Meeting Minutes

06/27

A few missing faces, One new face

Administrative
-Still looking to fill Vice President, Treasurer, and other board positions
-Get/building a year long calendar to plan gatherings/events/outings

Discussion topic: Is empathy enough to build a just society?
-No, not with the current state of American individualism widespread social isolation
-There are many personal definitions of empathy and of what a just society would mean
-We would first need to determine the goal of the justice system: Punishment, revenge, restitution, rehabilitation?
-Is there such a thing as 'too much' empathy? If so, how can we balance empathy for someone doing harm without excusing the harm they have done?
-People cannot lead with 100% empathy 100% of the time, it simply isn't possible or sustainable, so instead of maximizing individual empathy we focus on creating maximally distributive society with a community wide 'net' of empathy that covers 100% of people
-Empathy without action is just sympathy, one should be an active participant in their community to ensure their empathy has an impact
-Social media, while being an incredible tool in connecting us on a worldwide level has also led to people pulling away from their offline communities, this combined with the empathy fatigue we may get from seeing a non-stop stream of horrors has led many to feel hopeless
-We can combat this helplessness by bringing those virtual communities back offline to discuss and then implement community actions
-If empathy isn't enough alone can it be supplemented by things such as greater community? For example, one may struggle to reach a level of empathy that incites action simply because they don't know or have connections to the people around them

What are ways that we can grown and strengthen our communities and learn to lead with empathy?
-Being willing to start conversations with strangers
-Fostering helpfulness even if there is no 'reward'
-Building support networks within our immediate neighborhoods
-Increasing the number of third spaces where the community can gather and socialize
-Allowing others and ourselves to make mistakes and grow from them
-A return of cringe culture or in other words allowing each other to act in ways or enjoy things that we may personally find weird without ostracizing each other