Nothing gets us going like a good disaster, does it? Let me see, the Boxing Day Tsunami, The Pakistan Earthquake, The Turkish Earthquakes and now poor little Haiti.
The news coverage never varies. There's the initial shock and horror, followed by the much criticised Relief Effort which is always (according to the media) disorganised and much too slow. Then there are the few dozen people rescued from the rubble, days after the event, followed by the 'miracle' of babies being born, followed by the whole thing disappearing from the news as soon as our multi-millionaire celebreties get finished with their record releases and telethons.
We weren't in the least interested in helping the poor and desperate populations of these places before the disaster, and we won't be interested in their plight when the dramatic footage disappears from our television screens.
Mugabe can carry on making life unbearable in Zimbabwe, the poor and starving aids-ridden children of Africa, will go on suffering, while we return to our self-indulgent 'way of life'.
Are we going to be opening our doors to all these poor human beings? Are we going to start seriously spreading the wealth around the planet? Of course not.
Thousands of children live desperate and impoverished lives right here in the UK, but a 'plane crashing somewhere in Northern Mongolia makes much better news. The good thing about disasters is that they go away almost as quickly as they happen. The reality of suffering on a global scale doesn't make good news and certainly is not something we should consider disturbing our comfort levels for, in order to make a real difference.
Haiti was a disaster for many decades before the earthquake. It will continue to be a disaster for the foreseeable future.
Me? Disaster fatigue!!
The tree of life gives hope to us all
9 years ago
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