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My students often ask me,
"What is sociology?"

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And I tell them it's the study of the way
in which human beings are shaped

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by things that they don't see.

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And they say, "So,
how can I be a sociologist?

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How can I understand
those invisible forces?"

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And I say, "Empathy.

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Start with empathy.

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It all begins with empathy.

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Take yourself out of your shoes,

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put yourself into the shoes
of another person."

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Here, I'll give you an example.

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So I imagine my life
if, a hundred years ago,

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China had been the most powerful
nation in the world

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and they came to the United States
in search of coal.

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And they found it, and, in fact,
they found lots of it right here.

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And pretty soon,
they began shipping that coal,

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ton by ton,

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railcar by railcar, boatload by boatload,

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back to China and elsewhere
around the world.

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And they got fabulously
wealthy in doing so.

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And they built beautiful cities

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all powered on that coal.

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And back here in the United States,

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back here

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we saw economic despair, deprivation.

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This is what I saw.

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I saw people struggling to get by,

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not knowing what was what
and what was next.

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And I asked myself the question:

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How is it possible that we could
be so poor here in the United States,

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because coal is such a wealthy
resource; it's so much money?

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And I realize:

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because the Chinese ingratiated themselves

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with a small ruling class
here in the United States,

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who stole all of that money
and all of that wealth for themselves.

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And the rest of us,
the vast majority of us,

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struggle to get by.

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And the Chinese
gave this small ruling elite

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loads of military weapons
and sophisticated technology

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in order to ensure that people like me

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would not speak out
against this relationship.

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Does this sound familiar?

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And they did things like train Americans
to help protect the coal.

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And everywhere, there were
symbols of the Chinese --

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everywhere, a constant reminder.

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And back in China,

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what do they say in China?

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Nothing! They don't talk about us.
They don't talk about the coal.

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If you ask them,

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they'll say, "Well, you know,
we need the coal.

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I mean, come on, I'm not going
to turn down my thermostat.

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You can't expect that."

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And so, I get angry, and I get pissed,

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as do lots of average people.

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And we fight back,
and it gets really ugly.

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And the Chinese respond
in a very ugly way.

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And before we know it,
they send in the tanks

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and they send in the troops.

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And lots of people are dying.

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And it's a very, very difficult situation.

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Can you feel me?

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Can you imagine what you would feel

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if you were in my shoes?

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Can you imagine
walking out of this building

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and seeing a tank sitting out there,

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or a truck full of soldiers?

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Just imagine what you would feel,
because you know why they're here;

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you know what they're doing here.

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And you just feel the anger
and you feel the fear.

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If you can, that's empathy.
That's empathy.

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You've left your shoes,
and you've stood in mine.

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And you've got to feel that.

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OK, so that's the warm-up.

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That's the warm-up.

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Now we're going to have
the real radical experiment.

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So, for the remainder of my talk,
what I want you to do

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is put yourselves in the shoes
of an ordinary Arab Muslim

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living in the Middle East --

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in particular, in Iraq.

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And so to help you,

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perhaps you're a member
of this middle-class family in Baghdad.

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What you want is the best for your kids.

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You want your kids to have a better life.

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And you watch the news, you pay attention.

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You read the newspaper, you go down
to the coffee shop with your friends,

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you read the newspapers
from around the world.

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Sometimes you even watch satellite,
CNN, from the United States.

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You have a sense of what
the Americans are thinking.

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But really, you just want
a better life for yourself.

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That's what you want.

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You're Arab Muslim living in Iraq.

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You want a better life for yourself.

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So here, let me help you.

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Let me help you with some things
that you might be thinking.

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Number one:

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this incursion into your land
these past 20 years and before --

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the reason anyone
is interested in your land,

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and particularly
the United States, is oil.

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It's all about oil; you know that,
everybody knows that.

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People back in the United States
know it's about oil.

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It's because somebody else
has a design for your resource.

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It's your resource --
it's not somebody else's.

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It's your land; it's your resource.

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Somebody else has a design for it.

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And you know why they have a design?

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You know why they have
their eyes set on it?

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Because they have
an entire economic system

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that's dependent
on that oil -- foreign oil,

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oil from other parts of the world
that they don't own.

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And what else do you think
about these people?

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The Americans, they're rich.

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Come on, they live in big houses,
they have big cars.

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They all have blond hair,
blue eyes. They're happy.

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You think that. It's not true, of course,
but that's the media impression.

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And that's what you get.

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And they have big cities,

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and the cities are all dependent on oil.

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And back home, what do you see?

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Poverty, despair, struggle.

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Look, you don't live in a wealthy country.

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I mean -- this is Iraq.

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This is what you see.

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You see people struggling to get by.

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It's not easy; you see a lot of poverty.

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And you feel something about this.

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These people have designs
for your resource,

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and this is what you see?

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It doesn't feel good.

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But here, couple other things.

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Something else you see
that you talk about --

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Americans don't talk
about this, but you do --

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there's this thing,
this militarization of the world,

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and it's centered
right in the United States.

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And the United States is responsible

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for almost one half
of the world's military spending.

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Four percent of the world's population!

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And you feel it; you see it every day.

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It's part of your life.

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And you talk about it with your friends.

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You read about it.

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And back when Saddam Hussein was in power,

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the Americans didn't care
about his crimes.

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When he was gassing
the Kurds and gassing Iran,

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they didn't care about it.

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When oil was at stake,

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somehow, suddenly, things mattered.

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And what you see, something else:

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the United States,

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the hub of democracy around the world --

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they don't seem to really be supporting
democratic countries

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all around the world.

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There are a lot of countries,
oil-producing countries,

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that aren't very democratic,
but supported by the United States.

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That's odd.

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Oh -- these incursions -
here, let me help you

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these two wars,
the 10 years of sanctions,

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the eight years of occupation,

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the insurgency that's been
unleashed on your people,

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the tens of thousands,
the hundreds of thousands

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of civilian deaths?

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All because of oil.

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You can't help but think that.

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You talk about it.

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It's in the forefront
of your mind, always.

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You say, "How is that possible?"

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Come on.

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And this man, he's everyman --

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your grandfather, your uncle,

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your father, your son, your neighbor,

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your professor, your student.

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Once a life of happiness and joy

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and suddenly, pain and sorrow.

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Everyone in your country
has been touched by the violence,

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the bloodshed, the pain,
the horror -- everybody.

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Not a single person in your country
has not been touched.

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But there's something else.

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There's something else about these people,
these Americans who are there.

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There's something else
about them that you see

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that they don't see themselves.

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And what do you see? They're Christians!

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They're Christians.

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They worship the Christian God,
they have crosses, they carry Bibles.

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Their Bibles have a little insignia

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that says "US Army" on them.

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And their leaders, their leaders:

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before they send their sons and daughters
off to war in your country --

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and you know the reason --

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before they send them off,

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they go to a Christian church,
and they pray to their Christian God,

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and they ask for protection
and guidance from that god.

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Why?

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Well, obviously,
when people die in the war,

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they are Muslims, they are Iraqis --
they're not Americans.

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You don't want Americans to die --
"Protect Our Troops."

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And you feel something about that --

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of course you do.

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And they do wonderful things,

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beautiful humanitarian things.

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But these humanitarians,
I mean these people, they're there -

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You read about it, you hear about it.

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They're there to build schools
and help people.

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That's what they want to do.

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They do wonderful things,
but they also do the bad things,

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and you can't tell the difference.

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And this guy, you get a guy
like Lt. Gen. William Boykin.

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Here's a guy who says
that your god is a false god.

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Your god's an idol;
his god is the true god.

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The solution to the problem
in the Middle East, according to him,

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is to convert you all to Christianity --

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just get rid of your religion.

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And you know that.
Americans don't read about this guy.

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They don't know anything
about him, but you do.

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You pass it around.
You pass his words around.

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I mean, this is serious. You're afraid.

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He was one of the leading commanders
in the second invasion of Iraq.

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And you're thinking,
"My God, if this guy is saying that,

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then all the soldiers
must be saying that."

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And this word here --

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George Bush called this war a crusade.

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Man, the Americans,
they're just like, "Ah, crusade.

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Whatever. I don't know what that means."

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You know what it means --
it's a holy war against Muslims.

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Look, invade, subdue them,
take their resources.

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If they won't submit, kill them.

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That's what this is about.

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And you're thinking, "My God,
these Christians are coming to kill us."

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This is frightening.

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You feel frightened.
Of course you feel frightened.

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Of course you feel frightened.

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Why wouldn't you feel frightened.

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And this man, Terry Jones:

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I mean here's a guy
who wants to burn Qurans, right?

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And the Americans:
"Ah, he's a knucklehead.

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He's a former hotel manager; he's got
three dozen members of his church ..."

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They laugh him off.

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You don't laugh him off,
because in the context of everything else,

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all the pieces fit.

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Of course this is how Americans think.

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So people all over the Middle East,
not just in your country,

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are protesting.

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"He wants to burn Qurans, our holy book.

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These Christians --
who are these Christians?

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They're so evil, they're so mean --
this is what they're about?"

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This is what you're thinking
as an Arab Muslim,

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as an Iraqi.

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Of course you're going to think this.

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How can you not think this?

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And then your cousin says,
"Hey coz, check out this website.

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You've got to see this -- Bible Boot Camp.

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These Christians are nuts!

251
00:11:57,458 --> 00:12:00,325
They're training their little kids
to be soldiers for Jesus.

252
00:12:00,749 --> 00:12:03,334
They take little kids
and run them through these things

253
00:12:03,358 --> 00:12:05,660
till they teach them
how to say, 'Sir! Yes, sir!'

254
00:12:05,684 --> 00:12:08,796
and things like 'grenade toss'
and 'weapons care and maintenance.'

255
00:12:08,820 --> 00:12:11,852
And go to the website --
it says 'US Army' right on it.

256
00:12:11,876 --> 00:12:13,786
I mean, these Christians, they're nuts.

257
00:12:13,810 --> 00:12:15,820
How can they do this
to their little kids?"

258
00:12:15,844 --> 00:12:17,375
And you're reading this website.

259
00:12:17,399 --> 00:12:20,220
And of course, Christians
in the United States, or anybody,

260
00:12:20,244 --> 00:12:23,125
says, "This is some little church
in the middle of nowhere."

261
00:12:23,149 --> 00:12:24,300
You don't know that.

262
00:12:24,324 --> 00:12:26,733
For you, this is like, all Christians.

263
00:12:26,757 --> 00:12:29,059
It's all over the Web: "Bible Boot Camp."

264
00:12:29,083 --> 00:12:30,412
And look at this.

265
00:12:30,657 --> 00:12:32,052
They even teach their kids --

266
00:12:32,076 --> 00:12:34,889
they train them in the same way
the US Marines train.

267
00:12:35,307 --> 00:12:36,774
Isn't that interesting.

268
00:12:36,798 --> 00:12:39,076
And it scares you, and it frightens you.

269
00:12:39,100 --> 00:12:41,076
So these guys, you see them.

270
00:12:41,100 --> 00:12:44,284
You see, I, Sam Richards --
I know who these guys are.

271
00:12:44,308 --> 00:12:47,241
They're my students, my friends;
I know what they're thinking.

272
00:12:47,265 --> 00:12:48,473
You don't know.

273
00:12:48,497 --> 00:12:51,042
When you see them, they're something else.

274
00:12:52,426 --> 00:12:53,700
They're something else.

275
00:12:54,130 --> 00:12:55,866
That's what they are to you.

276
00:12:56,908 --> 00:12:59,375
We don't see it that way
in the United States,

277
00:12:59,399 --> 00:13:00,835
but you see it that way.

278
00:13:04,700 --> 00:13:05,867
So here.

279
00:13:06,501 --> 00:13:08,533
Of course, you've got it wrong.

280
00:13:08,557 --> 00:13:11,040
You're generalizing. It's wrong.

281
00:13:11,064 --> 00:13:13,351
You don't understand the Americans.

282
00:13:13,375 --> 00:13:15,055
It's not a Christian invasion.

283
00:13:15,079 --> 00:13:18,052
We're not just there for oil;
we're there for lots of reasons.

284
00:13:18,076 --> 00:13:20,089
You have it wrong. You've missed it.

285
00:13:20,113 --> 00:13:22,890
And of course, most of you
don't support the insurgency;

286
00:13:22,914 --> 00:13:24,672
you don't support killing Americans;

287
00:13:24,696 --> 00:13:26,676
you don't support the terrorists.

288
00:13:26,700 --> 00:13:28,676
Of course you don't. Very few people do.

289
00:13:28,700 --> 00:13:30,964
But -- some of you do.

290
00:13:31,972 --> 00:13:33,394
And this is a perspective.

291
00:13:33,781 --> 00:13:36,513
OK. So now, here's what we're going to do.

292
00:13:36,537 --> 00:13:40,498
Step outside of your shoes
that you're in right now,

293
00:13:40,522 --> 00:13:42,312
and step back into your normal shoes.

294
00:13:42,336 --> 00:13:44,311
So everyone's back in the room. OK?

295
00:13:45,265 --> 00:13:47,166
Now here comes the radical experiment.

296
00:13:47,190 --> 00:13:48,547
So we're all back home.

297
00:13:51,116 --> 00:13:53,208
This photo: this woman --

298
00:13:53,232 --> 00:13:55,105
man, I feel her.

299
00:13:55,129 --> 00:13:56,702
I feel her.

300
00:13:56,726 --> 00:13:58,206
She's my sister,

301
00:13:58,230 --> 00:14:01,414
my wife, my cousin, my neighbor.

302
00:14:01,438 --> 00:14:02,834
She's anybody to me.

303
00:14:02,858 --> 00:14:05,565
These guys standing there,
everybody in the photo --

304
00:14:05,589 --> 00:14:07,306
I feel this photo, man.

305
00:14:08,732 --> 00:14:10,367
So here's what I want you to do.

306
00:14:10,391 --> 00:14:13,443
Let's go back to my first
example, of the Chinese.

307
00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,222
I want you to go there.

308
00:14:16,246 --> 00:14:19,476
It's all about coal, and the Chinese
are here in the United States.

309
00:14:19,500 --> 00:14:21,246
What I want you to do is picture her

310
00:14:21,270 --> 00:14:24,198
as a Chinese woman
receiving a Chinese flag

311
00:14:24,222 --> 00:14:28,891
because her loved one has died
in America in the coal uprising.

312
00:14:29,512 --> 00:14:31,141
And the soldiers are Chinese,

313
00:14:31,165 --> 00:14:33,040
and everybody else is Chinese.

314
00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,520
As an American, how do you feel
about this picture?

315
00:14:38,830 --> 00:14:40,726
What do you think about that scene?

316
00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,122
OK, try this. Bring it back.

317
00:14:46,146 --> 00:14:47,576
This is the scene here.

318
00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:49,466
It's an American, American soldiers,

319
00:14:49,490 --> 00:14:52,545
American woman who lost
her loved one in the Middle East,

320
00:14:52,569 --> 00:14:54,772
in Iraq or Afghanistan.

321
00:14:54,796 --> 00:14:56,772
Now, put yourself in the shoes,

322
00:14:56,796 --> 00:15:00,651
go back to the shoes
of an Arab Muslim living in Iraq.

323
00:15:02,905 --> 00:15:07,703
What are you feeling and thinking
about this photo,

324
00:15:07,727 --> 00:15:09,540
about this woman?

325
00:15:17,901 --> 00:15:19,576
OK,

326
00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:21,576
now follow me on this,

327
00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:23,731
because I'm taking a big risk here.

328
00:15:23,755 --> 00:15:26,494
And so I'm going to invite you
to take a risk with me.

329
00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:28,040
Okay?

330
00:15:31,318 --> 00:15:33,295
These gentlemen here, they're insurgents.

331
00:15:33,319 --> 00:15:37,328
They were caught by the American soldiers,
trying to kill Americans.

332
00:15:37,352 --> 00:15:40,762
And maybe they succeeded.
Maybe they succeeded.

333
00:15:42,086 --> 00:15:46,460
Put yourself in the shoes
of the Americans who caught them.

334
00:15:47,207 --> 00:15:49,287
Can you feel the rage?

335
00:15:49,311 --> 00:15:51,693
Can you feel that you just want
to take these guys

336
00:15:51,717 --> 00:15:53,167
and wring their necks?

337
00:15:53,191 --> 00:15:54,441
Can you go there?

338
00:15:55,335 --> 00:15:57,010
It shouldn't be that difficult.

339
00:15:57,389 --> 00:16:00,081
You just -- oh, man.

340
00:16:02,474 --> 00:16:07,645
Now, put yourself in their shoes.

341
00:16:11,671 --> 00:16:13,648
Are they brutal killers

342
00:16:13,672 --> 00:16:15,625
or patriotic defenders?

343
00:16:17,601 --> 00:16:18,754
Which one?

344
00:16:19,391 --> 00:16:22,576
Can you feel their anger,

345
00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:24,031
their fear,

346
00:16:24,055 --> 00:16:26,031
their rage

347
00:16:26,724 --> 00:16:28,921
at what has happened in their country?

348
00:16:28,945 --> 00:16:33,348
Can you imagine that maybe
one of them, in the morning,

349
00:16:33,372 --> 00:16:36,504
bent down to their child
and hugged their child

350
00:16:36,528 --> 00:16:40,505
and said, "Dear, I'll be back later.

351
00:16:40,529 --> 00:16:43,858
I'm going out to defend
your freedom, your lives.

352
00:16:43,882 --> 00:16:46,355
I'm going out to look out for us,

353
00:16:47,369 --> 00:16:48,893
the future of our country."

354
00:16:49,980 --> 00:16:51,277
Can you imagine that?

355
00:16:51,301 --> 00:16:52,804
Can you imagine saying that?

356
00:16:54,028 --> 00:16:55,444
Can you go there?

357
00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:00,335
What do you think they're feeling?

358
00:17:08,623 --> 00:17:10,028
You see, that's empathy.

359
00:17:11,281 --> 00:17:12,726
It's also understanding.

360
00:17:12,750 --> 00:17:14,377
[understand]

361
00:17:14,402 --> 00:17:15,710
Now, you might ask,

362
00:17:15,733 --> 00:17:19,001
"OK, Sam, so why do you
do this sort of thing?

363
00:17:19,025 --> 00:17:21,385
Why would you use
this example of all examples?"

364
00:17:21,409 --> 00:17:24,076
And I say, because.

365
00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:27,601
You're allowed to hate these people.

366
00:17:27,625 --> 00:17:32,776
You're allowed to just hate them
with every fiber of your being.

367
00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:36,577
And if I can get you
to step into their shoes

368
00:17:36,601 --> 00:17:40,158
and walk an inch -- one tiny inch --

369
00:17:40,980 --> 00:17:43,694
then imagine the kind
of sociological analysis

370
00:17:43,718 --> 00:17:47,336
that you can do in all other
aspects of your life.

371
00:17:48,368 --> 00:17:49,776
You can walk a mile

372
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:54,871
when it comes to understanding why
that person's driving 40 miles per hour

373
00:17:54,895 --> 00:17:56,292
in the passing lane;

374
00:17:57,093 --> 00:17:58,764
or your teenage son;

375
00:17:59,474 --> 00:18:03,117
or your neighbor who annoys you
by cutting his lawn on Sunday mornings.

376
00:18:03,141 --> 00:18:05,997
Whatever it is, you can go so far.

377
00:18:06,601 --> 00:18:08,696
And this is what I tell my students:

378
00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:12,212
step outside of your tiny, little world.

379
00:18:12,236 --> 00:18:16,748
Step inside of the tiny,
little world of somebody else.

380
00:18:16,989 --> 00:18:18,430
And then do it again

381
00:18:18,454 --> 00:18:20,153
and do it again and do it again.

382
00:18:20,177 --> 00:18:22,286
And suddenly, all these tiny,
little worlds,

383
00:18:22,310 --> 00:18:24,562
they come together in this complex web.

384
00:18:24,586 --> 00:18:27,656
And they build a big, complex world.

385
00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,059
And suddenly, without realizing it,

386
00:18:30,083 --> 00:18:32,260
you're seeing the world differently.

387
00:18:32,284 --> 00:18:34,047
Everything has changed.

388
00:18:34,071 --> 00:18:35,814
Everything in your life has changed.

389
00:18:36,921 --> 00:18:39,994
And that's, of course, what this is about.

390
00:18:40,018 --> 00:18:43,140
Attend to other lives,

391
00:18:43,164 --> 00:18:44,522
other visions.

392
00:18:44,546 --> 00:18:46,971
Listen to other people,

393
00:18:47,011 --> 00:18:48,856
enlighten ourselves.

394
00:18:48,915 --> 00:18:51,048
Abd so, what I will say here is,

395
00:18:53,909 --> 00:18:57,536
I'm not saying that I support
the terrorists in Iraq.

396
00:18:58,179 --> 00:19:01,410
But as a sociologist, what I am saying is:

397
00:19:02,100 --> 00:19:04,849
I understand.

398
00:19:06,100 --> 00:19:10,328
And now perhaps -- perhaps -- you do, too.

399
00:19:10,352 --> 00:19:11,504
Thank you.

400
00:19:11,528 --> 00:19:14,896
(Applause)