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Sunday, December 23, 2012
Dead Children
I saw a post on Facebook in which a friend posted that we Americans would not be nearly as upset, and indeed have not been nearly upset over children killed in Pakistan or Yemen by drone strikes. Which should we be more upset about? A lone gunmen killing our nation's children, or taxpayer funded collateral damage that kills unknown children every day?
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While a valid question, it is too far removed to reach a significant base. When I say too far removed is that "those children over there in the hundreds and thousands" are not personal to me and therefore not given an additional thought. Remember Kony? How effective he was on shining light on a very longstanding problem? He was able to do it because he took ONE child and personalized it by having a blonde blue-eyed American child explain it. That made it relevant. I don't remember what the sociologic term is, but people can't wrap their heads around large numbers or generalized stories of populations dying.
ReplyDeleteI guess I just tend to think of all children as somebody's son or daughter. Every dead body was somebody's family. Seven degrees of separation.
ReplyDeleteAmerican exceptionalism, as an idea, is dangerously exclusive. We are a human community; every dead child is a tragedy, not just American dead.
ReplyDeleteRight, I totally agree with that. But regardless of country, people generally can't grasp what the large numbers mean.
ReplyDeleteHearts and minds.
ReplyDelete