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Translator: Camille Martínez
Reviewer: Ivana Korom
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My students often ask me,
"What is sociology?"
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And I tell them it's the study of the way
in which human beings are shaped
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by things that they don't see.
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And they say, "So,
how can I be a sociologist?
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How can I understand
those invisible forces?"
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And I say, "Empathy.
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Start with empathy.
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It all begins with empathy.
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Take yourself out of your shoes,
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put yourself into the shoes
of another person."
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Here, I'll give you an example.
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So I imagine my life
if, a hundred years ago,
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China had been the most powerful
nation in the world
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and they came to the United States
in search of coal.
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And they found it, and, in fact,
they found lots of it right here.
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And pretty soon,
they began shipping that coal,
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ton by ton,
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railcar by railcar, boatload by boatload,
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back to China and elsewhere
around the world.
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And they got fabulously
wealthy in doing so.
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And they built beautiful cities
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all powered on that coal.
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And back here in the United States,
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back here
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we saw economic despair, deprivation.
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This is what I saw.
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I saw people struggling to get by,
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not knowing what was what
and what was next.
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And I asked myself the question:
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How is it possible that we could
be so poor here in the United States,
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because coal is such a wealthy
resource; it's so much money?
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And I realize:
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because the Chinese ingratiated themselves
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with a small ruling class
here in the United States,
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who stole all of that money
and all of that wealth for themselves.
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And the rest of us,
the vast majority of us,
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struggle to get by.
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And the Chinese
gave this small ruling elite
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loads of military weapons
and sophisticated technology
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in order to ensure that people like me
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would not speak out
against this relationship.
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Does this sound familiar?
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And they did things like train Americans
to help protect the coal.
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And everywhere, there were
symbols of the Chinese --
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everywhere, a constant reminder.
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And back in China,
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what do they say in China?
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Nothing! They don't talk about us.
They don't talk about the coal.
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If you ask them,
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they'll say, "Well, you know,
we need the coal.
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I mean, come on, I'm not going
to turn down my thermostat.
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You can't expect that."
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And so, I get angry, and I get pissed,
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as do lots of average people.
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And we fight back,
and it gets really ugly.
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And the Chinese respond
in a very ugly way.
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And before we know it,
they send in the tanks
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and they send in the troops.
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And lots of people are dying.
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And it's a very, very difficult situation.
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Can you feel me?
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Can you imagine what you would feel
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if you were in my shoes?
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Can you imagine
walking out of this building
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and seeing a tank sitting out there,
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or a truck full of soldiers?
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Just imagine what you would feel,
because you know why they're here;
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you know what they're doing here.
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And you just feel the anger
and you feel the fear.
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If you can, that's empathy.
That's empathy.
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You've left your shoes,
and you've stood in mine.
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And you've got to feel that.
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OK, so that's the warm-up.
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That's the warm-up.
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Now we're going to have
the real radical experiment.
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So, for the remainder of my talk,
what I want you to do
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is put yourselves in the shoes
of an ordinary Arab Muslim
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living in the Middle East --
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in particular, in Iraq.
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And so to help you,
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perhaps you're a member
of this middle-class family in Baghdad.
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What you want is the best for your kids.
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You want your kids to have a better life.
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And you watch the news, you pay attention.
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You read the newspaper, you go down
to the coffee shop with your friends,
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you read the newspapers
from around the world.
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Sometimes you even watch satellite,
CNN, from the United States.
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You have a sense of what
the Americans are thinking.
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But really, you just want
a better life for yourself.
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That's what you want.
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You're Arab Muslim living in Iraq.
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You want a better life for yourself.
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So here, let me help you.
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Let me help you with some things
that you might be thinking.
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Number one:
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this incursion into your land
these past 20 years and before --
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the reason anyone
is interested in your land,
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and particularly
the United States, is oil.
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It's all about oil; you know that,
everybody knows that.
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People back in the United States
know it's about oil.
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It's because somebody else
has a design for your resource.
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It's your resource --
it's not somebody else's.
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It's your land; it's your resource.
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Somebody else has a design for it.
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And you know why they have a design?
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You know why they have
their eyes set on it?
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Because they have
an entire economic system
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that's dependent
on that oil -- foreign oil,
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oil from other parts of the world
that they don't own.
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And what else do you think
about these people?
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The Americans, they're rich.
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Come on, they live in big houses,
they have big cars.
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They all have blond hair,
blue eyes. They're happy.
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You think that. It's not true, of course,
but that's the media impression.
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And that's what you get.
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And they have big cities,
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and the cities are all dependent on oil.
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And back home, what do you see?
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Poverty, despair, struggle.
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Look, you don't live in a wealthy country.
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I mean -- this is Iraq.
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This is what you see.
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You see people struggling to get by.
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It's not easy; you see a lot of poverty.
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And you feel something about this.
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These people have designs
for your resource,
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and this is what you see?
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It doesn't feel good.
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But here, couple other things.
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Something else you see
that you talk about --
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Americans don't talk
about this, but you do --
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there's this thing,
this militarization of the world,
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and it's centered
right in the United States.
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And the United States is responsible
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for almost one half
of the world's military spending.
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Four percent of the world's population!
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And you feel it; you see it every day.
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It's part of your life.
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And you talk about it with your friends.
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You read about it.
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And back when Saddam Hussein was in power,
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the Americans didn't care
about his crimes.
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When he was gassing
the Kurds and gassing Iran,
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they didn't care about it.
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When oil was at stake,
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somehow, suddenly, things mattered.
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And what you see, something else:
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the United States,
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the hub of democracy around the world --
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they don't seem to really be supporting
democratic countries
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all around the world.
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There are a lot of countries,
oil-producing countries,
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that aren't very democratic,
but supported by the United States.
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That's odd.
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Oh -- these incursions -
here, let me help you
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these two wars,
the 10 years of sanctions,
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the eight years of occupation,
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the insurgency that's been
unleashed on your people,
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the tens of thousands,
the hundreds of thousands
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of civilian deaths?
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All because of oil.
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You can't help but think that.
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You talk about it.
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It's in the forefront
of your mind, always.
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You say, "How is that possible?"
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Come on.
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And this man, he's everyman --
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your grandfather, your uncle,
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your father, your son, your neighbor,
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your professor, your student.
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Once a life of happiness and joy
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and suddenly, pain and sorrow.
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Everyone in your country
has been touched by the violence,
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the bloodshed, the pain,
the horror -- everybody.
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Not a single person in your country
has not been touched.
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But there's something else.
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There's something else about these people,
these Americans who are there.
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There's something else
about them that you see
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that they don't see themselves.
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And what do you see? They're Christians!
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They're Christians.
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They worship the Christian God,
they have crosses, they carry Bibles.
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Their Bibles have a little insignia
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that says "US Army" on them.
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And their leaders, their leaders:
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before they send their sons and daughters
off to war in your country --
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and you know the reason --
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before they send them off,
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they go to a Christian church,
and they pray to their Christian God,
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and they ask for protection
and guidance from that god.
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Why?
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Well, obviously,
when people die in the war,
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they are Muslims, they are Iraqis --
they're not Americans.
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You don't want Americans to die --
"Protect Our Troops."
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And you feel something about that --
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of course you do.
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And they do wonderful things,
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beautiful humanitarian things.
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But these humanitarians,
I mean these people, they're there -
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You read about it, you hear about it.
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They're there to build schools
and help people.
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That's what they want to do.
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They do wonderful things,
but they also do the bad things,
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and you can't tell the difference.
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And this guy, you get a guy
like Lt. Gen. William Boykin.
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Here's a guy who says
that your god is a false god.
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Your god's an idol;
his god is the true god.
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The solution to the problem
in the Middle East, according to him,
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is to convert you all to Christianity --
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just get rid of your religion.
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And you know that.
Americans don't read about this guy.
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They don't know anything
about him, but you do.
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You pass it around.
You pass his words around.
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I mean, this is serious. You're afraid.
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He was one of the leading commanders
in the second invasion of Iraq.
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And you're thinking,
"My God, if this guy is saying that,
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then all the soldiers
must be saying that."
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And this word here --
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George Bush called this war a crusade.
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Man, the Americans,
they're just like, "Ah, crusade.
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Whatever. I don't know what that means."
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You know what it means --
it's a holy war against Muslims.
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Look, invade, subdue them,
take their resources.
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If they won't submit, kill them.
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That's what this is about.
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And you're thinking, "My God,
these Christians are coming to kill us."
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This is frightening.
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You feel frightened.
Of course you feel frightened.
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Of course you feel frightened.
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Why wouldn't you feel frightened.
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And this man, Terry Jones:
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I mean here's a guy
who wants to burn Qurans, right?
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And the Americans:
"Ah, he's a knucklehead.
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He's a former hotel manager; he's got
three dozen members of his church ..."
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They laugh him off.
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You don't laugh him off,
because in the context of everything else,
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all the pieces fit.
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Of course this is how Americans think.
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So people all over the Middle East,
not just in your country,
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are protesting.
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"He wants to burn Qurans, our holy book.
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These Christians --
who are these Christians?
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They're so evil, they're so mean --
this is what they're about?"
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This is what you're thinking
as an Arab Muslim,
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as an Iraqi.
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Of course you're going to think this.
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How can you not think this?
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And then your cousin says,
"Hey coz, check out this website.
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You've got to see this -- Bible Boot Camp.
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These Christians are nuts!
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They're training their little kids
to be soldiers for Jesus.
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They take little kids
and run them through these things
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till they teach them
how to say, 'Sir! Yes, sir!'
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and things like 'grenade toss'
and 'weapons care and maintenance.'
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And go to the website --
it says 'US Army' right on it.
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I mean, these Christians, they're nuts.
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How can they do this
to their little kids?"
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And you're reading this website.
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And of course, Christians
in the United States, or anybody,
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says, "This is some little church
in the middle of nowhere."
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You don't know that.
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For you, this is like, all Christians.
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It's all over the Web: "Bible Boot Camp."
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And look at this.
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They even teach their kids --
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they train them in the same way
the US Marines train.
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Isn't that interesting.
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And it scares you, and it frightens you.
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So these guys, you see them.
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You see, I, Sam Richards --
I know who these guys are.
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They're my students, my friends;
I know what they're thinking.
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You don't know.
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When you see them, they're something else.
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They're something else.
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That's what they are to you.
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We don't see it that way
in the United States,
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but you see it that way.
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So here.
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Of course, you've got it wrong.
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You're generalizing. It's wrong.
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You don't understand the Americans.
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It's not a Christian invasion.
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We're not just there for oil;
we're there for lots of reasons.
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You have it wrong. You've missed it.
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And of course, most of you
don't support the insurgency;
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you don't support killing Americans;
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you don't support the terrorists.
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Of course you don't. Very few people do.
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But -- some of you do.
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And this is a perspective.
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OK. So now, here's what we're going to do.
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Step outside of your shoes
that you're in right now,
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and step back into your normal shoes.
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So everyone's back in the room. OK?
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Now here comes the radical experiment.
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So we're all back home.
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This photo: this woman --
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man, I feel her.
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I feel her.
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She's my sister,
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my wife, my cousin, my neighbor.
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She's anybody to me.
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These guys standing there,
everybody in the photo --
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I feel this photo, man.
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So here's what I want you to do.
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Let's go back to my first
example, of the Chinese.
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I want you to go there.
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It's all about coal, and the Chinese
are here in the United States.
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What I want you to do is picture her
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as a Chinese woman
receiving a Chinese flag
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because her loved one has died
in America in the coal uprising.
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And the soldiers are Chinese,
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and everybody else is Chinese.
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As an American, how do you feel
about this picture?
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What do you think about that scene?
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OK, try this. Bring it back.
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This is the scene here.
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It's an American, American soldiers,
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American woman who lost
her loved one in the Middle East,
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in Iraq or Afghanistan.
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Now, put yourself in the shoes,
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go back to the shoes
of an Arab Muslim living in Iraq.
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What are you feeling and thinking
about this photo,
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about this woman?
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OK,
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now follow me on this,
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because I'm taking a big risk here.
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And so I'm going to invite you
to take a risk with me.
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Okay?
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These gentlemen here, they're insurgents.
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They were caught by the American soldiers,
trying to kill Americans.
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And maybe they succeeded.
Maybe they succeeded.
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Put yourself in the shoes
of the Americans who caught them.
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Can you feel the rage?
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Can you feel that you just want
to take these guys
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and wring their necks?
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Can you go there?
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It shouldn't be that difficult.
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You just -- oh, man.
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Now, put yourself in their shoes.
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Are they brutal killers
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or patriotic defenders?
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Which one?
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Can you feel their anger,
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their fear,
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their rage
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at what has happened in their country?
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Can you imagine that maybe
one of them, in the morning,
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bent down to their child
and hugged their child
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and said, "Dear, I'll be back later.
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I'm going out to defend
your freedom, your lives.
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I'm going out to look out for us,
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the future of our country."
00:16:49
Can you imagine that?
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Can you imagine saying that?
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Can you go there?
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What do you think they're feeling?
00:17:08
You see, that's empathy.
00:17:11
It's also understanding.
00:17:12
[understand]
00:17:14
Now, you might ask,
00:17:15
"OK, Sam, so why do you
do this sort of thing?
00:17:19
Why would you use
this example of all examples?"
00:17:21
And I say, because.
00:17:25
You're allowed to hate these people.
00:17:27
You're allowed to just hate them
with every fiber of your being.
00:17:32
And if I can get you
to step into their shoes
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and walk an inch -- one tiny inch --
00:17:40
then imagine the kind
of sociological analysis
00:17:43
that you can do in all other
aspects of your life.
00:17:48
You can walk a mile
00:17:49
when it comes to understanding why
that person's driving 40 miles per hour
00:17:54
in the passing lane;
00:17:57
or your teenage son;
00:17:59
or your neighbor who annoys you
by cutting his lawn on Sunday mornings.
00:18:03
Whatever it is, you can go so far.
00:18:06
And this is what I tell my students:
00:18:08
step outside of your tiny, little world.
00:18:12
Step inside of the tiny,
little world of somebody else.
00:18:16
And then do it again
00:18:18
and do it again and do it again.
00:18:20
And suddenly, all these tiny,
little worlds,
00:18:22
they come together in this complex web.
00:18:24
And they build a big, complex world.
00:18:27
And suddenly, without realizing it,
00:18:30
you're seeing the world differently.
00:18:32
Everything has changed.
00:18:34
Everything in your life has changed.
00:18:36
And that's, of course, what this is about.
00:18:40
Attend to other lives,
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other visions.
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Listen to other people,
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enlighten ourselves.
00:18:48
Abd so, what I will say here is,
00:18:53
I'm not saying that I support
the terrorists in Iraq.
00:18:58
But as a sociologist, what I am saying is:
00:19:02
I understand.
00:19:06
And now perhaps -- perhaps -- you do, too.
00:19:10
Thank you.
00:19:11
(Applause)
