"Other People’s Children" by Paul Krugman a the NY Times

[sangsaran]

11. I don't disagree with your overall point, but...

I don't believe these things happen because people are selfish and only care about those issues which impact them. Certainly, that's how many people look most of the time, but... Generally speaking, people only empathize with other people. For example, people who care a great deal for their pets often think of their pets as far more human than they are, and people who care little for animals usually stress that they're less than human.

Some people really are (nearly) incapable of empathy (like Mitt Romney), but most are not. Most often, their problem is that they can't put a human face to those they're judging, which really does count for a lot. When they think of "gay people," they think of some collection of stereotypes, and many of the stereotypes they may be familiar with are negative. When they think of "Muslims," it's the same. When they think of the people they're speaking to online, even, they're only speaking to some stranger without a face, a voice, or any sort of identity.

When they actually know someone from one of these marginalized minorities, though, they often begin to realize "the gays," "the Muslims," "the trannies" are not some horrible public menace, but human beings, just like everyone else--their opinions no longer come from prejudice. That is why they can so easily convert when it's someone they personally know.

People are flawed, yes, but I don't believe they're so evil as many of us--perhaps, in some cases, all of us--tend to make them out to be. Most often, when we judge them as such, we're making the same mistakes they are.

(I realize terms like "gays" and "trannies" are offensive and dehumanizing, but I'm trying to get across that that is the only way they know to think of them.)