush dynasty there (GHW is a former Congressman, GW a former governor, and his son holds statewide office). So I think this may be an outlier, but I would welcome any progress in breaking the hold of the Outsiders in the race. It's not that I don't enjoy seeing the GOP leadership in a panic over a possible 2016 suicide mission with Trump heading the ticket, but I'm absolutely convinced a third consecutive Dem White House victory would be disastrous for the country.
Facebook Corner
(Reason). A fourth-grader from Hillsborough, Florida, was warned not to pass any more love notes to his female classmates—and will be charged with sexual harassment if he persists.
So... the boy's mother says it's totally innocent and the fact that he kept passing notes to a girl who didn't want them is not an issue?
A sexual harassment charge may seem a little steep, but that is very technically what he's doing. Now, the sensible approach would be to sit him down and explain the whole thing: expressing interest and affection is fine. It's perfectly normal and natural. But when it is unwanted and you persist, you are harassing the other person. This is a huge deal in the adult world that can lead to actual criminal charges, not just a reputation as a pushy creep. His mother isn't doing him any favors by defending his behavior. Zero tolerance may be zero sense, but if you kept handing notes to a co-worker, describing her beauty and how much you loved her after she told you to stop, you'd be looking at a restraining order, a long talk with HR, and probably losing your job.
This is presumptuous bullshit.
I know of one case involving adults where the guy left a note in the girl's holiday absence suggesting a lunch date when she got back. The girl had known of the guy's interest, told him she was in a relationship; when he told her that if he wasn't her type, he would move on--she told him no, that she wanted to keep her options open.
The lady in question went to HR and wrote a knowingly false statement, saying the man had persisted despite her repeated rejections to his approaches. In fact, there had been no personal contact in the interim. All she had to do was tell him, "No, thank you. Please don't ask again."
Instead he got called into the executive VP's office, where he was told that they knew about the note, it was being referred to the company's lawyers, and if they thought he had exposed the company to liability, he would be immediately terminated. (He was eventually exonerated, but they had him move his cubicle to another part of the building where a chance encounter was minimal.)
It's bad enough for a guy to be rejected, but to reject him in front of his bosses or colleagues is especially humiliating. It wasn't clear what motivated her action; perhaps she had hoped to be engaged over the holidays, and he was a convenient scapegoat.
It's one thing when there's actual harassment involved, but we are talking about an abuse of process which undermines legitimate instances of harassment. Going after a primary school boy who thinks his crush's eyes are pretty? There is no other evidence here it went beyond an innocent love note, just claims of other, unwanted notes. Imagine if the boy was so traumatized, he could never have the courage to ask girls out.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of the original artist via IPI |
Aretha Franklin, "Border Song (Holy Moses)". Aretha sings Elton John.
