Against Tolerance: The Ethics Of Empathy

an article by Rafaël Newman published on 3 Quarks Daily


“Quark”, photograph by the author, Bern 2018

I am employed two or three weekends a month as a minder or “Betreuer” at a treatment centre and halfway house for recovering drug addicts in Zurich. My duties include spending the night at the facility as the lone member of supervisory staff, eating meals with the clients, supervising their activities and accompanying their outings, taking urine samples and administering breathalyzer tests, distributing a variety of antidepressants and other prescription meds, and joining them for sessions of meditation and self-led group therapy.

Our clients typically come from the Swiss middle and working class, are predominantly white and “European”, and have in common with other addicts of my acquaintance a marked tendency to egocentrism and either a concomitant failure of empathy or, in reaction to the affective over-sensitivity that has come to be associated with addiction (particularly in the case of celebrity overdose victims such as Philip Seymour Hoffman), a self-protective closing of the border between self and other, whether by chemical, behavioral, or neurotic means.

Among my unspoken responsibilities as a minder, therefore, and in line with the principles of the self-help program that serve the center as an unofficial “philosophy”, is the performance of a living example: of empathy in action; of open-mindedness regarding others and their sensibilities or “struggles”; of humility and the will to serve, rather than simply to use, exploit, and consume. And as a consequence, the recovering addicts in my charge are, implicitly, to learn how to belong to a group rather than to go it alone, as they have been wont to do in active addiction.

Continue reading

---

Public Spaces Protection Orders: a critical policy analysis

an article by Vicky Heap and Jill Dickinson (Sheffield Hallam University, UK) published in Safer Communities Volume 17 Issue 3 (2018)

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically appraise the Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) policy that was introduced by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act (2014). Within a designated area assigned by the local council, PSPOs can prohibit or require specific behaviours to improve the quality of life for people inhabiting that space. Those who do not comply face a fixed penalty notice of £100 or a fine of £1,000 on summary conviction. However, the practical and theoretical impact associated with the development of these powers has yet to be fully explored.

Design/methodology/approach
Using Bannister and O’Sullivan’s (2013) discussion of civility and anti-social behaviour policy as a starting point, the authors show how PSPOs could create new frontiers in exclusion, intolerance and criminalisation, as PSPOs enable the prohibition of any type of behaviour perceived to negatively affect the quality of life.

Findings
Local councils in England and Wales now have unlimited and unregulated powers to control public spaces. The authors suggest that this has the potential to produce localised tolerance thresholds and civility agendas that currently target and further marginalise vulnerable people, and the authors highlight street sleeping homeless people as one such group.

Originality/value
There has been little academic debate on this topic. This paper raises a number of original, conceptual questions that provide an analytical framework for future empirical research. The authors also use original data from Freedom of Information requests to contextualise the discussions.

---

How to Be Less Anxious About Things You Can't Change

a post by Benjamin Fishel for the Tiny Buddha blog


“One of the happiest moments is when you find the courage to let go of what you can’t change.” ~Unknown

Over the last few years, I’ve had to deal with a frustrating problem.

It’s something that’s not uncommon, but it can be debilitating, and it has affected me every day. Some days have been incredibly tough, and they’ve tested my tolerance and my patience.

The problem is chronic back pain.

Every day I get up, knowing that throughout the day I’m going to have a discomfort that could oscillate between a mild annoyance and an intense burning. At some point, it’s going to distract me. Either while I work, while I eat, while I meditate, while I exercise, and sometimes while I sleep.

You’d think by now I would’ve gotten used to it, that it would’ve become the unwelcomed friend that I’d learned to live with. Unfortunately, that’s only the case sometimes.

Continue reading

---

8 Tips For Dealing With Painful Emotions

a post by Rachel Fintzy for the Contentment & Happiness blog [via World of Psychology]



Into every life some rain must fall.

As smug as this cliché may sound, it’s true. Even if we’ve been blessed with the “happy” gene, we cannot avoid feeling emotionally uncomfortable from time to time.

We feel things for a reason. Our emotional pain carries a message.

If someone close to us passes away, it’s natural for us to grieve and feel sad.

If we receive a dire medical diagnosis, we’re likely to feel anxiety.

When something important to us doesn’t go our way, we may feel disappointed or angry.

To try and push down our feelings in such (and many other) instances would be akin to taking the battery out of our home’s fire alarm if it goes off, rather than checking out the reason why the alarm is blaring.

Dealing with emotional pain often entails that we weather the painful feelings. Sometimes the intensity or duration of our emotions can become detrimental. In other cases, what we’re feeling is just par for the course. In any event, tolerating an upsetting emotion can teach us a lot about ourselves while also giving us a chance to practice healthy self-care.

No matter how loving our family and friends may be, we are the only person who has been, is, and will be with us 24/7, for our entire life. So, it behooves us to learn effective self-nurturing skills in preparation for an emotional storm.

Continue reading

---