Hard Calculus

The number dead in the Haitian earthquake may reach 230,000. The quake happened a month ago, and it is beginning to fade from the news.

The number dead in the Congo war may be as high as 5,400,000. It has been going on for a decade, and you seldom read about it at all.

Thus the Congo war has a death toll 23.5 times higher than the Haiti quake, and people have been suffering far longer.

The problem is that our evolved brains can begin to appreciate the suffering of an individual and can be motivated to try to help an individual, but it seems not to have the means to recognize a demand for action to save hundreds of thousands or millions of people suffering in a distant place.

Sometimes we just have to substitute logic for feelings in order to do the right thing!