Go on then, put yourself in someone else's shoes
election time. And all I can think of are people who like people who they (think) they are like.
There are people who like politicians, writers, artists, actors, sportspersons that they look up to, because the latter provide them some pleasure, joy, purpose. Some of these people are even Indian White supremacists, who genuinely believe that the pavements would be smoother under British governance.
Then there are the same people who don't like people who they are not like. Or rather, people who are not like them. The reason for their antipathy could be a difference in faith, dietary habits, regional residency, way he or she behaves in a gathering, or the way one dresses. But this kind of antipathy, even detestation, can be a defining feature of such a person.
Politicians, deft in psychology, play both these cards of relatability and unakin-ness.
The fact that one can hold one's own 'territory' without having to invade another person's space, is something that is losing popular appeal. It starts innocuously enough. If I like, say, punk rock and you write it off as 'three-chord noise', you cluck your teeth and roll your eyes to suggest I have bad taste. If you aren't bowled over by the prime minister, then I could get riled up enough to think that you are rather 'anti-national' (as if being anti-national is as horrible as, say, being cruel to animals).
Which is where empathy — and the lack of it — enters the picture. The ability to take on another's perspective to understand and feel others' experiences — to be in
