Are you convinced

Are you convinced

de Amanda DiPaolo O'Brien -
Número de respuestas: 0

Hi Human Rights enthusiasts,

I've read all your comments regarding whether or not you are convinced by Hunt's hypothesis. I've replied to many comments, though not all. Just out all your replies. There were some wonderful conversations happening. 

Here are just a few of the wonderful highlights that I thought was worth bringing to everyone's attention. 

Josh commented on how novels could be powerful but need to be read by the right people to have an impact in growing understanding, citing Indian Horse and how more indigenous people would be interested in reading it than non-indigenous. 

Several students like Emily G. and Ellen pointed out that novels and pop culture in general built empathy, sure, but question whether or not that translates to action on social justice issues, to which I added the following comment:

I think what Lynn is saying is that when we identify with characters with different lives experiences, we see the world through different eyes and maybe that is what encourages us to act upon social justices issues in the real world. I don't think she is saying we put a book down and say to ourselves that's it, I'm going to protest our government, but that rather when we see stuff on the news that maybe we would not have thought about or cared about that maybe our perceptions change without us even knowing it and that at that point we might be more inclined to act. Does that make sense?

Minahil rightly questioned the thesis on the grounds of being very Euro-centered. I added the following comment/question:

"Interesting point: "Furthermore, it’s a very Eurocentric argument, and all the “empathy-building” works mentioned are white European and historically these individuals are the ones who have committed the worst human rights atrocities."

I think the rationale here is that human rights are defined legally as individual in nature and protected by law. The Euro nature of it stems from the individual rather than group rights as well as protected by law (having the force of the government behind it vs. being a demand on the citizen which is more non-western where the onus/responsibility is on the individual to protect the group rather than the gov. to protect the individual).

Does that change your argument any?"

Many wondered if other forms of popular culture like movies and television were more effective and at least a couple of you questioned the worth of forms of pop culture and instead said it is the news and real-world events that create empathy and actual change in protecting human rights. 

Overall, it was a great discussion and I love the amount of engagement I saw this week. If you have any questions or comments, go ahead and reply in the noticeboard. Let's keep the discussion going.