Comic Strips

I agree with you ... when most people are directly faced with having to deal with poverty, like if someone were starving right in front of you, the majority of people everywhere have a level of empathy that makes them understand that you have to help and feed someone to keep them from dying. If someone is bleeding or dying in front of you, most people have a natural impulse to want to help ... I honestly believe that ... not everyone may act on that instinct but most people feel the urge to want to do something because they would see themselves in the same situation and wonder how they would want others to react for their benefit.

The story is different when most people can not directly see the poverty in question but instead hear of it as a story far away or read about it in a news story or see a picture of somewhere far away from them. It removes them and its far easier for them to ignore it all or even have no empathy because they are not involved or will not directly feel any consequences if they choose to not have any empathy.

I don't just think that some people have empathy ... I believe that the majority of people everywhere have empathy. It's just that if we give people an opportunity to not show any empathy and not suffer any blame or consequences for it, most people will choose to stay in the shadows and not be bothered by anything or anyone, no matter how terrible the situation may be.