The exceptional intensity of the emotions- disbelief, compassion, and global concern- displayed at the Asian Tsunami disaster is a prime example of the discourse of compassion and humanitarianism created and fostered by the political climate and media. Compared with the absence of this type of global concern for the humanitarian crises in Darfur, in Iraq, in Rwanda, in Palestine, the compassion for more instantaneous "natural" disasters (a misnomer since the impact of such disasters is inextricably linked to the inequalities of empire) as opposed to the more readily preventative devastation of war, militarization and genocide brings to light the degree of indecency and multiple personalities of the colonial consciousness.

Gilbert Achcar has also commented on this depressing contrast in the context of the September 11 attacks when the white world is "thrown into convulsions of distress over the '6,000' victims in the United States, while it can hardly give a thought to Black Africa in its horrible agony." Achcar describes this phenomenon as a form of what he calls "narcissistic compassion" evoked by disasters striking "people like us." (1)


Full:  http://sevenoaksmag.com/features/45_feat1.html