"35,000 died in an Iranian earthquake last Xmas - did the World have such an outpouring of grief then?"
To some extent you are right but is it so wrong, we are after all only human. We are all effected in different ways by different things.For me...the situation in Asia is very different to that in Iran...nearly every one I have spoken to over the Christmas weekend knows of someone that could have been effected this weekend. It does bring it home when you know someone effected. The scale of the disaster Is many times larger than that of the Iran quake and not only are the numbers that are kill many times more the number of homeless are in the millions not tens of thousands as in Iran. Also the fact that its a new disaster, a "Tsunami", that most people have never seen in their liftime before makes it all that more dramatic. We have all seen terrorist attacks and plane crashes before but there was something undenyably different about 911. UNfortunately thats the way things are. I don't think we should be trying to compare... incidentally(spelling?) Iran recieved a lot of aid. Sure we could always do more.
It's like AIDS - something only gets done when the rich countries get affected.
again true but what do you expect. in the Aids situation it wasnt even recognised as killer desease in the early 80s!. We as the popultaion
as rich country have just as much as repsonsibily to help as our Governments do. BUt i don't see everyone wearing "Stop Rape in Africa bangles around their wrists or releasing Feed the Starving in Russia Cds. It's all about perception of whats more important and commumication and having the ability to help. In an ideal world we would help everyone with everything we have but as we learnt this weekend we dont live in an ideal world.