Cartoon Genious
I found something a little while ago that was funny, yet poignant. Allow me to share it with you:
It's funny, because we know it would be true. There's something about nameless, faceless masses that makes a person turned off to the horrors that befall them. Yeah, some 30,000 odd people died in that one place because of an earthquake some years ago, but I didn't know any of them, so it really doesn't affect me.
However, if you show me a picture of a survivor of that horrible tradgedy, it immediately becomes more personal. I see the face of someone who's whole life was destroyed by the tragedy. They become a face, rather than some number.
That's why this little comic is so interesting. I can (not so) easily say that if someone offered me a million dollars for every time I pressed the button, I'd probably press it quite a few times. Not because I'm a sadistically horrible person, but just because I wouldn't directly see the effects of my button pressing. And in my mind I would justify it by saying that the person who died didn't necessarily die a horible death.
It's just interesting to me that we're so turned off to the violence and problems in the world, that when presented with an ethical and moral quandary, we're quick to hop on the "money train." Maybe it's a syndrome of America, or possibly just a syndrome of people in general... who knows.
It's funny, because we know it would be true. There's something about nameless, faceless masses that makes a person turned off to the horrors that befall them. Yeah, some 30,000 odd people died in that one place because of an earthquake some years ago, but I didn't know any of them, so it really doesn't affect me.
However, if you show me a picture of a survivor of that horrible tradgedy, it immediately becomes more personal. I see the face of someone who's whole life was destroyed by the tragedy. They become a face, rather than some number.
That's why this little comic is so interesting. I can (not so) easily say that if someone offered me a million dollars for every time I pressed the button, I'd probably press it quite a few times. Not because I'm a sadistically horrible person, but just because I wouldn't directly see the effects of my button pressing. And in my mind I would justify it by saying that the person who died didn't necessarily die a horible death.
It's just interesting to me that we're so turned off to the violence and problems in the world, that when presented with an ethical and moral quandary, we're quick to hop on the "money train." Maybe it's a syndrome of America, or possibly just a syndrome of people in general... who knows.
Comments
Post a Comment