Mridula Anand | Week 9: The Power of Perception
Source: https://www.threads.net/@everydayisawesome/post/DEqbFkDyhYT (Original post deleted)
Los Angeles has been a hub for as long as we can remember. But over the course of less than a single month, the city once talked about for its movies, its drama, and its gossip, is now being talked about for its flames.
Most of us, though we live in California, do not have the power to see the entire story. We are aware of what has been going on, however we cannot attest to relating to a single thing that Los Angeles residents have had to deal with recently.
Social media attempts to serve as a bridge for this.
In my experience, one of the first places where I saw news of the fire was on social media. As I started to go through the posts on social media about the fire, I was heartbroken by the amount of people who shared not an ounce of sympathy for the victims of the fire. There are memes being shared about how the rich people should suffer and go through hardship instead of carrying on with their “privileged” lives.
What these people cannot fathom, first of all, is the fact that though celebrities are rich, they are still human beings. Many celebrities like to call L.A. their home, and how do people expect one to feel when they see the place they have raised their kids turn to ashes in an instant?
Besides just celebrities, who probably make up less than 10% of the population in L.A., people forget that there are middle-class, even poverty-stricken people living there. Unlike celebrities, who may have other homes to go to, common folks, once having lost their home, have lost their only home, which really puts the situation into perspective.
Blinded by their own hardships and lack of satisfaction, people on social media who are negatively commenting about those impacted by the fire fail to understand that a sense of loss can be experienced by people across statuses.
Here lies the power of perception. The power of being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. The power of empathy. Those who don’t hold this power fail to understand the breadth of true humanity, because the power of perception is equivalent to true human nature.
Hi Mridula! I completely agree with you and I am so glad someone is talking about it. Whenever I scroll through social media, I am also bombarded by a constant stream of people expressing pleasure at the idea of the richer parts of LA burning down. The image that you posted above is the perfect example of this. While it is true that certain rich people can and do make other people's lives miserable, we cannot say that all rich people deserve this. This misguided and vindictive hatred is actively supported by many, even those who live in California. I really like your line "how do people expect one to feel when they see the place they have raised their kids turn to ashes in an instant?" It really puts into perspective the devastation that people, rich and poor, are going through. While I do understand where some of the rich-hating sentiments come from, I fully agree with you that in situations such as this, where grief and destruction are widespread, a person's status does not matter. A person's loss is always loss, regardless of how rich they are. Overall, I really liked your post and look forward to reading more!
ReplyDeleteHey Mridula! I am so glad to see that I was not the only one that was appalled by the amount of insensitivity I had seen in response to the fires in Los Angeles. The fact that so many people in this country are facing such a life-altering event and it is being met with so little empathy is so heartbreaking. The tweet you had used as your photo for this blog was such a horrid take and it was what had drawn me to read your blog. I, too, agree that empathy is the trademark of humanity. Without empathy, there is no real humanity. What separates humans from savage beasts is our ability to put ourselves in others' shoes and make the attempt to understand their struggles. Thank you so much for touching on this topic, it was a pleasure to read!
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