A thought-provoking piece
“There’s no lack of
information in today’s world about distant hardships; … But as the fading of
attention to the refugee crisis since then demonstrates, this kind of knowledge
doesn’t always translate into compassion; indeed it may compound apathy,
calcifying public opinion and paralyzing world leaders. “Sadly,” according to
Francis, “today’s information explosion does not of itself lead to an increased
concern for other people’s problems. ... Indeed, the information glut can numb
people’s sensibilities and to some degree downplay the gravity of the problems.”...
“The pope seems to be suggesting that this is something new, but of course it’s
rather the reverse I think,” said Peter Singer, a moral philosopher and
professor of bioethics at Princeton University. “We’ve always basically had
less regard for strangers, often zero regard for strangers or outright
hostility to strangers. And perhaps there are evolutionary explanations for why
that should be.” (Singer pointed out that unlike the pope, he doesn’t approach
these issues from a religious perspective.)”