A classic moment from "Bart's Comet" that illustrates a typical American approach for disregarding reality.
Homer: There’s nothing to worry about.
Lisa: But Dad, what if the plan doesn’t work?…What do you think is going to happen then?
Homer: Lisa, that’s why we have elected officials: so we don’t have to think. Remember that rain forest scare a few years back? The politicians saw we had a problem, came up with a solution, and fixed it, right?
Lisa: I don’t think–
Homer: There’s that word again!
Bad somethings
Lots of bad somethings happen in the world. Terrorist attacks, oil spills, earthquakes, hurricanes, and infrastructure disasters. It makes my head spin. We suffer from bad-stuff-fatigue.
First, something bad happens. I watch it unfold; I’m fascinated by it. I watch us throw a bunch of money at it, forget about it, and assume everything will be better. We will it to go away.
Then another bad something happens. The space between bad stuff feels shorter, too. Repeat. Eventually, another bad something happens and we check out.
Modern communications technology allows us to look the bad something in the face. But when we do that, we risk entering a catatonic state, jaw slackened. Thanks again, science.
So what the hell can I actually do about all this stuff? Not much. I’m twiddling my thumbs in relative luxury (globally speaking) while a horrible flood is wrecking Pakistan. And that country is – at this moment in history – perceived as an enemy. That isn’t helping to raise funds.
A sense of perspective
The word that pops into my head is powerlessness.
So maybe I can’t do anything about it, but can I even get my bearings on the scope. Why I want this I haven’t the slightest clue. Maybe it’s liberal guilt. Maybe it’s because we Americans have it so good that I feel we need to, I dunno, occasionally care.
You would have thought that Katrina taught us that patriotic arrogance isn’t an effective bulwark against environmental tragedy.
This is the area of the Pakistan flood if you superimposed it over the United States.
The BBC has a site called Dimensions that uses Google Maps imagery to superimpose various things against our own corner of the world. The image above shows the size of the flood in Pakistan. Not good.
There are many more examples at the site. You can check out the relative size of the oil spill and the giant Pacific ocean garbage patch.
Generic compassionate screed holds that a basic awareness helps the world, but I don’t often see it that way. And those who don’t want to take it all in certainly have the right. I bet they’re happier.
But I can’t help but feel overwhelmed. I hope we someday use our cleverness to close the circle between awareness and action. In the mean time, we can pop open the browser and marvel at how god-awful it is somewhere.
Hat tip to David Blanar for the pointer to Dimensions.
Interestingly, your post is more powerful than the news. Perhaps it’s harder to filter out the message from people aren’t employed to give a message. Although this is almost certainly a good thing and a bad thing, depending on who you end up following on the interweb.
I’m off to donate some money now.
My intent wasn’t to heap scorn upon my culture. I identify to some degree with the range of emotions around these things: sensitivity, ambivalence, anger. It’s a funny thing. Tech shrinks the world, right?