Do we Care?

Sometimes it is worth stopping to think how much more real things become when one knows, loves and cares about individual people caught up in some of the situations we are discussing on various internet sites.

I remember my anguish over the conflict in former Yugoslavia; we have friends who live there. We were close to their children and they have visited us often. In all the confusion of this war the lack of communication from this family was hard to bear.

During the war in the Falklands I was caught up in the very real terror of an old school friend whose family still lived in the islands.

I cannot claim to have the same concern, or interest in Tibet, China, Zimbabwe et al except that of empathising with the suffering. Compassion fatigue can set in with the constant bombardment of news about wars, famines and other disasters, but there is also the very real danger of forgetting that these are fellow human beings.

This dehumanisation process is the follow up to the categorisation of people for ethnic, or religious differences too. They are set apart, demonised and once their basic humanity is denied, become scapegoats, blamed for all the ills, be it social or economic of the country in which they live.   Perhaps the ultimate example of this process and the horrendous consequences was the treatment of German Jews under Nazi rule. There are countless others.

Cover of Maus: A Survivor's Tale

131 thoughts on “Do we Care?”

  1. My sentiments exactly, Araminta. I have said on a couple of “exchanges” on the other side.
    I do hate the “realistic” attitude on this. Big words like, this can’t be avoided. Or in a Yanke way “you can’t make an omlette without breaking eggs.” Asif they are talking about some bugs. This very people talking from their warm and safe houses have guts to cry like crazy when a tiny bit of their interest is jepartized , say some tax. God, they make me sick!
    This is a covered support. Those people have also blood on their hands. If they weren’t so bloody heartless, politicains couldn’t so easily go to war.

  2. Thanks Levent: another expression that springs to mind is “collateral damage”. Yes, I know that there are always casualties in wars, but…

    Another well worn reaction to the death of millions goes along the lines of, oh well we are overpopulated anyway. I guess it’s fine, as long as it isn’t them or their nearest and dearest!

  3. Yes the personal often wakes us up to situations. I am a member of Amnesty International and the accounts in the quarterly magazine are hard to read.
    It’s strange how the idea that people in far off countries don’t merit our attention or sympathy, prevails over the ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ awareness of the fragility of our safety.
    when I first graduated i worked as an (unqualified) EFL teacher. Most of my students were from the Middle East. Quite a few were from Libya and had been sent to england to learn English before studying petro-chemical engineering. I stayed in touch with one for about ten years. He used to come to England periodically and I saw him grow from a teenager into a confident, relaxed young man. He used to call me and my parents. He called my mother Mum. He married and had a son who shares my birthday. Then he went to work in Ireland for a while before returning to Libya. One night he ‘phoned. we had quite a long chat and the next day i wrote to him saying how much I had enjoyed speaking to him and catching up.
    A few weeks later the letter came back, person unknown. I tried ‘phoning but the number was dead. The only address I had was a PO Box number. I think he was disappeared. I tried the Libyan section at the Saudi Arabian embassy and got nowhere. I feel guilty to this day. I think he was probably trying to tell me something when he ‘phoned and I missed the clues. His calls were probably being monitored.

  4. Frightening story, Isobel and a mystery you will probably never solve. It illustrates my point very well though. Yes, of course we put our families and friends first but I cannot understand those who have this disconnection: the concept of just because it is not on their doorstep, it doesn’t somehow count.

  5. This dehumanisation process is the follow up to the categorisation of people …

    No.
    Please allow me to nit-pick; I do not agree with a direct causal relationship.

    It is far more complex, yet at the same time a simple, basic and apparently immutable pair of characteristics of homo sapiens, working in tandem.

    Humans categorise, generalise and by preference interact with abstractions rather than individuals. The process can be seen at all levels. My family, my street, my village, my country … Those within the boundary are ‘us’, those outside are ‘them’.

    It is bidirectional. You cannot join our club – you are of the wrong religion, nationality, socio-economic group … This is as prevalent as and indistinguishable from they are all thieves, they are dirty, they are unintelligent …

    Groups categorise themselves and exclude outsiders with equal frequency and vehemence to external categorisation and stereotyping.

    This is one ingredient, and of itself is neither inherently evil, nor inherently good. It is well-nigh impossible to discuss anything related to humankind without resorting to grouping and abstraction. It is possible mathematically, but regrettably we do not talk in equations.

    The second factor is the built-in drive to acquire power over others. Whether feudal lord, king, emperor, priest, shaman, mullah or pope; whether knight, general, admiral, CEO, merchant banker, QC, politician, president or prime minister – the objective is the same. To gain power over followers and foes alike for the glorification of self. To kill the foes, the force the faithful into unceasing, unnatural acts of submission which become more extreme as the leaders’ appetites become jaded.

    The “leader obsession” makes use of the “categorisation characteristic” to achieve its ends, beginning, as you say, with dehumanisation of those exterior to the group.

    I believe that it is significant, and a hope for the future, that only a small minority of humans display the “leader obsession”. The world has suffered horribly from many tyrants, but their actual numbers are tiny when compared with the billions of “nice ordinary people”, who merely want to get on with their lives, enjoying themselves, their children and their environment.

    When the majority learns how to ignore the “leaders”, or to breed (or cull) them out, humanity will take a great step forward. Self-categorised and externally-categorised groups will continue to exist, but there will be no stigma in either direction. Different, recognisable – yes. Hated and hunted – no. We shall be able, ultimately to celebrate our differences.

    I live in hope.

  6. Good analysis, Bearsy. I have to give it further thought. (Very late here). But it seems to me it has a vicious circle. Even if the majority learns to ignore leaders, which makes them individuals against the minority (but united thus strong/poerful “war-mongers”) , this situation alone will make their greed more.

    There is a very positive case in Turkey started at 1930’s till now opposing the “leader obsession”. It’s a religious community.

  7. Bearsy: nit picking is fine. I agree with a great deal of what you say, but there are points I would query, but not tonight Josephine! I will be back, when I’m feeling a little less tired, and have re-read your comment.

    Thanks for the considered input in the meanwhile; much appreciated.

  8. … and, of course, we can’t ignore your own preferred Marxian, economic view of history, which also plays its part, even when the facts behind the view are unreal. “The grass is always greener on t’other side of t’hill.”

  13. I’m enjoying a very rare occasion, understanding the reference to something/where else. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  16. Levent
    ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams – “The answer to the meaning of life and everything” is “42”.
    There are mice in there, too!

  20. A bit simplistic, in my opinion.

    Yes, we all know that Deep Thought’s answer to the ‘Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything’ was ’42’. But he/she/it only took 7.5 million years to come up with that answer. Doesn’t smack of sufficient intellectual rigour to me.

  22. A brain the size of a planet, and you want to talk about intellectual rigour? Oh yes, and park a few thousand cars while I’m at it? It makes my diodes ache.

  23. Ara, sorry for being a bit flip but I am a massive DA fan so can’t resist rising to the ’42’ bait. I also like using the expression ‘intellectual rigour’ (copyright Myt insults) whenever I can. One day, I hope to have some of my own.

    On blog, it’s always easy to go with the flow and I do not know what I would have felt or done if I had been living in pre-war Germany. Going away to sleep on it and consider my response to the points you raise. I’ll be back.

  24. Night John: as you well know, I’m happy to have my posts meander in any direction whatsoever, especially at this time of night! I’ll be back too. Thanks.

    Goodnight, Bearsy, Levent and anyone else still awake.

  26. Bearsy, I’m surprised you say only a few people suffer from ‘leader obsession’. As a former cog in a big corporation, you must have come across large numbers of leadership obsessed people trying to be top dog/bitch and displaying many of the attitudes and psychoses of political wannabes?

  27. I agree Janus, but 99% of them are useless at it, even in the corporate environment, and would be buried without trace in the real world. Literally, probably.

    But I admit that I probably should have said that only a few people have the fully-fledged disease.

  29. Anyone who sees news reports from any disaster you care to mention cannot fail to be moved at the plight of the Men, Women and Children involved. If you have a relationship with kids, be they yours, grandchildren, nephews, nieces or of friends, you feel the pain twice, so I guess we do care, to answer to your blog’s title, but do we care enough to do something about it? Other than to count our blessings and move on, I think that is the real question.

  30. Was there a point to this blog? I know very well that there are people being murdered and woemen being raped, probably as I write, across great swathes of this world. Babies and children are dying unnecessarily of Malaria, because rich environmentalist whackos decided that killing mosquitos with DDT is a Bad Thing. People are short of water because rich environmentalist whackos insist that they continue to burn wood instead of building power stations to deliver the energy they need – oh, and suffering the efects of carcinogens from the smoke in enclosed places.

    Women are oppressed and condemend to live as second class citizens, children are used as forced labour, bonded workers are little better than slaves and people are still starving while rich environmental whackos replace food crops and grazing land with inefficient and costly biofuel crops.

    So, given all of the above, what was the point of the blog, again?

  31. Tut tut Bravo!
    The outing of angst is a necessary purge for the PC soul!
    Medically prescribed I suspect to maintain the communal status quo.

  32. Just minor points really re your comment #5
    The leader obsession, Bearsy is relevant yes, but I would argue democracy where it exists has largely curtailed this factor, although not entirely.

    It is also my contention that these leaders frequently gain power by exploiting economic, social or religious circumstances, pertaining at the time. Yes, they use this to great effect, when in power, certainly. The NSDAP came to power by promising to improve the lot of those who were suffering most from the downturn of the economy. It was after they gained power they took advantage of the anti-Semitism which was already in existence throughout much of Europe.

  33. OMG: yes, we do generally think ourselves fortunate, but some people do make an effort to help. All the volunteers, especially the medics who went to Haiti for example.

  34. Bravo: was there a point to your comment? The only one I can decipher is the fact that since “you know ” very well all the things you mention are happening but you can’t see the point in discussing them in a blog! I’ll be sure to avoid them next time then, and we will all have an attack of Political Correctness and pretend they are not happening.

    Or perhaps I have missed your point? 😉

  38. Appears the malevolence is in abeyance!
    Guts feel better, as I’m feeling a bit better I’ll let them all live a bit longer and defer the grand planetary culling by a few more minutes.
    (Stretches out blue claw and rolls dice again!)

  39. What i can’t see the point of is flapping my hands about, heaving great sighs and muttering, ‘isn’t it terrible.’

    Yes, it is bloody terrible and what, pray, is the point of worrying about it all if nothing is to be done? What earthly good is compassion without action?

    This little girl was 7 when the photo was taken four years ago.

    Hosted by imgur.com

    hat-tip to Tariq Raheel: http://tariqraheel.blogspot.com/2009/09/stolen-childhood.html

    What do you think has changed since then?

    So, I ask again, what was the point of the blog, apart from perhaps a little public breast-beating to show how ‘concerned,’ and ‘compassionate’ we are?

  40. Oh, good, I’m glad you’re are feeling better, Tina. I did have a feeling you were slightly under par, but relieved it is not so. I do understand it is merely postponed. Smiley thing.

  41. Well then, I’m amongst it everyday.

    I have a feeling that one day the ‘Third World’ philosophy is going to overtake you all.

    Here we have, what, 300 million people in the States perhaps a similar number in the EU, let me be generous, lets assume that there are almost a billion of you, there will come a time when the other 5 billion people inhabiting this planet will figure out that whats best for Europe or the States is not necessarily best for the rest of us, when that time comes (and I doubt if it will be in my lifetime) you are all going to have to watch out.

    Let’s go Global.

  42. Oh Bravo: you are proving to be a lost cause; read the sodding thread, and stop being so dense. I’m not trying to change the world; it’s not possible. I don’t think you really did get the point.

  43. You are Soutie: and yes, it well might. At least you are aware of that and good for you. Perhaps we should acknowledge this could be a problem. Perhaps we should just rely on natural disasters and the odd genocide, flood or famine, to sort it out.

  45. Evening Ara

    What is it? Economic slavery?

    The numbers are going to overwhelm the ‘West’ (and why not?)

    Perhaps all the masses need is a leader, I might just throw my hat in the ring!

  46. Evening, Soutie: the “West” against you? I’d fight you for it! No, not really. Is this really an “us and them” situation? Any ideas as to how this can be sorted out, with a bit of humanity even? Or is that asking the impossible.

  47. So Bravo: yes what is the point in talking about it? Let’s just once again pretend it is not happening shall we? That doesn’t do much good either.

  48. I genuinely think that all the breast beating is a total waste of time.
    There are a good few cyclical volcanics that have a history of repeating themselves every ‘n’ hundred/thousand/million years. There are several, at the moment, well overdue.
    As and when any, if not more in chain reactions, kick off our world will be irreparably changed for hundreds if not thousands of years and the effects will be planet wide. Billions of humans will die from every continent, mainly of starvation.
    Survival will be a matter of chance and sheer Darwinism of those that have the wit and the means to use any mode of transport to remote corners that may fare a little better than the next.
    It is thought that the last super volcano to go off in Indonesia reduced proto humanity to no more than 2000 worldwide, which is why we all have limited DNA and are far more closely related than one would care to be!
    NW Europe comes out of about 200 people!

    A good culling is well overdue but it surely is not worth worrying about. So whilst we wait we might as well not be reduced to standing room only and let anyone kill themselves and each other off as much as possible. One more dead ‘over there’ is one less immigrant ‘over here’ and the less the better for all of those left still alive. Less people, more resources, less environmental impact.
    I am at least honest enough to admit it.

  49. Ara

    So you would “fight you for it!”

    I said earlier, not in my lifetime.

    Here’s my first suggestion, a cap on wealth. A couple of years ago Bill Gates was the richest man in the world, I think he was worth some 80billion dollars. Our school can’t afford to have the new MS Word on their (donated, by the French government) computers.

    I have no idea how many Microsoft shareholders there are, the one founder was here last year in his motorised yacht (palace) and the press feigned over him.

    Hey, I don’t want to leave these people destitute, I’d cap them at perhaps 2billion, I’ll take the rest.

    Perhaps I should start a revolution, I’ll need a secretary, can you type?

  54. I’m not sure whether I have compassion fatigue, tired cynicism, or I’m just plain hard-hearted. When people start rattling the tin can at me for overseas aid, I tell them that my government gives enough out of my tax contributions – and I give to the homeless in Australia, who should be being cared for by the Australian government.

    I’m becoming more and more sympathetic to the third pig, who built his house of bricks and is expected then to worry about the other two. We have massive floods here at the moment. Government money is going to those who have not bothered to take insurance. I feel much the same about overseas aid. Wars here, wars there, and we send in aid so that their governments can buy arms instead of feeding their people.

    Anyone who thinks that democracy has done away with the ‘leader’ obsessed, is living in a dream world. Democracies vote in a dictator for a term, but the real power lies with those in charge of the multi-nationals. Thanks to their need for cheap labour, we are breeding ourselves into plague proportions, and putting pressure on limited resources which will, inevitably, lead to war, famine and all the other problems that we see in the Third World…

    In the meantime, we squander our resources trying to get that World to emulate our way of doing things. Soutie is right, ‘what’s best for Europe or the States is not necessarily best for the rest of us’. But, I think he’s missed a significant point which is that we are so certain that our way is right that we are ignoring the cracks in our own societies.

  55. A Blog ?? ?

    It took me nearly 2 days to come up with my pathetic entry to Pseu’s flash fiction competition, I’ve spent most of today trying to find the first line for a limerick, a blog!, a blog on world salvation and equality?

    That’s going to take a lot of time, perhaps one day 😉

  57. Thanks Boadicea: yes, I understand your cynicism. I think there is far less chance of a holocaust situation happening in an established democracy, which was my point, so yes, the multi-nationals are in charge and globalisation means there is little profit in genocide.

  58. Boa, you would be more than welcome.

    I’ll send you the membership forms once we have them typed up 🙂

  59. I think we’ve shifted ground a bit here, Araminta. I wasn’t talking about a holocaust – except I would suggest that the true horror of the holocaust is that it did happen in a so-called civilised society, where human life had had some value for many centuries.

    There may be little profit in genocide – but there’s certainly a profit to be made where lots of people are living on the border-line of existence. And there’s certainly a profit to be made when one can set one side of a society against another…

  60. Good Soutie!

    I find it quite unacceptable that Gates is seen as a great philanthropist – the money he has made has been made out of monopolising the market, charging exorbitant prices and getting international laws passed to protect his product.

  62. So, there you go. Talk is the point. Let’s talk about it some more. And when we’ve talked about it and said what a terrible thing it all is we’ll all feel so much better. Meanwhile we connive at the very practices we condemn, in the name of multi-culturalism, and then we sit around telling each other how shocking it all is, Bah. Humbug.

  64. Good blog, Ara…I get upset about conflict andpoverty disasters on the news. Most times, if I feel really upset about it, I say a few prayers. Not for me, for them…
    Compassion fatigue is inevitable, though. So much horror is flashed across our screens on a daily basis, it’s bound to happen. For me, war and conflict are the worst things; up there with child abductions and the like.. horrible.
    But I do get cynical sometimes; mainly when politicians and members of the royal family go all Mother Teresa on us. I remember seeing a TV programme when Sarah ferguson was bemoaning the state of some sink estate in Moss Side (Manchester); thinking; then another, when she was walking around some African village, weeping with her daughters…and I just thought, yes luv, but what exactly do you want me to do about it? You’re the bloody royal one here!’
    But on the whole, those moments are rare for me; personally, I think it’s important to err on the side of compassion rather than cynicism..

  65. Bravo: talking about how shocked we are maybe is just marginally better than pretending it doesn’t happen, or that you don’t give a toss. Who the hell supports multiculturalism, or more to the point, how did that creep in here?

  67. Hello Claire: yes, I think we all feel a bit like that, but I agree. It is frustrating and heartbreaking to watch, and wonder why it continues to happen.

  68. Or to put it another way, Bravo. You have commented four times saying much the same thing on a post, the point of which you admittedly either couldn’t understand or you decided was pointless.

    I think I have understood your point. 🙂

  69. Hi Ara. Perhaps it’s just getting older (sigh!), or maybe the recession, but I found it easier to be compassionate a few years ago…

  70. Oz – not Tall Poppy Syndrome.

    There have been laws against monopolies for almost ever, they are not good for competition and harm the consumer. Microsoft can and does charge what it likes.

    Microsoft puts out faulty software, time and time again. If it were a washing machine manufacturer one would have redress – all Microsoft say is “We’ll fix it – give us time” or “Here we’ve got another faulty product for sale” and “Oh while you’re about it you’ll have to buy a whole new raft of programmes because the old ones won’t run on the new version”.

    Add to that, that one has to sign up to US law protecting Microsoft and making it illegal for you to pass on your old copy of a program to a third party.

    So Gates gives a few million here and a few million there to projects of his choice, whilst charging schools like Soutie’s an arm and a leg.

    In case you are interested, I’m pretty fed up with all those companies who charge over the top for their product and then proclaim how wonderful they are for sponsoring this, that or something else. It isn’t their money they are using, but mine…

  71. ” or interest in Tibet, China, Zimbabwe et al except that of empathising with the suffering.” I think you mean sympathise rather than empathise.

  72. In some way, I agree with Bravo. There is a lot of hand-wringing that achieves nothing.

  73. Oh, I thought I meant empathise Sipu; as in relating to others as fellow human beings but you could be right, since I haven’t actually been starved, or involved in a war, earthquake or flood.

  75. I don’t think of this as handwringing. It’s more about standing up and being counted. If you see something that is unjust, or a situation that you think you help improve, to do something. The personal brings things home to us in a way that dry statistics never do. See the success of Who Do you Think You Are? where people’s personal family histories help us to understand and appreciate what people’s lives were like in the past. We live in a society where selfishness is the norm, and where often the individual feels that he or she is helpless to effect change. History shows us that that is not so. In the recession charities are hit really hard. Many of us can still afford to give. We might have to do without some of our luxuries in order to do so, but we have the choice.
    To describe the discussion as pointless is, in my opinion, a cop out. Almost like saying, people are going to suffer and die whatever I do, so I’ll do nothing, or go down the pub, or whatever. Discussion and comment can prompt people to action, not just a reaction of ‘oh deary me , how horrible the word is’.
    But you don’t have to agree with me.

  77. Sorry, if I gave the impression that I thought it a pointless discussion. It isn’t and it’s good to have a subject to get one’s head around. It is why I joined MyT in the first place, and the reason I so rarely blog there now.

    Don’t start me on ‘Who Do You Think You Are’! But, nonetheless, you are right Isobel, in that it does show how people can and have overcome difficulties and made a difference.

  78. I have to go out – so I’m not running away from the discussion.

    Your comment has given me food for thought, Isobel… 🙂

  79. Yes: well said, Isobel, there will always be hand-wringing but it wouldn’t be much use if we all adopted the same fatalistic “nothing I can do about it” reaction. It’s hardly constructive, and it is certainly complacent. It’s like everything else though, there are no easy short-term solutions to the problem and the sheer numbers involved can be overwhelming. No reason though, not to try and help where we can.

  83. Boadicea, I meant that WDYTYA? helped people today better understand how things were in the past. Good and bad.
    Jazz, I hope you’re not the only person around if ever I need help.
    Araminta, one of the most amazing and inspiring movements I have ever learned about was the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, founded by twelve men, who raised awareness and campaigned up and down the country, bringing thousands of people to support their cause who would actually be less well off if abolition were achieved. At the start the task looked insurmountable, but they achieved it in just fifty years. There’s a Margaret Mead quote you might find about the power of the individual too.
    Anyway, I must get to bed.
    Sweet dreams.

  84. “What is the point of this post?” asks Bravo. He then proceeds to say that, in his jaundiced opinion, it’s a waste of time.

    Well Bravo, the point of this post is that Araminta wanted to publish it, and that several of us were interested enough to create our responses and discuss the subject with her. That’s not a waste of time in my book.

    If you don’t like it, don’t waste any more of your precious time putting fingers to keyboard; just sod off so that the rest of us can have a pleasant and productive conversation in your absence.

    If you want to be sarcastic because we’re not solving the world’s problems, bugger off to Africa and save someone yourself. Fat chance!

  94. I’ve just checked in the “trash can”, Jazz, and the only comment I have deleted is one from Isobel, which she posted twice. A repeat of her comment No 86.

  95. Do we care?

    If we do not care enough to do anything personally then it is a rank hypocrisy handwringing and offering empty platitudes.

    I do not care about humanity, I don’t like humans of any shape colour or type very much (except other gardeners with whom I have something in common) As a result I firmly nail my colours to the mast and only contribute hard cash to dog’s homes, one in particular in Carmarthenshire gets a healthy cheque every year. I prefer dogs to humans, ergo I support dogs.
    I’m afraid the knowledge of disasters cuts very little ice and I do not expect to have aid reciprocated if something happens to me or mine. I find it quite disgusting that people sit round waiting for aid instead of helping themselves.
    Look at Haiti, big strong strapping people who cannot reclaim building material and make a rough shelter for themselves and their families? I think it totally pathetic doing nothing to prepare for the coming rainy season. More of the work shy if you ask me. Why should the charities and the Americans have to do everything for them?

  96. Araminta,

    I have tried to follow your blog and the replies. What exactly are you suggesting? Being, simplistic, I think that by joining the army I actually did something. Not sure what, but I was told it was for freedom or something like that. Having said that, I feel I can sleep easy at night.

  97. Araminta’s motion is that “categorising people by ethnic or religious criteria is a harbinger of dehumanisation and thence an abandonment of concern”.

    I have opposed the motion, citing non-causality.

    Most comments have blithely ignored the motion, some spectacularly so. Such is life.

  98. .bugger off to Africa and save someone yourself. Fat chance!< How do you know that? You don't know what I do, or have done.

    Hosted by imgur.com

  100. Great, Bravo – and how much do you know about any of us?

    Why ask the point of a post when it’s as clear as daylight? Sneering at people for talking about things is more than a bit bloody precious, in my opinion.

  101. Some interesting comments, but I find the attitudes more interesting. There are many, many people suffering all over the world. Poverty is not the only form of misery. There are millions of sad, scared and lonely people living in your country. There are prisoners and patients. There are people living in a stressful world who just are not able to cope. Without wishing to go all religious, because I am not, I cannot help feeling that Christ had it right when he said two things in particular. The poor will always be with us. And, love your neighbour. If you are not prepared to show kindness to those with whom you come in contact, it is certainly not kindness that prompts you to send money to aid starving masses abroad. It is guilt, and in some cases its even worse. If you are not prepared to visit the sick and the imprisoned in your town, then you have no right to obsess about the sick or imprisoned in other countries. Misery stalks every level of society.

    As for changing the world, be careful of what you wish for. There are often very unpleasant unforeseen circumstances. I have to confess, I get a surge of anger when I hear people talk of making a difference. Cherie Blaire once said that was her ambition and I thought what right does that mealie mouthed bitch have to change my world. People just do not seem to understand that there is no panacea that will deliver a safe and happy world in which everybody can live in peace and contentment. It ain’t going to happen. There need to be the rich and the poor; the haves and the have nots. It is not just human nature, it is nature. Abolishing slavery was a noble idea, but the consequences of it were not all good. Amongst other things it lead to the American Civil War and it 620,000 deaths. Perhaps that was a small price to pay. Who is to say? Decolonisation may have seemed like the right thing to do, but look at the consequences. Giving freedom to a few has taken freedom away from many. Saving a 1,000 lives now, may cost a million in future generations. Where does our moral responsibility lie? Should I care more for someone who is alive now but whom I will never meet than for someone who is yet to be born and whom I will also never meet?

    Being conservative means managing the pace of change. Change should come from the bottom up, not the top down.

    So, be kind to your neighbour and don’t worry about changing the world.

  102. Yes, Sipu. Your interesting comment brings us full circle back to Araminta’s original post, from a slightly different direction. It may be far easier to beat one’s breast about ‘the starving millions in Wagga-Wagga’, for they are depersonalised by grouping and remoteness, than to visit the local refuge to provide support for a smelly, aggressive unfortunate. Perhaps this might be termed the Geldorf syndrome? 😕

    Please note, Wagga-Wagga is in fact a prosperous town in NSW – the name was chosen at poetic whim.

  103. That’s another comment that disappeared into the ether. Lets see if this one appears.

  105. Please Jazz – which comments have disappeared?
    Like, when? Or between which others? I can see three from you on this post – how many should there be?

    There aren’t any comments from you in the Trash Can. 😕

  106. I have been to Wagga Wagga. I was staying with a friend in Canberra and she asked me what I would like to do. I replied that I had read a book in my childhood about life on a sheep farm (station?) and always wanted to visit one. I caught the bus which travelled at very inconvenient times as was met by the old (75ish) couple with whom I stayed. They were very kind, but simple folk. The old man took me to a sheep sale and apart from the massive number of sheep and flies, I was struck by the similarity between what sheep farmers did and what we did as tobacco farmers in Zim. They had their own particular uniform and they spoke at each other discussing the same old farming issues that get repeated every year and cause the same problems every year but are still worth discussing even though nobody is really listening, just waiting for the opportunity to talk. Even the auctions wre strikingly similar. I also visited a wine farm there. It was a must having so much enjoyed Monty Python’s Australian wine tasting sketch. I asked the wine maker if there was such a wine as Wagga Wagga Red that had the aroma of an Aborigin’s armpit. He took it in good humour but said, no. I think he was missing a trick.

    When it was time to leave my host took me to the station to catch the bus. It left at 02.00. I said that he should drop me at 21.00 and I would hang around. But no, he insisted on going to bed and then waking up. He said it was not safe for me to be there at the time of night. I am sure that I have been in far more dangerous places and to be honest, I could not imagine what could happen in a town as quiet as Wagga Wagga, but I had no option. Nice chap.

  107. Sipu – the stock yards are on quite a large scale, aren’t they?
    Best restaurant I have ever eaten in was in Wagga-Wagga. 😀

  108. Bravo, your objections to this post are not justified by a captionless pic of you and an Asian (?) child. The post per se is an expression of caring. That is the point. What’s yours? That you do/have care(d)? Big deal.

  109. Bearsy, what did you eat. Lamb or Cockatoo. My goodness there are a lot of those birds around. Noisy buggers too. Sadly I did not eat at any restaurant while I was there. Its the wrong blog, but I did like the restaurants in Melbourne. I know you prefer Sydney, which certainly has its points, but there was much I liked about the former.

  110. Morning all.

    Jazz, what exactly are you saying? This is the first chance I have had this morning to turn on my PC. No one is deleting your comments. What exactly are you trying to say?

  111. Well I for one do not care.

    The tendency these days leans far too heavily towards borrowed grief. We are meddling in the affairs of nature and by encouraging development creating greater shortage and famine to innevitably follow.

    I give time and money to those I can see are benefitting, and never third world charities. Yes some folks have it hard, but life is hard there fior a reason.

    As for the aren’t I great charity exploits of Beeb presenters who should be earning the wage I pay them not swanning all over the world with a sponsor form. I totally resent the hypocrisy of it.

  114. The picture, Janus, is of an ethnic Tibetan Chinese child from an orphanage for such children in LiJiang and was posted in reply to Bearsy’s >bugger off to Africa and save someone yourself. Fat chance!< That's all.

  115. Tocino: my original premise was thus:
    It is easier for us to have a concern for events in far off places which directly affect us; that is family or friends for example.
    It is more difficult to do so if they are only viewed in the media.
    Nevertheless, they are still human beings.
    Dehumanising people or groups can lead to disastrous consequences.

    That, in essence is it, very simply. This led to some interesting discussion, for which the author is grateful. The post was intended to do just that.

  116. What a shame that Bravo decided to attack and denigrate this post and then boast about his personal activities. Rather distasteful.

    I shall not bother posting serious replies on DNMT in future, it’s a waste of my time.

  118. Just attempting to catch up with this and a bit bemused by some cooments which seem to assume that it’s only about feeling sympathy and compassion for people far away. Charity begins at home with your own friends, families and neighbours, but it doesn’t end there. I was brought up to believe that we all have responsibilities for ourselves and for others. The greater our advantages and opportunities, the greater our responsibilities.

  120. No, you are right, Isobel, but that is how some saw it. I agree with you, friends and family first and then expand from there. Healthy philosophy and one which I was brought up to believe in too.

  121. Araminta – I edited Bearsy’s comment out, it’s early in the morning! But decided to leave it since it is your post! 🙂

  122. Ah, well, Boadicea. It will remain, but I hope he will reconsider as regards his future contributions here. I appreciates his input here and felt he took my post seriously, but I found Bravo’s contributions a little negative and defensive to say the least!

  124. Stone the crows – moderated by me own Shelia!
    Leave it there please, Araminta! I can be a grump if I want to – the site manager says I can! So there!

  126. Is a Shelia the same as a Sheila/Shelagh?

    I am cast down. I wrote, I though, a fairly decent blog about Cat on my page a coule of days ago and no one has commented on it. Also my stats show a new low today… Sob.

    I’ll have to try again.

  130. Just solved a clue in today’s DT GK xw that seems to fit the bill. It’s a Charles Dickens quote and a bit pious in that annoying way he has, ‘No one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else.’

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