Leveraging chaos: Maslow, fear, and empathy

     Alvin Toffler created the term Future Shock, in his book of the same name, in 1970, A short definition is that future shock is a condition where too much is changing, in too brief a period of time, for people to handle.
     People who are used to, or make a living from, the use of fossil fuels have fears concerning the future as they are aware that the ability to use them is finite -- they WILL run out. People who are used to living, and behaving, in a particular way will often be very resistant to changing even if it is well known that it is necessary -- as evidenced by reaction to the situation of rapid climate change. Changes in the acceptance of people, or groups, who were not previously accepted makes many people afraid and religious interpretations can be manufactured to justify mistreatment.
     Change is usually unsettling and change that occurs quickly is even more upsetting. Thus, there can be a desire to "turn back the clock"; restore slavery, keep the homosexuals and other gender variations in the closets, have codified behaviors for women and lower income people to be subordinate to those who have power. Re-concentrate power into the groups that previously held the power.
     This seems to be a period of time when politicians all around the world are trying to encourage fear (and anger) in order to be elected, stay elected, or promote their own agenda (often based on personal profit or ideological reasons). A time when many people are afraid, having difficulties finding enough upon which to live, or filled with shame; it is an ideal time for politicians to take advantage of that situation. Scapegoats are easy to manufacture, and use, as distractions from political actions and foundation reasons for problems.
     Post World War I was an ideal period of time within Germany and Italy to produce the conditions under which a Hitler or Mussolini could be attractive. Authoritarian control, rigidly enforced central rule, and a tightly focused, simplistic, program can be attractive and comforting for someone whose life appears chaotic and unreliable. A fascist philosophy, in particular, can be attractive to those who want to be "saved" from chaos or rapid change. They are willing to throw away those "higher" ideals of freedom, justice, or even love if they choose to give in to their fears.
     Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, wrote a paper in 1943 describing what he called "a hierarchy of needs". There were three groupings: basic needs, psychological needs, and self-fulfillment needs as seen in the following diagram:

     Each level builds upon the lower one. In order to be able to address safety needs, it is necessary to first satisfy biological and physiological needs. Or one can say -- you have to be able to stay alive to stay safe. You have to personally feel safe before you are able to start caring for others. And so forth. Note that, once a person has "climbed" the pyramid, it is possible to choose to override the lower needs. A parent may be willing to sacrifice their own life to save a child -- "love needs" become more important than anything lower on the pyramid. In a similar fashion, a person may have "climbed" the pyramid to the point where they are a dedicated follower of a belief system or avid proponent for others such that they are willing to forego all personal benefits in order to do their best for others. A person can make a choice to let the higher needs override the lower needs.
     According to Maslow, you can only start taking care of upper layer needs after the lower levels have been satisfied. But (not according to Maslow) the lower needs are threatened (in reality or in fantasy) such that the higher layers of needs are forsaken -- they have not been able to make a choice but, instead, have had their foundations shaken and broken.
     Tell people that their security is threatened by some other person, or group, (even if the accusation is completely false) and the religious or spiritual beliefs you hold can be suppressed, ignored, or twisted. Torture a person who has not gotten to the "self-actualization" level and they may toss away esteem, love, and safety to maintain their basic physiological needs (that is -- to live).
     When fear of loss of basic needs becomes sufficiently great, empathy disappears -- taking care of oneself becomes the overriding priority over taking care of others. It is something that politicians, people proclaiming themselves to be leaders of a religion, or other figures of authority have always recognized and have used to promote war or the mistreatment of individuals or groups.