A question has been occupying my head for quite
some time: Why are we so quick to react to, get angry at and rally against an
external threat or attack than solve problems that exist within ourselves, our
homes and even our countries?
Take the example of road accident deaths in India.
Each year more than 138,000
Indians lose their lives to road accidents. The solution to this problem is
completely in our control. From the individual driver who could pursue safe
driving and take standard safety measures like wearing a seatbelt and helmet to
the government and the police who should be spending a lot more resources on
road safety and enforcement. But this particular issue does seem to anger or
concern much of the citizenry as compared to say terrorism. I am not in any way
saying terrorism is something we should ignore but in comparison terrorism does
not even cause a fraction of these deaths. Imagine if 138,000 people were
killed by terrorists every year. How would we feel about that? I think our
response would be somewhat more urgent and decisive. So even though solving a
problem like terrorism is only partly in our control and a lot more complex we
are extremely concerned about it. We can’t possibly convince our enemies to
stop hating us which is why I don’t think we can do much as an individual to solve that problem.
Same is true for female infanticide. The issue is now somewhat at the forefront but I don’t see nearly as much anger as there
should be about this subject. The numbers are once again astounding,
approximately 500,000 girls are killed in India each year.
The culture of being hyper reactive about an external
problem like terrorism or Chinese spying on Intellectual property is not unique
to India. All over the world it’s much easier to mobilize people for problems
that they don’t have much control over. Canadians for example are much more
generous in being ‘concerned’ about world poverty than the persecution of First
Nations people in their own backyard. I am speaking from experience of having
lived here for 8+ years and don’t have hard data to back me up but I am sure
many Canadians will agree.
The point of my post is not diminish issues like
terrorism and world poverty. All I am saying is that if we could actually worry
about problems in our control and immediate vicinity, we may actually be able
to get somewhere.
