This drawing comes from an art therapy session with child refugees.
US: “No we can’t say that”
EU: “It’s ok this is not my problem”
The concept of Somebody Else’s Problem (let’s call it SEP) runs right through society and all issues in the world. Peter Shirley in his book “The Life You Can Save” looks at this. He calls it the bystander effect.
Shirley cites some fascinating research that goes something like this:
Researchers got people into a waiting room where they met the facilitator. Then the facilitator goes into a side room where she climbs on a stool, then pretends to fall over (crash, bang, ouch). The subjects can only hear (the side room is concealed with a curtain).
Essentially — when the subject was by themselves they were very likely to go help the facilitator. When there were two subjects in the waiting room (the second is a stooge who just sits there doing nothing), then they were very unlikely to go help!
What happened there? SEP.
We are less likely to help out when others stand by and do nothing.
I can’t think how many times I do this. I justify may lack of action by telling myself “there are other people around – they will do something”, or “if everyone else is standing around then it must be okay”. I hate it when I do this.
However we all do this to some degree on an international scale – probably because we feel so powerless to being change.
The golden rule sets the standard high: “Do unto others…”
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:38 am
Great point Truth Dealer.
I would hope that I would go and help someone who feel over. However, when I reflect on today I walked past perhaps a hundred pieces of rubbish today at my work and did nothing!!!
Could it be that we think our own efforts are insignificant. We dont do anything because our resources, money, time is a mere drop in the ocean compared with the size of the problem.
I also thing that sometimes the world moves on too quickly so our decisions have no effect on us. Take the rubbish in my work place. By Tuesday morning it will be gone, someone or something will have moved it. However, if it just piled up than over time I would have to do something.
Take the recent tsunami in Samoa. It is almost a non event in our media now. There are new stories and so as world we have moved on. So the event just moves on infront of us and we forget about it.
October 25th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Dude!
I know the kid who drew this picture…. he drew it deliberately in the hope that people out there would hear the message. He knows the struggle that westerners have in taking responsibility , but wants us to react.
This kid lives in a displaced peoples camp in southern Eastern Burma, in an area where 700 kids are crammed in a school designed for 100 and where men as old as 25 study at the equivalent of 10 year old academic level, because they have never studied anywhere inside Burma previously!
For a guy like this kid to understand English enough and the international political issues enough to draw this cartoon shows the boy is close to genius.
But he will never get to be more than that because the military regime of Burma, will never relinquish power voluntarily and the world will do nothing about it, because of international boundaries…… this kid’s cry may be heard on this website, but will the world ever respond? Is there anyone out there with the power to bring change, actually willing to do it?
There is a site where people can practically make a difference, instead of planting landmines, we can now plant love mines! Boom!!!
http://www.lovemine.org
Anyone out there wanna launch it in your own country? Check out their website.
Thanks for this great website, keep up the great work.
“All that Evil needs to prosper is for good men to do nothing….”
October 26th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
@Ozy – The news cycle is so rapid now as to be mind-numbing. Catastrophic events appear to come and go in heartbeat. The reality is they go on for years.
@Stuman – thanks for the background details.