Humanity
Amanda Fucking Palmer's Ted Talks video was really positive and amazing.
I think it really touches on something that I have struggled with when thinking about the concept of humanity. That is, people tend to be much more supportive and altruistic in very small groups but in larger groups tend to be more cruel, ignorant, and selfish. And when someone connects individually that sense of humanity and caring about others is even higher. You see this all the time, like when someone you love has or died of cancer you will be more likely to donate time or money to a cancer battling group.
What AFP has been able to do is make those individual connections with a larger group. Thousands of people. I think to do that has taken an extraordinary amount of trust in people, honesty with people, and time spent with people. I don't think it's that fans of AFP are a different kind of people, I think they are just anyone like you or me responding to the trust, honesty, and time they feel Amanda has spent with them.
I often become depressed with people. Seeing too many people not thinking about the choices they make and how it effects others. Valuing money and whatever the media tells them to want or fear. And wondering what could I possibly do to help turn that tide of selfish ignorance back, just a little bit. But that's thinking about people as the larger group. And to me, that's not humanity. But connecting to people individually, seeing a video like this and others like it, reminds me that most people are caring and positive when they feel your trust, honesty, and time.
And that, I think, is a piece of humanity.
I think it really touches on something that I have struggled with when thinking about the concept of humanity. That is, people tend to be much more supportive and altruistic in very small groups but in larger groups tend to be more cruel, ignorant, and selfish. And when someone connects individually that sense of humanity and caring about others is even higher. You see this all the time, like when someone you love has or died of cancer you will be more likely to donate time or money to a cancer battling group.
What AFP has been able to do is make those individual connections with a larger group. Thousands of people. I think to do that has taken an extraordinary amount of trust in people, honesty with people, and time spent with people. I don't think it's that fans of AFP are a different kind of people, I think they are just anyone like you or me responding to the trust, honesty, and time they feel Amanda has spent with them.
I often become depressed with people. Seeing too many people not thinking about the choices they make and how it effects others. Valuing money and whatever the media tells them to want or fear. And wondering what could I possibly do to help turn that tide of selfish ignorance back, just a little bit. But that's thinking about people as the larger group. And to me, that's not humanity. But connecting to people individually, seeing a video like this and others like it, reminds me that most people are caring and positive when they feel your trust, honesty, and time.
And that, I think, is a piece of humanity.