Comments for outrospection

Comment on Colin Ward – an obituary and appreciation of the chuckling anarchist by Bernard Marszalek

Bernard Marszalek — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:15:31 +0000

Your remembrances of Colin are greatly appreciated. I met the gentleman only once while visiting London 12 years ago, but volunteered to be his US distributor of Anarchy in the early 60’s – which simply meant that I received bulk copies to place in bookstores in Chicago. His work has been a guide to me for all these years. For me he was an intellectual companion of Paul Goodman – another writer who saw the innate goodness in people and their expressions of social creativity that are oblivious to most intellectuals. And I am pleased to find your blog by chance (a Google Alert) and want to commend you for carrying on in Colin’s tradition.

I look forward to your review of Jeremy Rifkin’s .

Comment on Colin Ward – an obituary and appreciation of the chuckling anarchist by Nick Wilde

Nick Wilde — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:28:49 +0000

I was working in the library at Wandsworth Technical College whilst Colin was a Liberal Studies lecturer. He once confided in me that his two sons sang in the church choir but he couldn’t stop them because he was an anarchist and believed in freedom. I did a couple of book reviews for Anarchy and later he did a talk to a Library Association meeting for me. I remember that the head of Liberal Studies considered it his duty to complete the Times crossword by the morning coffee break or the Principal would want to know why. Often Charle Fellows the librarian and I as well as numerous reference books were called in to help. His ideas were a great influence and I remain, at heart, an anarchist because of his ideas.

Comment on Colin Ward – an obituary and appreciation of the chuckling anarchist by Ken Worpole

Ken Worpole — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 08:54:55 +0000

Thank you, Roman, for this lovely appreciation, which told me many things about Colin I didn’t know, hadn’t realised, or had forgotten. It’s a truly lovely piece.
Ken

Comment on Colin Ward – an obituary and appreciation of the chuckling anarchist by annie l

annie l — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:11:49 +0000

Thanks for this. I feel like I’ve got to spend a little time with him, and am interested now to read his writing.

Comment on Five ways to expand your empathy by zeban hussain

zeban hussain — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:07:19 +0000

Louise Arkles, take it from someone who knows, it is absolutely amazing how much a stranger will tell you in a brief encounter actually but you have to actually be interested and be curious about that person. If this is genuine then it wouldn’t appear nosey. That is a part of having empathy. Perhaps you are not getting the point of it.

I do think people who are not innately empathetic can be more empathetic but maybe they also have to be the type of person who is naturally inclined to question the status quo. Most people just accept that the world is dog-eat-dog, that we will get nowhere from having empathy, and that it is pointless if we want to be ’successful’ in life. Life is hard enough as it is for everyone with personal and financial struggles, sadness from loss and death etc, if we all had abit more empathy the world would definitely be a better place and actually more successful.

Comment on Reading the Mind in the Eyes by Tweets that mention Reading the Mind in the Eyes -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Reading the Mind in the Eyes -- Topsy.com — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:49:36 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rikard Linde, blogs of the world. blogs of the world said: One of the empathy tests we discussed is called Reading the Mind in the Eyes, created by the Cambridge psy… http://reduce.li/rzjvk2 #eye [...]

Comment on Should you empathise with your father’s killer? by SSRIVIDHYAIYER

SSRIVIDHYAIYER — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:36:10 +0000

Highly inspiring. I’m moved. Thanks for sharing.

Comment on Should you empathise with your father’s killer? by Tweets that mention Should you empathise with your father’s killer? -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Should you empathise with your father’s killer? -- Topsy.com — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:30:12 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Scott Lenger and Rikard Linde, nat baskaran. nat baskaran said: Should you empathise with your father’s killer? http://bit.ly/6MBKTI [...]

Comment on Should you empathise with your father’s killer? by Paul Snookes

Paul Snookes — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:52:16 +0000

I have been deeply moved by this story of Jo and Pat. I was particularly struck by the issue not being one of forgiveness, on the part of Jo, but one of empathy. That was a personal moment of satori for me.

Keep ‘em coming, Roman. I need to continue this journey.

Comment on Five ways to expand your empathy by Louise Arkles

Louise Arkles — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:36:12 +0000

A great post, but I take issue with a couple of points.
One: It is not so easy to act on our (natural or cultivated) curiosity about strangers. If what is required is “a mutual exchange of thoughts on your most important beliefs and experiences”, how can you work a brief conversation into a deep & meaningful. There are at least 2 inhibitors with someone new – 1) there is no trust established, so many people won’t want to exchange personal views, and 2) you don’t want to be seen to be prying. It’s a fine line between asking meaningful and just plain nosey questions.
Secondly, how on earth do you get to shadow a banker for a day! Even if the individual would agree, their firm would not! I don’t think that’s a realistic suggestion.