Reflections on Irene: Cultivating Our Inner Compass

Posted on September 2, 2011 by zoeweil

In the days leading up to Irene, and during the two days the storm traveled up the eastern coast of the U.S., I happened to be doing a lot of driving. I brought my son back to his school in Massachusetts and then took a trip to the easternmost county in Maine. All told I spent about 18 hours in the car over three days. Because I have satellite radio in my car, I have lots of news options. I spent most of the time listening to CNN, Fox News, and NPR, following the reports of Hurricane (later Tropical Storm) Irene.

I watched myself being manipulated by the media, which preyed on fear and fed a lust for voyeurism. As it became clear that Irene was not going to be as bad as predicted – at least not in the east coast’s major metropolitan areas – I found myself simultaneously relieved and vaguely… disappointed. That I felt disappointed at all shocked me, until I tried to deconstruct what was happening to me. It’s as if the media had turned Irene into a blockbuster movie, and now the movie lacked excitement. I was conflating entertainment’s adrenalin rush with reality, a reality that was, fortunately, much better than it could have been.

My own mother lives in a 7th floor apartment in New York City. How could I feel anything but relief that her power remained on throughout the storm and that she was safe and secure? When I contacted my son, in the direct line of Irene in Western Massachusetts, to ask how the storm was, he said it was pathetic. Even he was looking forward to something bigger and scarier and more impressive than the wind and rain that knocked power out for only 3 hours. Only later, when he saw the devastation in Brattleboro, Vermont, only 20 minutes from him, did he realize how lucky he was.

Listening to newscasters desperately trying to hype up what was happening, to get passersby to make things sound worse, reminded me of the creepy curiosity that causes most of us to slow to observe an accident, not because we plan to stop and help, but out of some yucky fascination that represents our basest selves.

Noticing how easily we are manipulated, how quickly we can lose our sense of perspective and clarity and even inner morality is important. Finding our compass is a critical component to remaining clear-headed when media (and other) manipulations threaten to erode our values, beliefs, and even our integrity. Maintaining an inner eye that watches our own emotional lability, that observes our response to manipulations, that reminds us to use our critical thinking skills and nurture our best qualities – especially during emergencies – may be the best way to ensure that we have the tools and level-headedness to confront not only apparent crises, but the pervasive problems that should appear as crises (e.g., global warming) but which do not.

Cultivating that inner compass often demands perseverance on our part. We need to expose ourselves to many views lest we be manipulated; we must continually challenge ourselves to learn more and seek out accurate information. We must remain vigilant to the power of brainwashing and recognize our own susceptibility to opinion disguised as fact.

Be vigilant. The world needs your good mind and big heart intact.

For a humane world,

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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What Can We Do About Psychopaths?

Posted on May 30, 2011 by zoeweil

On my long trip from Maine to Seattle for Green Fest, I read journalist Jon Ronson’s new book, The Psychopath Test, about psychopaths in our society. It was a fascinating, unsettling read by a exceptional writer. That Ronson can take a grisly subject like psychopathy and actually fill it with witty and pleasurable-to-read writing is quite a feat. Ronson is never one to research a subject from afar; for him, a book on psychopaths requires intimate and indepth contact with psychopaths. Which means we readers have an inside view into such minds.

The title of the book comes from a checklist of questions that comprise a psychopath test created by Canadian psychologist Robert Hare. Hare’s study of psychopathy reveals enough consistency that if someone scores high on the test they are likely to be psychopathic, without conscience or the kinds of fears that “normal” people have. They are, he attests, not curable or treatable.

And this creates a thorny problem. If psychopaths are not curable or treatable, and if, as the book reveals, they make up one percent of the general population, 25% of the prison population, and scariest of all, four percent of those at the top of the corporate ladder, we have a big problem. Psychopaths appear normal, but without conscience, with no restraints on causing harm and suffering to others; and, with honed manipulative skills and a penchant for pathological lying, they wreak havoc. When they are in positions of power (as corporate, religious, media, or political leaders), they harm thousands, even millions. A psychopathic criminal who rapes, mutilates, and kills stirs our terror, but their victims are far fewer in number than those skilled, but still psychopathic Wall Street moguls, religious manipulators, government leaders, and media heads.

And because humanity is easily manipulated, swayed, and susceptible to influence (note the Milgram and Stanford Prison experiments and the brown eyes/blue eyes exercise), the potential for harm by psychopathic manipulators is even greater.

So what to do?

It will come as no surprise to readers of my blog that my best suggestion is this: humane education that is dedicated to teaching critical and creative thinking skills and fostering reverence, respect, and responsibility. Only when we have these skills honed, practiced and employable 100% of the time, are we able to discern misleading and manipulative words and behaviors. These skills are hardly foolproof, but they are a good start. When psychopaths mastermind religious, political, media, and economic control, and an easily manipulated populace blindly follows – as we so often do – we should not be surprised by the outcomes. When a generation truly taught to be investigative thinkers, to deeply self-reflect, to understand connections between behaviors and outcomes, to be system-analyzers and system-changers, and to hold fast to their deepest values, which they are taught from the earliest ages to cultivate with conviction, then there is hope that that powerful 4% of conscience-less people will not go unchecked.

I recommend Ronson’s book for a fascinating, albeit disturbing, view into the mind of psychopaths and to hone your own skills in recognizing psychopathy for your sake and the sake of our world. And I recommend the resources and programs at the Institute for Humane Education for training in this field that offers real hope for combating the power of psychopaths in our midst.

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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Why We Need Humane Education: May 21 and the Failed Rapture

Posted on May 25, 2011 by zoeweil

Six p.m. came and went and no rapture on May 21. It seemed that almost everyone I talked to that weekend knew about Reverend Camping’s prediction. And most of us laughed it off. After months of media attention, billboards, emails, tweets, discussions on Facebook, and more, we could be snarky about such a silly prediction. And so the jokes ensued. My husband joked that I’d better not be on a plane that day in case the pilots were raptured in flight. I made my own jokes the morning of May 22 to our staff at the Institute for Humane Education, and we agreed that with no rapture forthcoming, we’d have to keep working on fixing the world.

But the more I think about this whole hoopla, the more unsettled by it I feel. Camping preyed on people’s gullibility and vulnerability. And those who believed and spread his message did likewise. And the media gave this silliness attention, so we all knew about it. Who knows how many people gave up their jobs, spent their life savings, and changed their lives in anticipation of rapture, only to have rent to pay and food to buy and lives to continue? It’s easy to think that it serves them right for being so foolish, but this is who we are as humans – easily manipulatable and eager followers (as the Milgram and Stanford prison experiments and the brown eyes/blue eyes exercise reveal).

Once again, there is a solution to this sort of thing: humane education. We must educate youth to use their minds, their reason, their critical thinking capacities, and their ability to research, investigate, inquire and learn. Only when we are able to think clearly and rationally can we hope to keep at bay the brainwashing, influences, and manipulations that come our way constantly: through media, advertising, religious crusaders, and politicians who prey on our emotions and create a fervor of (pick one or more): fear, rage, and/or greed, while simultaneously fostering self-aggrandizement and overconfidence in what has been fed to us as “truth.” Fear-mongering and hatred and the instigation of rage come from both left and right. We are preyed upon as much by the purveyors of beauty products endlessly generating self-doubt as we are by pundits on opinion shows encouraging us to hate others and to feel empowered when we follow their true path, and equally by religious zealots telling us what to believe, as Camping did.

Before we scoff at Camping’s “silly followers,” let’s remember how susceptible we all are to influencers and manipulators (even when we think we are not). And let’s commit to educating the next generation to have the skills they desperately need (and which the world desperately needs) to think well and clearly for a healthy world for all.

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

Image courtesy of Analogick via Creative Commons.

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