A radical experiment in empathy | Sam Richards | TEDxPSU

Sam Richards is a sociologist and award-winning teacher who has been inspiring undergraduate students at Penn State since 1990. Every semester, 725 students register for his Race and Ethnic Relations course, one of the most popular classes at Penn State and the largest of its kind in the country. Through his natural ability of seeing a subject from many angles, Richards encourages students to engage more fully with the world and to think for themselves — something he did not do until his third year in college. Because of his passion for challenging students to open their minds, an interviewer recently referred to him as "an alarm clock for eighteen-year-olds."



His career began at the age of 24 when he was hired to teach a cybernetics course — just 15 minutes before the first class meeting. He remembers walking into the room without having had a moment to create a lesson plan and greeting his students, "Welcome to the course. I'm your instructor. And if you have no idea what cybernetics is, you're not alone — because I don't either." This characteristic willingness to be playfully transparent in the classroom, along with a talent for making complex ideas understandable and relevant, is the foundation of his success as a teacher.

Richards is also the co-director of the World in Conversation Project at Penn State (www.worldinconversation.org), whose mission is to create a kind of dialogue about social and cultural issues that invites the unexamined, politically incorrect thoughts of participants to the surface so that those thoughts can be submitted to conscious exploration and inquiry. The conversation topics span a range of cultural issues — from U.S. race relations to gender to faith to international racism. This year, nearly 7,000 University Park students will participate in one of more than 1,300 of these unscripted conversations. Furthermore, the project also sponsors video dialogues between Penn State students and students at other universities around the world.

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Arabic translation: Noof Fawzi Alkhamis
Malay translation: Iliani Wan Ahmad Murtadza

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My students often ask me,

"What is sociology?" and I tell them it's the study of the way

in which human beings are shaped by things that they don't see.

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

"How can I understand those invisible forces?"

and I say, "Empathy."

Start with empathy.

It all begins with empathy. Take yourself out of your shoes and put yourself

into the shoes of another person.

Here, I'll give you an example.

So I imagine my life if a hundred years ago, China had been

the most powerful nation in the world,

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

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

And pretty soon they began shipping that coal ton by ton,

rail car by rail car, boat load by boat load back to China

and elsewhere around the world.

And they got fabulously weatlthy in doing so.

They built beautiful cities all powered on that coal.

And back here in the United States we saw economic despair, depravation.

This is what I saw. I saw people struggling to get by,

not knowing what was what and what was next.

And I asked myself a question.

I say, "How is it possible that we can be so poor in the United States,

because the coal is such a wealthy resource. It's so much money?"

And I realize because the Chinese ingratiated themselves

with a small ruling class here in the United States

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

And the rest of us, the vast majority of us struggle to get by.

And the Chinese gave this small ruling elite loads

of military weapons and sophisticated technology in order to insure

that people like me would not speak out against this relationship.

Does this sound familiar?

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

And everywhere were symbols of the Chinese.

Everywhere a constant reminder.

And back in China? What do they say in China? Nothing.

They don't talk about us. They don't talk about the coal.

If you ask them they'll say, "Well, you know, the coal?

We need the coal. I mean, come on."

"I'm not going to turn down my thermostat. You can't expect that."

And so I get angry and I get pissed,

as do lots of average people, and we fight back.

And it gets really ugly and the Chinese respond in a very ugly way.

And before we know it they've sent in the tanks

and they've sent in the troops and lots of people are dying.

And it's a very, very difficult situation.

So, can you feel me? Can you imagine what you would feel

if you were in my shoes?

Can you imagine walking out of this building and seeing a tank

sitting out there or a truck full of soldiers.

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

and you know what they're doing here, and you just feel the anger

and you feel the fear. Okay? If you can, that's empathy.

That's empathy. You've left your shoes and stood in mine.

And you gotta feel that. Okay, so that's the warmup. That's the warmup.

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

And so for the remainder of my talk what I want you to do

is put yourselves in the shoes of an ordinary Arab Muslim

living in the Middle East, in particular in Iraq.

And so to help you--

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

And what you want is the best for your kids.

You want your kids to have a better life.

And you watch the news. You pay attention. You read the newspaper.

You go down to the coffee shop with your friends.

And you read the newspapers from around the world,

and sometimes you even watch satellite CNN from the United States

so you have a sense of what the Americans are thinking.

But really you just want a better life for yourself.

That's what you want. You're Arab Muslim living in Iraq.

You want a better life for yourself. So here, let me help you.

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

Number one, this incursion into your land these past twenty years and before?

The reason anyone's interested in your land in particular the United States?

It's oil.

But it's all about oil. You know that. Everybody knows that.

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

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

It's your resource. It's not somebody else's, right? It's your land.

It's your resource. Somebody else has a design for it.

And you know why they have a design? You know why they have their eyes set on it?

Because they have an entire economic system that's dependent on that oil.

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

And what else do you think about these people?

Well, the Americans, they're rich! Come on, they live in big houses, they have big cars,

they have blonde hair, blue eyes. They're happy. You think that.

It's not true, of course, but that's the media impression. That's like what you get?

And they have big cities and the cities are all dependent on oil.

And back home what do you see?

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

I mean this is Iraq.

This is what you see -- you see people struggling to get by.

I mean it's not easy. You see a lot of poverty and you feel something about this.

These people have designs for your resource, and this is what you see?

It doesn't feel good. But here, a couple other things?

Something else you see that you talk about.

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

There's this thing this militarization of the world, and it's centered right in the United States.

And the United States is responsible for almost one half of the world's military spending.

Four per cent of the world's population and you feel it, you see it every day.

It's part of your life and you talk about it with your friends.

You read about it. And back when Sadaam Hussein was in power?

The Americans didn't care about his crimes.

When he was gassing the Kurds and gassing Iran they didn't care about it.

When oil was at stake, somehow suddenly things mattered.

And what you see? Something else?

The United States, the hub of democracy around the world?

They don't seem to really be supporting democratic countries all around the world.

There are a lot of countries, oil-producing countries, that aren't very democratic

but supported by the United States.

That's odd.

Oh, these incursions. Here, let me help you.

These incursions? These two years wars? The ten years of sanctions?

The eight years of occupation?

The insurgency that's been unleashed on your people?

The tens of thousand, the hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths

all because of oil.

You can't help but think that. You talk about it.

It's in the forefront of your mind always.

You say, "How is that possible? Come on."

And this man?

He's every man. Your grandfather, your uncle your father,

your son, your neighbor, your professor, your student --

wants a life of happiness and joy and suddenly pain and sorrow.

Everyone in your country has been touched by the violence,

the bloodshed, the pain, the horror. Everybody.

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

So here, but there's something else.

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

There's something else about them that you see. They don't see themselves.

And what do you see? They're Christians.

They're Christians. They worship the Christian God.

They have crosses, they carry bibles.

Their Bibles have a little insignia that says U.S. Army on them.

And their leaders, their leaders, before they send their sons and

daughters off to war in your country, and you know the reason,

before they send them off, they go to a Christian church

and they pray to their Christian God

and they ask for protection and guidance from that god.

Why?

Well, obviously so that when people die in the war they are Muslims.

They are Iraqis.

They're not Americans.

You don't want Americans to die. Protect our troops.

And you feel something about that. Of course you do?

And they do wonderful things, beautiful humanitarian things,

but these humanitarians, I mean because these people, they're there

you read about it, you hear about it, they're there to build schools

and help people and that's what they want to do.

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

and you can't tell the difference.

And so you don't.

And this guy, you got a guy like Lieutenant General William Boykin.

I mean, here's a guy that says that your god is a false god.

Your god is an idol. His god is the true god. The solution to the problem in the Middle East

according to him is to convert you all to Christianity.

Just get rid of your religion.

And you know that.

Americans don't read about this guy.

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

You pass it around, you pass his words around.

I mean this is serious. You're afraid.

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

and you're thinking "My god, if this guy is saying that,

then all the soldiers must be saying that."

Right?

This word here. George Bush called this war a "crusade."

Man, the Americans they're just like, "Crusade, whatever, I don't know what that means."

But you know what it means. It's a Holy War against Muslims.

Look, invade, subdue them, take their resources. If they won't submit, kill them.

That's what this is about.

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

This is frightening. You feel frightened.

Of course you feel frightened?

Of course you feel frightened.

Why wouldn't you feel frightened.

And this man, Terry Jones, I mean here's a guy wants to burn Korans, right?

And the Americans, "Oh what, he's a knucklehead, he's a former hotel manager,

he's got three dozen members of his church",

they laugh him off. You don't laugh him off.

Because in the context of everything else, all the pieces fit.

I mean of course this is how the Americans think,

and so people all over the Middle East, not just in your country are protesting.

He wants to burn Korans, our holy book.

These Christians, Who are these Christians? They're so evil, they're so mean.

I mean this is what they're about?

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

Of course you're going to think this. How can you not think this?

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

You gotta see this Christian, this Bible Boot Camp.

These Christians are nuts. They're training their little kids to be soldiers for Jesus."

And they take these little kids, and they run them through these things

and they teach them how to say "Sir, yes, sir!", and play games like grenade toss,

and weapons care and maintenance.

And go to the website. It says U.S. Army right on it.

I mean these Christians they're nuts!

How would they do this to their little kids?

And you're reading this website and of course Christians

back in the United States or anybody says

"Aw, this is a little tiny church in the middle of nowhere."

You don't know that.

For you, this is all Christians.

It's all over the web -- Bible Boot Camp.

And look at this. They even teach their kids.

They train them in the same way the U.S. Marines train.

Isn't that interesting?

And it scares you and it frightens you.

So these guys? You see them?

You see I, Sam Richards, I know who these guys are.

They're my students, my friends. I mean I know what they're thinking.

You don't know.

When you see them they're something else. They're something else.

That's what they are to you. (Christian Invaders)

We don't see it that way in the United States.

But you see it that way?

So here. Of course, you got it wrong.

You're generalizing, it's wrong.

You don't understand the Americans. It's not a Christian invasion.

We're not just there for oil. We're there for lots of reasons.

I mean, you have it wrong. You've missed it.

And of course most of you don't support the insurgency,

you don't support killing Americans, you don't support the terrorists.

Of course you don't. Very few people do. But some of you do?

And this is a perspective.

Okay, so now, so here's what we're going to do.

Step outside of your shoes that you're in right now

and step back into your normal shoes, so everyone's back in the room, okay?

Now here comes the radical experiment.

So we're all back home.

This photo. This woman?

Man, I feel her. I feel her.

She's my sister, my wife, my cousin, my neighbor, she's anybody.

These guys standing there, everybody in the photo?

I feel this photo, man.

So here's what I want you to do.

Let's go back to my first example of the Chinese, okay?

So I want you to go there, so it's all about coal

and the Chinese are here in the United States.

And I want you to picture her as a Chinese woman receiving a Chinese flag

because her loved one has died in America in the coal uprising.

And the soldiers are Chinese and everybody else is Chinese.

Okay? As an American, how do you feel about this picture?

What do you think about that scene?

Okay, try this.

Bring it back. This is the scene, here. It's an American,

American soldiers, American woman who lost her loved one in the Middle East,

in Iraq or Afghanistan?

Now put yourself in the shoes

of an Arab Muslim living in Iraq.

What are you feeling and thinking about this photo,

about this woman?

Okay, now follow me on this.

Because I'm taking a big risk here.

And so I'm going to invite you to take a risk with me, okay?

Okay so these gentlemen here, they're insurgents.

They were caught by the American soldiers trying to kill Americans.

And maybe they succeeded. Maybe they succeeded?

Put yourself in the shoes of the Americans who caught them.

Can you feel the rage?

Can you feel that you just want to take these guys and wring their necks?

I mean, can you go there? It shouldn't be that difficult.

You know you just feel, "Aw, man!"

Okay, now, put yourself in their shoes.

Are they brutal killers

or patriotic defenders?

Which one?

Can you feel their anger, their fear, their rage

at what has happened in their country?

Can you imagine that maybe one of them in the morning

bent down to their child and hugged their child and said,

"Dear, I'll be back later. I'm going out to defend your freedom, your lives."

"I'm going out to look out for us, the future of our country."

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine saying that?

Can you go there?

What do you think they're feeling?

You see that's empathy.

It's also understanding.

Now, you might ask, "Okay, Sam, so why do you do this sort of thing?"

"Why would you use this example of all examples?"

And I say because you're allowed to hate these people.

You're allowed to just hate them with every fiber of your being.

aAd if I can get you to step into their shoes

and walk in inch, one tiny inch,

then imagine the kind of sociological analysis that you can do

in all other aspects of your life.

You can walk a mile when it comes to understanding

why that person is driving 40 miles per hour in the passing lane,

or your teenage son, or your neighbor

who annoys you by cutting his lawn on Sunday mornings.

Whatever it is, you can go so far -- and this is what I tell my students.

Step outside of your tiny little world.

Step inside of the tiny little world of somebody else.

And then do it again, and do it again, and do it again

and suddenly all of these tiny little worlds

they come together in this complex web

and they build a big complex world.

And suddenly without realizing it you're seeing the world differently.

Everything has changed.

Everything in your life has changed.

And that's of course what this is about.

Attend to other lives, other visions.

Listen to other people. Enlighten ourselves.

And so what I will say here is, I'm not saying that I support the terrorists in Iraq.

But as a sociologist, what I am saying is I understand.

And now perhaps, perhaps, you do too.

Thank you.

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