Ramblings

I had a great conversation today, with my friend and classmate.  She is doing some work that talks about the empathy and lack of empathy for others, even those that you really have no way to relate to.  This got me to thinking (oh, no!) about how empathy is an instinctual part of the human psyche.  It serves as a crucial survival mechanism not for the individual but for the species.  Empathy and sympathy can cause the individual to slow down, to stop and help someone, putting themselves at risk in a threatening situation, but it promotes the "sticking together" mentality and strategy during threats to the species, or to large groups of humans threatened by animals, disease, or even zombies (hey, it's almost Halloween).

Another aspect of the empathize idea is the popularity of such things as film, Television, and even music (specifically vocal).  These are art forms that express the human experience, but these art forms specifically can be more relatable to the masses because of the visual and oral presence of humans, and human emotion.  There is a base level of understanding that the person on screen is happy or sad, regardless of language, due to the visual nature of the medium.  Or, in the case of music, you are compelled to respond to the voice you hear singing.  You don't just hear notes and language, but the emotion expressed.  This is especially true currently, as most music genres have taken on an emotional trend with the vocals, to the point of over emphasizing emotion conveyed by the voice.  As a listener or viewer, you respond in kind by empathy.