Is the apple that is the world getting more rotten with each passing day? And if so why is that? Let’s apply the scientific method to our analysis and see what becomes of it. First let us lay out what the scientific method is. Step one is to create the null hypothesis. A null hypothesis will state that there is no statistically significant change in some indicator of world rottenness over time. We then scientifically attempt to prove or disprove that hypothesis using data and logic.
For a world rottenness indicator, I have chosen to measure empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. I mean let’s face it, I think that most people would say that having empathy towards their fellow man would be a good thing. Unfortunately, here in the USA amongst our widely divided citizenry, it seems like empathy towards those not in your chosen group of associates is greatly lacking. I often go back to a quote from Charles Bukowski.
“I guess the only time most people think about injustice is when it happens to them.”
So how does one measure empathy? After all, I don’t think that there is an empathy meter that we can stick up a person’s ass to measure their ability to empathize with their fellow man. And even if we could, who would agree to having such a probe? I did find this “Empathy Test” on the Psychology Today website that seems like a reasonable way to measure, but how to administer such a thing? And would people be honest? And would not a non-empathetic survey participant say “Stick that damn survey where the sun don’t shine!”. I suppose no matter how you measure it, your results are going to be biased by the measurement method, the measurement administrator, or the measurement victim.
In any event, my null hypothesis is as follows “There is no statistically significant change in empathy within our world between the years 1958 and 2025”. Why 1958, you innocently ask? Well that is the year that the world was created as far as I am concerned, since that is the year that I was born. Now onto the question of an empathy measurement. Ideally, one would select some statistic that is tracked and available for us to compare and evaluate over time to see if there is indeed a statistically significant change in it. As it turns out, there does exist a thing called the “Basic Empathy Scale”. The Basic Empathy Scale is a 20-item measure of basic empathy, assessing four emotions: fear, sadness, anger, and happiness. I suppose if we could somehow magically administer this test to some generic cohort of goobers over the last 67 years and then tabulate the results, we could answer the question that I have posited. Sadly that is not to be.
So I said all that to say this. As I have aged, my view of the world and the mighty powers that rule it has gone right down the shitter. My empathy towards others and especially those that I disagree with, has gone down the same poop caked toilet. So I am pretty sure that my whole high minded experiment has little to no chance of giving a meaningful result. In addition to that, I have friends that I either vehemently agree or disagree with about the state of the world and the powers that guide us through it. I cannot say with any authority that anyone in power has had the brain power or morality to lead this world into an empathetic future. As such I must quickly conclude that the world is going to shit and empathy along with it. As far as I can tell, and I have gathered this from my interactions with Facebook, the nightly news, and the constant stream of baloney emanating from that pie hole we call the internet, that everyone appears to hate everybody, except for those that they agree with and perhaps a few of their close relatives. Even those relationships occasionally go down the tubes as well I am sure.
So what is one to do that is concerned about, for lack of a better term, the World Rottenness Index? Ignore it and hope that it goes away. Or as in the case of apples and bananas, refrigerate it to slow the decay process. As far as I know, there is no way to make someone more empathetic without extensive time on a psychiatrist couch, or electroshock therapy, or a frontal lobotomy, or weed, or alcohol, or any other number of hard drugs. The only way that I can think to make people more empathetic is to let them experience the pain and suffering of those that deserve our empathy.
Maybe if the billionaire power brokers of this world spent a little time fleeing the violence inherent in Gaza or Ukraine, the World Rottenness Index would drop dramatically. Just a thought from somebody that is thinking.
