About What We Care About
Are we scared yet? At the recent Republican presidential aspirants debate, no less than three of these (white) men raised their hands to indicate that they did not believe in evolution. What century are we living in again?
That's not the reason for this post, but maybe it is related.
Nicholas Kristof, in his column today in the New York times raised the issue of why we have not been able to deal with the genocide taking place in Darfur, not to mention the various genocides of the 20th century. He points out that most people will have great compassion for some individual in distress (eg, Jessica McClure, the 18 month old that fell down a well a couple years ago and captivated the media covering her rescue), yet we continue to collectively ignore the murders, rapes, destructions of a people in regions around the world.
I admit to being mystified by this as well. It's a reflection of our willingness, on the whole, to let the current administration pursue an agenda that has brought misery on people from Iraq to New Orleans, while we blithely watch American Idol and cast more votes for singers no one has heard of than we cast in elections for President.
If you want to read more about the psychology behind why we are so numb to genocide, here is a link - http://journal.sjdm.org/7303a/jdm7303a.htm to a study that Kristof references in his column.
Disturbing, to say the least.
That's not the reason for this post, but maybe it is related.
Nicholas Kristof, in his column today in the New York times raised the issue of why we have not been able to deal with the genocide taking place in Darfur, not to mention the various genocides of the 20th century. He points out that most people will have great compassion for some individual in distress (eg, Jessica McClure, the 18 month old that fell down a well a couple years ago and captivated the media covering her rescue), yet we continue to collectively ignore the murders, rapes, destructions of a people in regions around the world.
I admit to being mystified by this as well. It's a reflection of our willingness, on the whole, to let the current administration pursue an agenda that has brought misery on people from Iraq to New Orleans, while we blithely watch American Idol and cast more votes for singers no one has heard of than we cast in elections for President.
If you want to read more about the psychology behind why we are so numb to genocide, here is a link - http://journal.sjdm.org/7303a/jdm7303a.htm to a study that Kristof references in his column.
Disturbing, to say the least.
posted by Paul Salinger at 2:12 PM
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