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When People Are Starving, Will They Care About Trans Rights?
Maslow’s hierarchy rules us all
A long time ago, I read about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is visually represented by a pyramid. At the base are physiological needs such as food, air, shelter, water, warmth, and other basic biological requirements without which human beings cannot survive. The pyramid then travels upwards until we get to human self-actualization.
The pyramid is problematic on many levels, however. For example, human emotions such as love are higher on the pyramid than needs such as food — yet there are many examples of poor, hungry people who love and care for each other. Homeless people in the United States sometimes have a pet they care for, caring for the animal despite themselves often being hungry. In India, where my parents come from, a large part of the population is poor, yet no one watching interactions would think the poor did not care for their children, who they often sacrifice themselves for.
Human beings are more complex than can be characterized by a simple model. Yet the model does have a kernel of truth.
Maslow’s Pyramid and Our Current Reality
The reason I started to think about this vis-à-vis our nation’s current political climate — I find the harbinger of…
