in the East they resolve contradictions
by seeking balance what they call the
middle way but in the West we seem to
resolve contradictions by dichotomizing
and after we dichotomize with with favor
one and not the other and so it
shouldn’t come as a surprise when we
also dichotomize and compartmentalize
the intellect and emotions and then we
so when it comes to emotions we tend to
push emotions aside
we are suspicious of emotions we
consider emotions as hindrance to
seeking truth and by doing so we fail to
benefit from what I call critical
feeling the way I see it
critical feeling is the ability to
constantly monitor our emotions so that
we can take our emotions into
consideration when we were attempting to
understand another person I believe that
it’s only by integrating critical
thinking with critical feeling we can
fully appreciate the experiences of
another human being to clarify my point
I’m going to tell you a story
we all like stories don’t we yes this is
a story about Jake and John
Jake and John are brothers their father
is a very rich man
and we need to set a context for this it
took place in the early 17th century now
Jake being the older of the two figured
that since his father’s very rich and
that he’s older than John he should
rightfully inherit all of his dad’s
money so he had a habit of going to his
dad and sharing all kinds of lies about
John so whenever he got the opportunity
would go to the dad and say dad do you
know John is considered the town
drunkard the town womanizer so we
shouldn’t be surprised when the father
dies in 1619 he leaves all of his money
3.7 million dollars and absolutely
nothing to John now 3.7 million dollars
in the 17th century was a lot of money
so John lived a very cushy life good
food nice house servants he was able to
send his children to very good schools
John on the other hand was barely
getting by and he had hardly anything to
show furthermore since his brother Jake
was such an influential person in town
he could hardly do anything to get ahead
in life without Jake’s approval I think
you can understand this now let’s move
forward shall we let’s sail
go forward to the 19th century overall
Jake’s children are doing really well
compared to John’s children and by now
Jake has achieved a legendary status in
his community so to honor him Jake’s
community Iraq’s a huge statue of Jake
right in the middle of town I think all
of us have seen this statue now this is
what I would like you to do if you
belong the John side of the family how
would you feel having to walk pass
Jake’s statue every day to work you
still remember what Jake did to John and
the consequences of those lies to your
family do you think you might feel a tad
bit angry resentful cynical let’s move
forward to the 21st century to the year
2018 now by now by now some folks in
John’s side of the family are doing
rather well actually some of them are
doing even better than some of the folks
in Jake side of the family but when we
look at the overall picture when we
compare Jake side of the family and
John’s head of the family well there’s
some huge gaps in terms of income net
worked positions of power in politics
business academia it seems like Jake
side of the family have monopolized all
so now if you are on Jon’s side of the
family and you have nothing to show for
how do you think you’re feeling right
okay now if you were to go up to John’s
side of the family and ask them hey why
is a huge gap you know the first thing
they’re going to say to you is well you
know the lies that are told by Jake a
long time ago well that has made all the
difference now if you were to go to
Jake’s side of the family and ask them
hey why the gap you know they’re going
to try and convince you that they worked
for everything they have and if you were
to bring up the lies that were told by
Jake you know what the response is going
to be look that happened a long time ago
I wasn’t there I didn’t say it
furthermore it happened such a long time
ago what’s what’s the relevance of those
lies in 2018 at this point I have a
feeling most of you have an idea what
I’m really talking about if you don’t
you might be thinking to yourself I
don’t know I have thought about slavery
I’ve discussed about slavery but somehow
this topic has never hit me this way
before why is that let me try and
explain my goal here was to try and help
you to understand the psychological or
emotional impact of slavery that set off
a chain reaction way back in 1619 that
is still being felt by African Americans
today by sharing this analogy I was
hoping to engage your critical thinking
and also your critical feeling so that
you can better empathize with African
Americans on the topic of slavery those
of us who address social justice issues
have noticed the topics like slavery
racism white privilege often provoke
very powerful uncomfortable feelings
like guilt and shame among white people
even highly educated white people and as
a result discussions that we have about
social justice often become intellectual
exercises that are devoid of any
acknowledgement of strong emotions that
could potentially bias critical to
critical thinking as I see it white
people
need to start a new chain reaction that
can counter that the chain reactions
that was set off by oppressive
institutions like slavery in this
country you can start a chain reaction
today by choosing to critically feel and
take ownership
Apio a deep-seated guilt and shame to
fully understand social justice issues
which you cannot hope to do through
critical thinking alone until you’re
able to do so I’m afraid the chain
reactions that began a long time ago are
going to continue and you will be partly
responsible for their perpetuation due
to lack of critical thinking and feeling thank you
by seeking balance what they call the
middle way but in the West we seem to
resolve contradictions by dichotomizing
and after we dichotomize with with favor
one and not the other and so it
shouldn’t come as a surprise when we
also dichotomize and compartmentalize
the intellect and emotions and then we
so when it comes to emotions we tend to
push emotions aside
we are suspicious of emotions we
consider emotions as hindrance to
seeking truth and by doing so we fail to
benefit from what I call critical
feeling the way I see it
critical feeling is the ability to
constantly monitor our emotions so that
we can take our emotions into
consideration when we were attempting to
understand another person I believe that
it’s only by integrating critical
thinking with critical feeling we can
fully appreciate the experiences of
another human being to clarify my point
I’m going to tell you a story
we all like stories don’t we yes this is
a story about Jake and John
Jake and John are brothers their father
is a very rich man
and we need to set a context for this it
took place in the early 17th century now
Jake being the older of the two figured
that since his father’s very rich and
that he’s older than John he should
rightfully inherit all of his dad’s
money so he had a habit of going to his
dad and sharing all kinds of lies about
John so whenever he got the opportunity
would go to the dad and say dad do you
know John is considered the town
drunkard the town womanizer so we
shouldn’t be surprised when the father
dies in 1619 he leaves all of his money
3.7 million dollars and absolutely
nothing to John now 3.7 million dollars
in the 17th century was a lot of money
so John lived a very cushy life good
food nice house servants he was able to
send his children to very good schools
John on the other hand was barely
getting by and he had hardly anything to
show furthermore since his brother Jake
was such an influential person in town
he could hardly do anything to get ahead
in life without Jake’s approval I think
you can understand this now let’s move
forward shall we let’s sail
go forward to the 19th century overall
Jake’s children are doing really well
compared to John’s children and by now
Jake has achieved a legendary status in
his community so to honor him Jake’s
community Iraq’s a huge statue of Jake
right in the middle of town I think all
of us have seen this statue now this is
what I would like you to do if you
belong the John side of the family how
would you feel having to walk pass
Jake’s statue every day to work you
still remember what Jake did to John and
the consequences of those lies to your
family do you think you might feel a tad
bit angry resentful cynical let’s move
forward to the 21st century to the year
2018 now by now by now some folks in
John’s side of the family are doing
rather well actually some of them are
doing even better than some of the folks
in Jake side of the family but when we
look at the overall picture when we
compare Jake side of the family and
John’s head of the family well there’s
some huge gaps in terms of income net
worked positions of power in politics
business academia it seems like Jake
side of the family have monopolized all
so now if you are on Jon’s side of the
family and you have nothing to show for
how do you think you’re feeling right
okay now if you were to go up to John’s
side of the family and ask them hey why
is a huge gap you know the first thing
they’re going to say to you is well you
know the lies that are told by Jake a
long time ago well that has made all the
difference now if you were to go to
Jake’s side of the family and ask them
hey why the gap you know they’re going
to try and convince you that they worked
for everything they have and if you were
to bring up the lies that were told by
Jake you know what the response is going
to be look that happened a long time ago
I wasn’t there I didn’t say it
furthermore it happened such a long time
ago what’s what’s the relevance of those
lies in 2018 at this point I have a
feeling most of you have an idea what
I’m really talking about if you don’t
you might be thinking to yourself I
don’t know I have thought about slavery
I’ve discussed about slavery but somehow
this topic has never hit me this way
before why is that let me try and
explain my goal here was to try and help
you to understand the psychological or
emotional impact of slavery that set off
a chain reaction way back in 1619 that
is still being felt by African Americans
today by sharing this analogy I was
hoping to engage your critical thinking
and also your critical feeling so that
you can better empathize with African
Americans on the topic of slavery those
of us who address social justice issues
have noticed the topics like slavery
racism white privilege often provoke
very powerful uncomfortable feelings
like guilt and shame among white people
even highly educated white people and as
a result discussions that we have about
social justice often become intellectual
exercises that are devoid of any
acknowledgement of strong emotions that
could potentially bias critical to
critical thinking as I see it white
people
need to start a new chain reaction that
can counter that the chain reactions
that was set off by oppressive
institutions like slavery in this
country you can start a chain reaction
today by choosing to critically feel and
take ownership
Apio a deep-seated guilt and shame to
fully understand social justice issues
which you cannot hope to do through
critical thinking alone until you’re
able to do so I’m afraid the chain
reactions that began a long time ago are
going to continue and you will be partly
responsible for their perpetuation due
to lack of critical thinking and feeling thank you
Please follow and like us: