Haiti- a case study in Human Empathy

It has been a month since tragedy struck Haiti. I have watched as celebrities of every type; movie stars, radio personalities, and rabbis jumped on the van-wagon of self-interest pulled by the different nations of the world (see post Haiti Intent vs. Results). Here we are a month later and the front pages of our newspapers have moved on and the flood of empathy has dried up.

I expected this, but held off on commenting until I was sure our nature wouldn't fail us. It has not.

This is the human condition -empathy is temporary even if a tragedy is permanent.
If we admit that there is a problem then we are obligated to respond, otherwise we face being labeled apathetic and inhuman. I am not advocating the alternative, self-imposed ignorance. But if are response is triggered purely by empathy then it is bound to be short lived. After all how long can one attempt to feel anothers pain?

This is a long standing trend. Take Darfur for instance with its human-perpetrated genocide. When was the last time we have expressed empathy with the millions of traumatized victims there, forget about aid!? Where is Danny Glover, or Shmulie Boteach, do they bother to "tour" Darfur? Yes our empathy for Darfur has long since dried up.

True, for arguments sake, there is a distinction. Haiti was a natural tragedy, thus all humanity become temporary brothers in the face of an outside enemy. In the case of Sudan, it is humans who are killing, raping, and destroying. It is harder for us acknowledge and condemn our own species- perhaps because we are then condemning ourselves.

This distinction may highlight a theoretical difference between Darfur,Sudan and Haiti. However it does more to show that when empathy is our motivation, however natural empathy is, it can not be our sole reason, because empathy is short lived.

Does it take front page new stories for us to respond and advocate, or is it that because it is ON the front pagethat we respond with two levels of self interest , empathy which it self may be motivated by a deeper more disguised self-interest,fame.

The real tragedy in Haiti has been ongoing for decades. In Haiti many people have been eating cake made from a mixture of mud and water- these cakes are SOLD in the streets! Ironically, because of the disaster and the subsequent relief effort many Haitians are eating better. Where were the nations and the celebrities THEN? Where were we? Indeed human empathy is tragic.