The day started with the news of blasts in Boston at the Boston Marathon finish line. At this moment I know that 2 people have died and many others injured. I have realized that since quite a long time now, I have become apathetic towards such incidents. It has become a routine to call up your near and dear ones to check that they are fine, mention to someone how terrible the incident is and then carry on with your day. I am not even sure if that mention means anything to me anymore.
I sometimes feel bad that I have come to such a state. But this is what routine does to you. News of violence is a common feature on TV now and coming from Mumbai I have experienced the fear and anguish a few times too many. I am pretty sure that I am not the only one with such thoughts.This collateral damage caused by the constant violence is never accounted for. Unfortunately, even the eternal optimist in me can see no remedy to this apathy unless the violence itself stops. Now I cannot even think of commenting on that solution any more. My only wish now is for that trace of empathy for those I don't know to stay alive in me.
I sometimes feel bad that I have come to such a state. But this is what routine does to you. News of violence is a common feature on TV now and coming from Mumbai I have experienced the fear and anguish a few times too many. I am pretty sure that I am not the only one with such thoughts.This collateral damage caused by the constant violence is never accounted for. Unfortunately, even the eternal optimist in me can see no remedy to this apathy unless the violence itself stops. Now I cannot even think of commenting on that solution any more. My only wish now is for that trace of empathy for those I don't know to stay alive in me.
I don't completely agree with your statement. I'd actually argue the opposite is true. Essentially: that we live in a much LESS dangerous world in which people just happen to feel more unsafe.
ReplyDeleteI feel the social construct we live in now, accompanied by narcisstic tendencies and unintended egotism, has presented us with a quite false image of contemporary violence versus historical violence. I cannot relate to living in Mumbai, but there have been very few periods in American history where people have been safer than they are now. Think WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Cold War, civil unrest, famine, depression, starvation, etc. - which were massively more applicable to the average citizen than the threat of terrorism. The difference, of which you eluded to in your post, is two fold: 1) the access to media which seemingly shrinks the world into our immediate physical vicinity; and, 2) the ever-growing belief of our own self-importance and, thus, an over-consideration of how situations that happened to others would have been like had they happened to us.
@Anonymous: I totally agree with your point that ready availability of news and real time updates has made us multifold more aware of whats happening. And I think that is precisely the reason people like me have started becoming immune to the tragedy, and the incidents no longer evoke the kind of reaction which maybe should have been evoked. And by reaction I do not mean public expression of sympathy; the reaction should be a genuine pain one feels for a fellow human's tragedy.
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