flattened snakes and a cop in my bedroom, with empire hovering at the edges of my vision

Anyone remeber the movie 'Hackers'? It's on right now--I'd forgotten that, in the 90s, screenwriters seemed to think that computers could do anything. Plus, so much rollerblading and neon.
...hack the planet.

I'm been thinking about empathy a lot, mostly what it's good for. What I think is that a deliberate lack of empathy is a cultural force today that is making the world a worse place--if not the cornerstone of the explotitive capitalism we operate on.

Our economic and political actions are guided by our cultural choices and attitudes--and a part of culture is what's considered normal. Many people latch onto the little everday deviations from the status quo: different forms of eating or sexuality, different kinds of music or clothing, of politics and thinking. By dimissing these things as weird, by mocking them even while professing acceptance, we create a rigid, narrow notion of what it means to be in our society. This happens all the time--what you may think is a harmless gay joke is pushing people outside of society.

This lack of empathy is the root of our problems. A combination of relentless social enforcement and apathy about what really matters. The only way we can go to war or exploit third world workers is if their way of life is unacceptable to us, and that begins at home.

So how do we gain empathy? There are two kinds--the everyday social intution, reading people and such. I'm bad at that kind, but that just makes me awkward. What I'm talking about is the in kind found in other people's shoes. Our culture is expanding, different kind of lifestyles are popping up every day. So next time you see someone not taking the beaten track, instead of just calling them weird, think about why they are living like that. The answer could be surprising, and maybe you'll be struck with the urge to dip your feet outside the maintstream.