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Giving to Those Who Need It
Dec. 23rd, 2005 09:30 amI occasionally listen to _The World_ on National Public Radio. A couple of nights ago they had a high-up from a major disaster relief organization talking about why people give more for some disasters than to others. The particular topic was the tsunami early last year, and how the great outpouring of aid for that contrasted with the shortfalls for the Pakistan earthquake relief.
Several possible reasons were mentioned, all of them most likely valid. However, they failed to mention what I see as the primary reason: the novelty factor. The uniqueness in modern disasters of videos showing huge walls of muddy water sweeping into a resort beach area bypassed the normal filters which grow in place for most people.
Think about it. We see pleas for relief to poverty-stricken children at least once a day; for relief in areas hit by drought or war several times a year; for earthquake aide about once a year. It's a struggle to *not* blank these out or reflexively hit the clicker. But this was something new. Even the most jaded at least _noticed_ the crisis.
And, yes, I don't doubt there were people who, on seeing the videos, had the reaction "I've got to send money _fast_! There's people _drowning_ there!"
Several possible reasons were mentioned, all of them most likely valid. However, they failed to mention what I see as the primary reason: the novelty factor. The uniqueness in modern disasters of videos showing huge walls of muddy water sweeping into a resort beach area bypassed the normal filters which grow in place for most people.
Think about it. We see pleas for relief to poverty-stricken children at least once a day; for relief in areas hit by drought or war several times a year; for earthquake aide about once a year. It's a struggle to *not* blank these out or reflexively hit the clicker. But this was something new. Even the most jaded at least _noticed_ the crisis.
And, yes, I don't doubt there were people who, on seeing the videos, had the reaction "I've got to send money _fast_! There's people _drowning_ there!"
