Feelings, Nothing More...

This hurricane on the Gulf Coast is one of the worst things to happen to America in a long time. It will have horrible, long-term effects on more people than 9/11 (although fewer deaths), and one of the country's great cities with awesome history is under water. Nobody denies it: this really, really sucks.

Then why don't I feel anything? Why didn't I feel anything after the tsunami? Why, aside from a little bit of shock and sadness at, I won't lie, the damage done to the skyline, didn't I feel anything after September 11th? I would guess it's the impersonality of it all. I feel sad that Eric Seymour's childhood home is probably gone...and that's about it. I don't know people in New Orleans. I think this shows a lot about how people are wired, and some of it is not entirely flattering. We need a story. We need a face. These are the things that effect our emotions. Death tolls do not.

If I could ditch one aspect of human nature, it would be the in-group/out-group impulse. Any psychologist or non-vegetative person will tell you that people are interested in labeling themselves "us" and labeling someone else "them." I really hate this impulse. I want to feel equally bad when Africans or Middle Easterners are killed as when Americans are killed. I want to feel as bad when children or old people are killed as I do when college students are killed (does anyone else besides me get more upset about the deaths of 21-year-olds than about the deaths of 5-year-olds?). But even that gradient between people who are in my in-groups and people who are outside is very little. I mean, September 11th killed plenty of young, smart, Jewish New Yorkers, and I didn't cry over them. In order for me to feel truly upset, I have to know the person. And even if I know the person, I have to think about the person in order to cry over them. Emotional triggers are very bizarre indeed.