I do think it’s kind of human nature to be more shocked when bad stuff happens “here” or to people “like us”.
When we hear about bad stuff far away there’s a tendency to think that’s normal over there, or it must be happening for reasons, that we just don’t understand…
That’s exactly why I think it’s important to be aware of these tendecies/bias, and try to calibrate how serious problems feel against actual numbers harmed…
I see your point with this and I agree that something that’s happening in your own country would hit you harder than an equal situation in another. I’m more pointing out the sheer disparity between the two that is the case the vast majority of the time and the reactions around that. Even if atrocities are more common in certain other countries, treating it with basically next to no empathy (or sometimes even thinking it’s right that it’s happening or just a natural thing) and then something very small in comparison happening here is given vast amounts more attention and empathy isn’t something I can see as excusable. Especially given how often European countries have a hand in those atrocities happening. If it’s a case of not understanding the context then again I don’t think the default should then just be to not care about innocents dying. I’m not expecting people to go out and try and stop it or whatever but to do more at least than just shrug it off. Just because it’s the norm to have this attitude doesn’t make it right
I do think it’s kind of human nature to be more shocked when bad stuff happens “here” or to people “like us”.
When we hear about bad stuff far away there’s a tendency to think that’s normal over there, or it must be happening for reasons, that we just don’t understand…
That’s exactly why I think it’s important to be aware of these tendecies/bias, and try to calibrate how serious problems feel against actual numbers harmed…
I see your point with this and I agree that something that’s happening in your own country would hit you harder than an equal situation in another. I’m more pointing out the sheer disparity between the two that is the case the vast majority of the time and the reactions around that. Even if atrocities are more common in certain other countries, treating it with basically next to no empathy (or sometimes even thinking it’s right that it’s happening or just a natural thing) and then something very small in comparison happening here is given vast amounts more attention and empathy isn’t something I can see as excusable. Especially given how often European countries have a hand in those atrocities happening. If it’s a case of not understanding the context then again I don’t think the default should then just be to not care about innocents dying. I’m not expecting people to go out and try and stop it or whatever but to do more at least than just shrug it off. Just because it’s the norm to have this attitude doesn’t make it right