Friday 18 October 2024

Compassion From The West

Compassion shouldn't be tricky but for some people it is, or rather for some victims.
Most people feel it keener when it is close to home but it seems in the West, our sympathy has limits and those limits are geographic.
The Mapamundi Tragico or Tragedy World Map, was created by Mexican designer Eduardo Salles, in April 2015, but epitomises the horror we experience, and the sympathy we feel, for the tragedies that occur all over the world from a Western perspective and shows that those feelings of empathy decrease as the cultural, economic and geographical distance to the disaster and its victims increases.
The map details five zones of compassion with Zone One Ground Zero for our sympathies so for disasters in Canada and the U.S. (but not, strangely enough, Alaska), Western and Central Europe, Israel, Japan and Australia we say 'What a great tragedy'.
The second zone of sympathy comprises most of Latin America, the part of Eastern Europe squeezed between Russia and the West, Egypt, South Africa, India, and South Korea so something terrible going down here, we can still bring ourselves to think: 'Oh no, that's so sad.
The third zone is made up of Russia, China, the Middle East, Venezuela, Cuba and Central America where we shrug and say: Hmmm...how sad.  
If there is an apartment building ablaze or a bomb goes off in a market place in the fourth zone, there won't be much sympathy if it's in Guyana, Mongolia, Central Asia or the bits of that continent to the west or east of India where our reaction is' Hang on, does that country even exist?
The least sympathy from the West and a nonchalent Meh! goes to the poor citizens in the fifth zone or most of Africa.

5 comments:

Not really a blog said...

with the exception of the middle east, very much like the topics you elect to post about

Falling on a bruise said...

I don't know, this months topics have covered a lot of ground including how awful some people's English Grammar is and how they struggle with things such as spelling, the use of capital letters and how to correctly use punctuation marks.

Falling on a bruise said...

I don't know, this months topics have covered a lot of ground including how awful some people's English Grammar is and how they struggle with things such as spelling, the use of capital letters and how to correctly use punctuation marks.

Not really a blog said...

i know i know you are always seeking a way to undermine the people (actually only one follower of your blog - me) that confront your disinformation with data and logic based in reality.

you little ideologue you

Anonymous said...

More taking the piss out of your terrible grammar to be fair.