Indifference to suffering

Failure to report suffering
Silence in response to suffering
Avoidance of reference to suffering
Indifference in response to injustice
Moral indifference
Moral tourism

Incidence

The international community reports very selectively and to widely varying degrees on the suffering of peoples. Very extensive coverage may be given to accidents involving several hundreds of deaths. Little reference, or none at all, may be made to massacres of tens of thousands over a period of months. Whilst the media may successfully report on accidents and disasters, and occasionally on situations involving thousands of people over an extended period of time, international agencies are obliged to avoid referring to situations which are considered to be the internal concerns of particular countries or else limit themselves to emitting token resolutions protesting them. Examples include the massacres in Kampuchea and Uganda.

Claim

Television has turned people into moral tourists: it is a trip to visit other people's suffering. Television has made it possible to witness existing horrors second-hand and to feel strong emotions, but the memory is short and the indignations are very brief.