North American numbness
I am struck today anew with the North American ethno-centrism. How is it that we were so deeply impacted by the deaths on September 11th, and yet as the tsunami death toll climbs over 20 times higher, it's little more than a current event in our minds? One big difference that contributed to the horror 3 years ago was the intentional & strategic evil seemingly born from the minds of men, while this is a natural disaster with no political agenda (although it will be interesting to see if Bush can contrive 'intelligence' that blames Iran or Korea for the tsunami and create a case for combative measures!). Even still, I am bothered that we are not more disturbed by it. I am among those numb to the magnitude of the suffering, but I pray God would break my heart with this as I am certain His is broken.
posted by sibbie751 @ 6:47 p.m.
3 Comments:
I agree.
But it is hard for people to feel when they don't have direct attachments to an area. If you've never been there, don't know anybody, news isn't covering it much, etc. I don't think it means people don't care, so much as it means they don't know how to show their care w/o specifics.
Our church had an exchange student last year from Thailand. He emailed the other day saying how he was about to go to one of the beaches that was hit hardest, but his bus was delayed so he decided not to. So that story helped me to feel more connected to the situation.
As far as Bush goes, it is FAR more likely that people find a way to blame him for the earthquake than it is for him to use it as a cause for war.
I knew that was bound to get a Republican response! I'm actually not as anti-bush as my sarcastic aside suggested. I agree that many go way over the top in accusations of hidden agendas for everything that Bush does (ie Farenheit 911) but neither do I think he's the innocent fearless leader that the other camp promotes.
I agree that it's harder to relate to something that is outside our own little world, but maybe we should take this into account and be a little more hesitant before waging war on someone else's little world...?
I am a republican, but I wouldn't consider myself a 100% Bush backer by any means. I don't think he's war hungry though. And I agree, we should take the time before we take the action.
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