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A Tide in the Affairs of Men
Posted By Stefan Monsaureus
The principle of proportional response is most often cited in the context of war or criminal justice, and is a useful defense against irrational, emotionally satisfying responses (those perennial calls to “Nuke the bastards” or “Hang’em high”). It is also a fair way to evaluate other aspects of human society such as government spending on social programs and charitable giving, which are perhaps more susceptible to manipulation in the interest of assauging our fears and satisfying our emotions.
The pity is that we are too quick to dispense with rationality when we are doing good rather than avenging evil. Take, for example, the outpouring of financial support in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC. We - individually and collectively - reached deep into our pockets to ensure that the families of the unfortunate victims of that tragedy would be adequately compensated for their loss - to the tune of some $3.1 million per victim according to information provided by the RAND Corporation.
I don’t begrudge the 9/11 families these funds; certainly they are scant compensation for the loss of a loved one. But, during that same year how many other “innocent” people died of diseases they had no desire to contract, of gunshot wounds, of accidents? Where was the public outcry for these victims who vastly outnumber the 3,000 or so who perished on 9/11?
Once again we are confronted with a disproportionate attempt to do good, this time in anteing up support for the victims of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004 that left as many as 150,000 dead, and millions more homeless and distressed. An Op-ed by Nicholas Kristof points out that the tidal wave of contributions for these victims is out of all proportion to the number of, again, innocent victims. Kristof mentions the millions who die each year from such preventable and treatable maladies as malaria, diarrhea, and AIDS, not to mention the thousands or millions more succumbing to malnutrition and poor access to healthcare generally.
It is incumbent on all Humanists to maintain the pressure on our government to provide foreign aid, in the form of humanitarian assistance, long after the sensationalism of this current tragedy has subsided. We should also be ever-aware of the plight of the majority of the planet’s inhabitants - those apparently forsaken by gods and governments.
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6 January 2005
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