I haven’t read this whole thread, so forgive me if I’m re-stating someone else’s point. I think there’s another explanation: they have a hypothesis about you/EAs/us that we are not disproving.
My experience has been that people in any numerical or social minority group (e.g. Black Americans, people with disabilities, someone who is the “only” person from a given group at their workplace, etc), are used to being met with disappointing responses if they try to share their experiences with people who don’t have them (e.g. members of the numerical or social majority group that they are different from). Most of us have had this experience at least some of the time, maybe as EAs! People get blank stares, unwanted pity or admiration, or outright dismissal and invalidation (e.g. “it can’t be all that bad” or “you’re just playing the [race/poverty/privilege/ whatever] card”). This is definitely the kind of conversation people see over and over again on the internet. So, until proven otherwise, that’s what people expect. Majority group members are expected to be ignorant of what life is really like for people who experience it differently. I think this is a rational expectation at least some of the time. The hypothesis then goes: EAs look like majority group members and often are, ergo anything EAs say about which problems are “most important” is assumed to be somewhat ignorant. Maybe people see it as well-meaning or callous ignorance. Regardless, ignorance is assumed as most probable, because it’s true of most people. (I think EAs and progressives also have different models of when ignorance matters the most and when differences matter the most, but that’s a different thread).
I’ve usually taken the view that I don’t get to assume people will see me as an informed, compassionate person on the progressive left until I disprove the hypothesis above. If the first thing I say is something like why local US poverty issues are “less important” than other issues, I’ve just reinforced the hypothesis rather than disproven it. It sounds like denying the reality that they know is true—they’ve seen the real-life people impacted and/or read their stories or studied the human impact of these issues. At least in my case, it’s not true that they struggle to think of people in other countries as real people too. (My progressive friends have often lived abroad, have family in other countries, or work in immigrant communities). It’s a trust issue. If they see me denying that local issues are “real/important,” I must be ignorant, and worse, I must be unwilling to be bothered with the real-life experiences of people different from me. Why should they trust anything I say after that about helping people? “But Africa though!” sounds like a deflection, not a genuine consideration or a sincere, compassionate challenge of their own thinking about poverty.
When I speak first about things we both care about and share sincere examples of the ways that I do see and care about the depth of personal stress that US poverty and racial disparities have on people I actually know, I haven’t had a progressive friend respond by saying that poverty in other countries didn’t matter. I brought it up second though, and that seems to make a difference. If someone trusts that I am a caring, informed person, not a callous ignorant one, we can expand the scope of the conversation from there.
Fwiw, I can’t think of a time this has led to changed actions on their part.
I haven’t read this whole thread, so forgive me if I’m re-stating someone else’s point.
I think there’s another explanation: they have a hypothesis about you/EAs/us that we are not disproving.
My experience has been that people in any numerical or social minority group (e.g. Black Americans, people with disabilities, someone who is the “only” person from a given group at their workplace, etc), are used to being met with disappointing responses if they try to share their experiences with people who don’t have them (e.g. members of the numerical or social majority group that they are different from). Most of us have had this experience at least some of the time, maybe as EAs! People get blank stares, unwanted pity or admiration, or outright dismissal and invalidation (e.g. “it can’t be all that bad” or “you’re just playing the [race/poverty/privilege/ whatever] card”). This is definitely the kind of conversation people see over and over again on the internet. So, until proven otherwise, that’s what people expect. Majority group members are expected to be ignorant of what life is really like for people who experience it differently. I think this is a rational expectation at least some of the time. The hypothesis then goes: EAs look like majority group members and often are, ergo anything EAs say about which problems are “most important” is assumed to be somewhat ignorant. Maybe people see it as well-meaning or callous ignorance. Regardless, ignorance is assumed as most probable, because it’s true of most people. (I think EAs and progressives also have different models of when ignorance matters the most and when differences matter the most, but that’s a different thread).
I’ve usually taken the view that I don’t get to assume people will see me as an informed, compassionate person on the progressive left until I disprove the hypothesis above. If the first thing I say is something like why local US poverty issues are “less important” than other issues, I’ve just reinforced the hypothesis rather than disproven it. It sounds like denying the reality that they know is true—they’ve seen the real-life people impacted and/or read their stories or studied the human impact of these issues. At least in my case, it’s not true that they struggle to think of people in other countries as real people too. (My progressive friends have often lived abroad, have family in other countries, or work in immigrant communities). It’s a trust issue. If they see me denying that local issues are “real/important,” I must be ignorant, and worse, I must be unwilling to be bothered with the real-life experiences of people different from me. Why should they trust anything I say after that about helping people? “But Africa though!” sounds like a deflection, not a genuine consideration or a sincere, compassionate challenge of their own thinking about poverty.
When I speak first about things we both care about and share sincere examples of the ways that I do see and care about the depth of personal stress that US poverty and racial disparities have on people I actually know, I haven’t had a progressive friend respond by saying that poverty in other countries didn’t matter. I brought it up second though, and that seems to make a difference. If someone trusts that I am a caring, informed person, not a callous ignorant one, we can expand the scope of the conversation from there.
Fwiw, I can’t think of a time this has led to changed actions on their part.