#33: We’ve got to figure out a way to have some empathy.
It’s rare, in today’s day anyway, that something just simply debuts. Upon the release of any piece of media, there’s usually a parade of fan fair that follows. A new movie is ready to premiere? Check out the two-minute trailer. A new book is about to be released? Here are six podcasts with the author saying virtually the same thing. Reader, it is for this reason that I take notice when something simply appears without any prior knowledge.
Just the other day, I fired up Netflix (with no purpose in mind) and saw that Aziz Ansari just released a new comedy special titled Nightclub Comedian. Until seeing the banner plastered across the screen, I had no idea he had a new special, and I’m something of an Aziz Ansari fan. I read his book Modern Romance when it came out in the early 2010s, loved his comedy specials, and his Netflix series Master of None is one of my favorites.
Ansari, in recent years, has gone through a transformation of sorts. Simply compare the older specials to his newer ones and you’ll see the pomp and circumstance of his earlier days give way to a more conversational tone focusing on reflection and empathy. There’s no doubt his growth comes from allegations levied against him, and while those claims never gave way to a conviction, he’s come out the other end a better person for it.
The special starts with Aziz walking the streets of New York City to the legendary Comedy Cellar. (Reader, I’ve been here many times and was lucky enough to be present during a Dave Chappelle surprise visit.) Unbeknownst to the audience, Aziz drops in and comfortably takes his place on a stool behind the club’s iconic brick wall. Ansari starts his set with comments on pandemic issues, but after making a few jokes at Aaron Rodgers’s expense, Aziz reveals something quite poignant.
Ansari looks out at the crowd of smiling faces and starts to tell a story of his uncle’s passing. The smiles disappear and are replaced with concern. “My father pleaded with him four days before he died to get the vaccine, but he just wouldn’t.” After a moment of silence, Ansari continues. “You know, I don’t think my uncle was an idiot. I just think he got hit by this other thing we created now, which is a culture where the flow of information has been completely corrupted. Companies are profiting from information, so of course they are going to profit off disinformation.”
Earlier in the special, Ansari comments on how we are all trapped in a different algorithm. He laments that simply calling other people idiots doesn’t really do anything. It just gives proof that you are trapped as well, albeit in a different algorithm. Watch and read Fox News and Breitbart? You’re trapped. Watch and read MSNBC and The New York Times? You’re trapped, too. Even a blend of the two doesn’t save you unless you are truly open to hearing a different perspective. As Aziz says, “I know everything you are going to say about everything.”
Reader, I am guilty of this myself, and it’s likely you are too. I’ve seen holidays and events with family and friends go south as soon as someone mentions anything political. Someone else inevitably counters with a claim, and before you know it, an innocent gathering becomes real-life Facebook theater. The goal becoming less about connecting with loved ones and more about showing them that you are right.
Aziz pleads, “We’ve got to figure out a way to have some empathy. We are all just kind of trapped in our own little world, and unless we figure out how to talk to each other in real life again it doesn’t even matter what the problem is.” I couldn’t agree more with him, but this is, honestly, something that’s very difficult to begin, especially with companies profiting over our polarization.
Reader, I am not sure exactly how to accomplish this, but the next time anything pro or con about vaccines, masks, democrats, republicans, corporations, and more infiltrate a conversation, I’ll take a pause and ask myself, “Will my contribution help connect or disconnect?”
Chances are that my informed and/or biased contribution at the dinner table wasn’t going to solve any national problem.
Thanks for reading.