Total immunity?
Generally columnists offer their version of «the year in review» around this time. But things are rather different this year. The tragedy in Southeast Asia, in which more than 125,000 people were killed, does not allow for such luxuries. The shocking tragedy revealed the helplessness of the human being against the forces of nature. But it also highlighted the paralysis of our sensitivity as thousands of tourists stayed where they were to «finish off their holidays.» Cynicism? Yes, if we look at it on a purely humanitarian level. But if we think in terms of the market economy, it is just simple logic… In other words, we appear to have lost all sense of proportion and control. Scenes that we had been heretofore unable to imagine are happening right before our eyes; things that offend human decency we now accept without protest as part of everyday reality. We have become completely immune. Evidently television has achieved its goal of getting us to see war as a spectacle by making Patriots and Skud missiles an everyday sight and making maimed children poster material… As a result, we continued to eat our smoked salmon and spring rolls while watching TV coverage of the disaster that claimed tens of thousands of lives…
