Oh well, yeah, sure. Compassion fatigue is something of a Western concept, specifically American. And it's not jusssst compassion that tires us out; it's the relentless onslaught of demands on our attention and sympathy. It's the media glut, really.
Myanmar gets a two-minute piece on the World News at night, followed by a three-minute piece on autism, a three-minute piece on the campaign, thirty seconds each on gas prices, home loans, and steroids. Then a piece about the trend of housewives taking "stripper aerobics" classes. Not to mention the dozen commercials sprinkled throughout.
Hell, I'm not saying anything new.
And I don't think more bad shit happens these days than it did 20, 30 years ago. We just KNOW about more of it now, thanks to satellites and Rupert Murdoch. And it wears us down, down, down. Until it's hard to get your empathy bone all worked up over this-new-thing or that-horrible-thing-happening-over-there.
Also, "tragedy." That word gets tossed around. A bunch. And it's almost always the wrong word to use. When a kid shoots three classes, is that a tragedy? Sure. But then what happens when a cyclone wipes out a half-million people across the globe? Yep, that seems to fit the "tragedy" bill, too. So three kids dying in a school shooting is on par with a half-million in a natural disaster?
Of course not.
But maybe it's not about measuring tragedy, or creating a "holy-fucking-shit-can-you-believe-it" hierarchy. Such pursuits are a waste of time at best, and exploitive and immoral at worst. But I do think we need some new vocabulary, as humans tend to use word to classify things in their head and act appropriately.
Myanmar is a tragedy. The Virginia Tech shooting is a _____________.
Myanmar gets a two-minute piece on the World News at night, followed by a three-minute piece on autism, a three-minute piece on the campaign, thirty seconds each on gas prices, home loans, and steroids. Then a piece about the trend of housewives taking "stripper aerobics" classes. Not to mention the dozen commercials sprinkled throughout.
Hell, I'm not saying anything new.
And I don't think more bad shit happens these days than it did 20, 30 years ago. We just KNOW about more of it now, thanks to satellites and Rupert Murdoch. And it wears us down, down, down. Until it's hard to get your empathy bone all worked up over this-new-thing or that-horrible-thing-happening-over-there.
Also, "tragedy." That word gets tossed around. A bunch. And it's almost always the wrong word to use. When a kid shoots three classes, is that a tragedy? Sure. But then what happens when a cyclone wipes out a half-million people across the globe? Yep, that seems to fit the "tragedy" bill, too. So three kids dying in a school shooting is on par with a half-million in a natural disaster?
Of course not.
But maybe it's not about measuring tragedy, or creating a "holy-fucking-shit-can-you-believe-it" hierarchy. Such pursuits are a waste of time at best, and exploitive and immoral at worst. But I do think we need some new vocabulary, as humans tend to use word to classify things in their head and act appropriately.
Myanmar is a tragedy. The Virginia Tech shooting is a _____________.
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