“For one who is indifferent, life itself is a prison”
– Elie Wiesel
Are we becoming numb to genocide?
Coined in 1943 by a Polish-Jewish legal scholar named Raphael Lemkin to define the deliberate mass killing that took place across Germany during WWII, “genocide” has since become an all-too-commonly heard term. It seems people have become immune to the ongoing discussions and debates about what we can do to stop these brutal attacks on humanity. As the number of deaths and raped women and children rises in Darfur, other people’s compassion seems to be lessening, making the individual lives of the oppressed seem insignificant.
These endless statistics are dry and elicit hardly any feeling. According to University psychology professor Paul Slovic, the problem is not that people don’t care about the issue; it is that good people “often become numbly indifferent to the plight of ‘the one’ who is ‘one of many’ in a much greater problem.”
Teachers discuss the topic in class. They show slides with lists of numbers, while students either space out, as if it’s old news that can now just be ignored, or something they feel completely helpless to do anything about. We all wish genocide would stop, but herein lies the problem – so many are simply waiting and hoping for a solution, despite the information they have, rather than taking some sort of stand.
“As Rwanda marks a grim 12th anniversary, we must accept that while vast human destruction in Darfur has unfolded plainly before us, we have again done little more than watch, offering only unprotected humanitarian assistance while some 450,000 people have perished as a result of violence, as well as consequent malnutrition and disease,” writes Eric Reeves, a Sudan researcher and analyst.
“I’m a student at the University of Oregon; what could I possibly do to end such an atrocity?” some students wonder, myself frequently included. I badly want to save the men, women and children but I feel so distant. But the fact that the genocide in Darfur is occurring an ocean away is no excuse to pretend it isn’t happening. So long as we continue to be indifferent, we too are a part of the problem. Indifference only benefits the enemy, and by doing nothing we are allowing the violence to continue.
This indifference was the premise of Slovic’s presentation at the University last Thursday. The internationally renowned scholar spoke in-depth of the effects our passiveness and inaction have on those suffering in Darfur. He delved into the reasons people around the world who are not directly involved in the killing and the violence are simply able to sit by and watch as the suffering continues with no foreseeable end. Part of it has to do with the spatial distance, he said, but it’s the personal distance that hurts even more. We are constantly bombarded with statistics, but what do they mean? Four hundred and fifty thousand dead – how am I to wrap my mind around this number? This “psychic numbing” is part of what allows President Lt. Gen. Omar al-Bashir to continue with his scorched-earth campaign. The numbers are simply so high that 10 or 20 more deaths don’t seem to make a difference.
Psychic numbing is the reason we can read numbers like “450,000 dead in Darfur” and “tens of thousands of women and children raped in eastern Congo,” and then minutes later walk away and wonder what we want to have for dinner. It keeps us from having any emotional or visceral reaction. Slovic considers this psychic numbing to be a “fundamental deficiency in our humanity.” And, writes Boston Globe writer Thea Singer in her article “Why We Don’t Care About Darfur”: ” It’s partially why, in the face of repeated genocide, good people have historically failed to act.”
So, how do we get people to show support and help bring an end to the horrific events that are taking place in Africa? Statistics may baffle the public, but they aren’t enough to motivate the people. There must be a more personal connection to get the world to care and take action. Because we cannot possibly put a name and a face to a number as high as 450,000, we must think in terms of smaller groups of people and even individuals.
As Mother Theresa said, “If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.”
Asking people to donate in the name of one particular person affected by the violence will help them better understand the mass violence at a more personal level. Or, get involved in your community; the Lane County Darfur Coalition includes community members and college and high school students who work together to increase awareness in this specific community about the genocide in Darfur. Group discussions take place regularly on or around campus, as well. For instance, the same video Slovic played in my class will be shown in the Knight Library Browsing Room tonight at 6:30 p.m., followed by a panel discussion.
Caring about genocide may seem like a hassle, or one more thing on our list of things to do. It may be easy to ignore, being so far removed from the violence – both physically and emotionally – but we cannot have global peace of mind until it ends. If people in Khartoum, Sudan, can turn a blind eye to the systematic raping and mass killings of their own fellow citizens, then we must work even harder to show compassion. We cannot remain passive to an issue simply because we find it difficult to discuss.
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