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Saturday, November 27, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Maybe I just read too much
I am beginning to think I have read a few too many books on human decision making and emotion (particularly fear and empathy and randomness). Understanding how other people are likely to react to things largely prevents me from reacting the same way, because I can only see it as silly.
The reason I mention this is because of the Pike River Disaster. And it is a disaster. 29 people were trapped, and are now almost certainly dead. It is a tragedy - which sadly makes it the media's wet dream. But they are an ancillary problem, and not what I am talking about here.
Do not for one second get me wrong. When I first heard about Pike River, my throat caught, and my heart went out to the men and their families. Despite allegations to the contrary, I do feel human emotion. I was sad for a while. What sobered me up was the fact that I wouldn't STOP hearing about this event for at least a month, probably more.
It is the nature of empathy. When a tragedy occurs, we attach a lot of weight to it. It is the way we are hard wired. I haven't studied this in depth, so I won't get technical with it - most everyone knows this from experience.
Allow me to provide a bit of perspective.
-According to the NZTA, in the past twelve months 381 people have died in car accidents. That 32 per month, or roughly 1 per day. (http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/road-deaths/toll.html)
-On a single day, Oct 31 2010, there were 47 recorded civilian deaths in Iraq that were caused by violence. The average is 11.6 per day. This does not include unrecorded casualties, which are presumed to be significantly higher. (http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/)
-According to the Ministry of Health, smoking kills approximately 5000 people per year in New Zealand. That is around 14 per day.
And the list goes on and on - people dying due to tragic, and often preventable causes. It is all sad. Why do we not care?
Because those are statistics. Those people are just as real as the Pike River miners, but we do not see them. We do not see pictures of them. We feel no connection to them. Nobody cares about statistics.
I care about statistics. Those facts, and the rest, rend me just as much as Pike River does.
Heck, Pike River is a statistic. In 2009, 2631 chinese miners died in coal mines. That is a Pike River-size event every week. (http://frankwarner.typepad.com/free_frank_warner/2006/01/us_coal_mining_.html)
Pike River is a very sad event. 29 men were embarked in a dangerous profession to provide a vital material to our economy, and died as a result. But excuse me if I do not observe minutes of silence, or light candles, or join Pike River groups on facebook.
Call me a heartless bastard, if you like. You won't be the first, and you probably won't be the last. I disagree. I just think I see the bigger picture. Pike River is a very small piece in a very large, very sad, puzzle.
The reason I mention this is because of the Pike River Disaster. And it is a disaster. 29 people were trapped, and are now almost certainly dead. It is a tragedy - which sadly makes it the media's wet dream. But they are an ancillary problem, and not what I am talking about here.
Do not for one second get me wrong. When I first heard about Pike River, my throat caught, and my heart went out to the men and their families. Despite allegations to the contrary, I do feel human emotion. I was sad for a while. What sobered me up was the fact that I wouldn't STOP hearing about this event for at least a month, probably more.
It is the nature of empathy. When a tragedy occurs, we attach a lot of weight to it. It is the way we are hard wired. I haven't studied this in depth, so I won't get technical with it - most everyone knows this from experience.
Allow me to provide a bit of perspective.
-According to the NZTA, in the past twelve months 381 people have died in car accidents. That 32 per month, or roughly 1 per day. (http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/road-deaths/toll.html)
-On a single day, Oct 31 2010, there were 47 recorded civilian deaths in Iraq that were caused by violence. The average is 11.6 per day. This does not include unrecorded casualties, which are presumed to be significantly higher. (http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/)
-According to the Ministry of Health, smoking kills approximately 5000 people per year in New Zealand. That is around 14 per day.
And the list goes on and on - people dying due to tragic, and often preventable causes. It is all sad. Why do we not care?
Because those are statistics. Those people are just as real as the Pike River miners, but we do not see them. We do not see pictures of them. We feel no connection to them. Nobody cares about statistics.
I care about statistics. Those facts, and the rest, rend me just as much as Pike River does.
Heck, Pike River is a statistic. In 2009, 2631 chinese miners died in coal mines. That is a Pike River-size event every week. (http://frankwarner.typepad.com/free_frank_warner/2006/01/us_coal_mining_.html)
Pike River is a very sad event. 29 men were embarked in a dangerous profession to provide a vital material to our economy, and died as a result. But excuse me if I do not observe minutes of silence, or light candles, or join Pike River groups on facebook.
Call me a heartless bastard, if you like. You won't be the first, and you probably won't be the last. I disagree. I just think I see the bigger picture. Pike River is a very small piece in a very large, very sad, puzzle.
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