"If I Were In That Position"

Hello visitors,

It's been quite some time since I've released a more "food for thought" post but here it is. Hope people are thought provoked; it is not so much of a news flash but something to think about if you haven't come to this realization on your own.

All of us (I am sure) have read mangas where the situations are so terrible for the characters that you cannot imagine what you would do if you were in that position. However, that doesn't stop us from imagining. Sometimes there are scenarios in mangas where the characters act with such idiocy according to us as readers yet  readers don't hesitate and point out how they would approach the situation-again imagining. What I'm getting at here is that as people read mangas (and stories in general), many can't help but project themselves onto the characters in the story, imagining whilst imposing their ideals and cultural etiquette and values and think, "If I were in that position, I would..."  Am I wrong?

I've seen various mangas with similar discussions of "what would you do" and people explain their attitudes towards the situation, attempting to explain their behaviors in that situation. The issue with the projection of readers onto the characters in a story is that attitudes do not speak for behavior in actual experience of the situation. We assume that we will act a certain way in certain situations that the characters are in however this assumption is usually a "I hope this would happen." SIDE BAR: The word "assume": There has been one thing that has stuck with me since I was about 11 years old and that is a tale my teacher told me about the word "assume". I won't get into it but basically, one should not assume because in doing so, one makes an "ass" out of "you" (u) and "me". The moral is that assumptions aren't facts so one should be careful in the use of the word----Now ideally, if the situation is terrible and traumatic, avoiding it all together is preferable but usually when people explain "if I were in that position", they put themselves in that situation. What I'm trying to get at is that true empathy, I would argue, is not possible.

None of us know what the heck we would do if we were in a position as terrible as the character is in unless we have actually experienced a similar situation. We can imagine putting ourselves in the shoes of another but that's all it really is. The most obvious example I can think of that gets hit with threads with people posting what they'd do are usually the trauma-ridden mangas e.g. bullying. Bullying is not something people can empathize with unless they're experienced it themselves in my honest opinion. Sure we can try to empathize through compassion but people who say this and that if they were in a victim of bullying don't know what they're say unless they've actually experienced it.

My hands aren't completely dirt-free of doing this (call me a hypocrite but no one is a true saint). I myself have b!tched about characters being stupid and this and that. I've also argued some points about bullying and traumatic events. However, I didn't come to this realization recently so whenever since I came to the realization, I try, when speaking my opinion, to be mindful that I don't know in actuality what would happen if it were me as well as mindful of the fact that my upbringing in my own culture and society has brought out different values and etiquette that are not exactly conventional for another culture. (Cultural upbringing and socialization of readers versus the targeted audience of manga will be another topic I'll post some other day).

So when one attempts to explain what one's behavior would be in the situation of the character, I don't think anyone knows for certain unless they've been in a very similar situation. I'm not saying that it's completely BS but just keep in mind that it is an assumption and if it's a "worse case scenario" it's more of .an opinion of "I hope if I were in that position..."

That's all for this post I suppose. It's been quite awhile since I've written something like this for my blog. Hope visitors enjoyed and if you didn't, move on =)

Best,
tohukyo