Years ago, someone invented the term “compassion fatigue” -- loosely defined as “indifference to charitable appeals on behalf of those who are suffering, experienced as a result of the frequency or number of such appeals.”
It has also been called Secondary Traumatic Stress -- a kind of trauma resulting from recurring exposure to scenes of misery and suffering, which leads to emotional withdrawal, to a gradual lessening of compassion.
It was first diagnosed in nurses in the 1950s. It is common among individuals who work directly with trauma victims such as therapists, teachers, psychologists, police officers, paramedics, firefighters, animal welfare workers, and also family members, relatives, and other informal caregivers of patients suffering from chronic illness.
The term was popularized, if I recall correctly, during the Ethiopian famine of the late 1980s, when we were bombarded daily by stories and pictures of starving children, too weak to blink when a fly crawled across an eyeball, mothers too emaciated to have milk in their breasts.
And so we drew back. We sucked in our shock, our sympathy. We told ourselves there was nothing more we could do about it. We stilled our heartstrings.
For myself, I became more intentionally selective. I chose the charities I would support. I set up monthly payments. And I simply ignored all other pleas that came to my mailbox.
Petition fatigue
Lately, I’ve been suffering a slightly different kind of fatigue -- petition fatigue.
Every day, my email inbox contains a batch of on-line petitions. They come from Avaaz, Leadnow, SomeOfUs, Freedom United, Change.org -- the list goes on and on.
The petitions urge me to click, to add my name to the thousands, perhaps millions, who plead with authorities. To free a political prisoner in Afghanistan. To prevent a young boy from being deported to Syria. To prosecute a man who raped and dismembered a young girl in Pakistan. To ban fish farms in B.C. To abolish slavery. To protect tropical rain forests.
This list goes on and on too.
I’m getting more ruthless about hitting the “delete” button.
Shocked out of apathy
Then, the other day, a petition came through that jolted me out of my apathy.
A mother wrote about an app -- you know, one of those downloadable programs that infest smart phones and tablets -- that seems deliberately designed to promote cruelty.
The app is called Sarahah. Wikipedia claims its inventor intended it for exactly the opposite purpose -- to enable employees to compliment their bosses anonymously.
The name Sarahah apparently means “frankness” or “honesty” in Arabic.
The app can be downloaded by anyone. It’s available on the App Store and Google Play.
Good intentions always -- always! -- have a downside. The anonymity that its creator saw as a virtue, the Common Sense Media organization describes as “ready-made for cyberbullying.”
Other reviews are even less charitable: “an app breeding suicides,” and “a breeding ground for hate.”
The mother who launched this particular petition wrote, “I have been scared, broken, and sick to my stomach ever since I read messages about my 13-year-old daughter, including, ‘I hope she kills herself. Seriously nobody will care’.”
But surely no one takes anonymous venom seriously. Do they?
Yes.
Amanda Todd did. The B.C. girl’s video about cyberbullying was viewed by more than 17 million people before she hanged herself in her home.
Rehtaeh Parsons, Courtney Brown, and Mitchell Wilson also took their own lives rather than submit to continued bullying.
Bullying follows kids home
Statistics Canada says that one in five young Canadians have been victims of cyberbullying or cyberstalking. The Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime estimates twice as high a rate of cyberbullying -- two out of five.
Its website notes, “Bullying used to be restricted to face to face [encounters] and often restricted to school hours. Now it follows kids home on their Smart phones.”
Honest feedback is a good thing. Cyberbullying is not. I can’t do much about far-away individuals who get pleasure from making others miserable.
But I can do something about unscrupulous corporations who hide behind the excuse of legitimate free enterprise to market a program that facilitates and encourages cyberbullying.
When food is shown to contain bacteria that could cause harm, the manufacturers are expected to pull it off retail shelves.
If a software program can be used to cause pain, suffering, and even death, then it seems to me that its creators have an obligation to amend it, to protect the vulnerable.
And if they don’t, or can’t, the marketers need to pull the program. Period.
So I signed the petition.
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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
The point of last week’s column was that what you believe in may not be the same thing I believe in, even if we call it by the same name.
Bob Rollwagen responded, “You are so right that racist, sexist, bigots and bullies can be nice people in a social situation. Many only come out when they feel safe, unless they are in positions of power.
“Religious gatherings of people with a common belief are a social structure that has had tremendous impact on humankind for centuries. Technology and social media have and are impacting the historical base of these institutions. This is a challenge for those of us that understand the strength of a society that shares values which build and educate for the mutual benefit of all. I believe we are the majority, but we are easily scattered by individuals with personal hidden agendas.
“Only when you are alone and feeling vulnerable or unsure will you question your belief and wonder if it has served you well.”
Steve Roney commented that even atheists believe in something: “I went to a talk by David Suzuki a few years ago, in which he volunteered what he believed in. He believed, he said, that the elements were sacred. If that sounds superficially scientific, it is not. It turned out that by ‘the elements,’ he meant earth, air, fire, and water. Not a scientific creed, just a pagan one.
“A lot of people who say they do not believe in God will then say they believe in ‘Nature,’ or ‘Gaia.’ What is the difference? I think only that their vision of God removes all ethical judgements. They still believe in God, just not in right and wrong.”
Steve then tackled the logic of Robertson, Falwell or Levin “blaming natural disasters on man's sinfulness. [The fallacy] is not in seeing God as a judge. He is, and necessarily so. By definition, he is omniscient, and all-just. He therefore cannot make a mistake in judgment.
“But if God's punishment were [imposed] through natural disasters, he would not, in fact, be just. Because natural disasters are a blunt instrument; they kill large groups of people, not just sinners. So disasters cannot be his chosen instrument.
“Also, the natural disasters could not possibly wipe out the specific sins to which they point. So they cannot be connected.”
Frank Martens does call himself an atheist: “I look at most religions, as you know, as a figment of peoples’ imagination. Something like Joseph Smith and the golden tablets. How can people be so gullible? (Falwell is on the same intellectual level as Trump, so again...)
“I have no rational explanation for the very beginnings of our galaxies, but to say that humans were made in the image of God is something close to anathema to me.”
Ursula Deshield respomded tersely, “Evolution is a fact, not something that requires faith.”
Robert Caughell summarized, “Regardless of whether you are religious or not, what your belief system is, we should treat each other, human or not, as we expect them to treat us.
Dave Buckna responded to the fulminations against gays, etc., “The God I believe in loves everybody.” Dave quoted two verses from singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins:
God don't hate the Muslims
God don't hate the Jews
God don't hate the Christians
But we all give God the blues.
God don't hate the atheists
The Buddhists or the Hindus
God loves everybody
But we all give God the blues.
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TECHNICAL STUFF
If you want to comment on something, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca. Or just hit the ‘Reply’ button.
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My webpage is running again -- thanks to Wayne Irwin and ChurchWeb Canada. You can now access current columns and five years of archives at http://quixotic.ca
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PROMOTION STUFF…
To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols.
Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at wwwDOTsinghallelujahDOTca
Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://wwwDOThymnsightDOTca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom
Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawoodATgmailDOTcom to get onto her mailing list.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet