'Politics' has got to be one of the hottest words of the moment in in the UK and rightly so, the election is just days away. However, politics is so much more than policy, politics is people. The election is between me and you, between all of us. Whether you identify in the left, right, middle or upside down the way you do or don't vote is a choice for the better or the worse.
Empathy is integral to our decision making as human beings and it should not be used as a pawn. Living in the media and technology heavy world that we do, empathy is moulded and manipulated just as often as statistics by politicians and papers. Depending on what media you follow, be that through Facebook and Twitter, a daily newspaper or otherwise, what you see will affect how you perceive the road to 'betterness'. Our Content Editor covered this in a separate post, so I won't go into damaging media agenda, I will however go into damaging human agenda.
I have had to access one public service or another all of my life. I don't just mean school or the odd GP appointment, I mean hospitals and specialist units and bursaries and benefits. Through shared circumstance I have spoken to many around me who are either 'just about managing' or just about holding their lives together and the lack of empathy shown in Conservative politics sickens all of us. Listening to Conservative politicians state that they cannot excuse the suffering of audience members when confronted on television, such as on Friday's Question Time 'debate', and contradict themselves with cuts cuts cuts suggests a disregard for those in need - and everyone of us will be a person in need at a time in our life.
Empathy matters to me, in my relationships with those I love, those I know and those I don't. To not care is to let people suffer. The system, as current, isn't working. People are dying due to shortfalls in funding and regardless of political orientation that cannot be excused.
On 8 June I implore you to vote with empathy for those that might not be able to thank you come next week, next month or next year if the Tory cuts keep coming.
Image credit: Sean MacEntee
This was a very interesting read. I think it's fairly obvious but at the same time people think that you should vote logically not viscerally. I think there is an important balance between the two skewed towards the empathic.
At the same time the big questions is can we afford to vote with emotionally rather than pragmatically, so to speak?