Compasssion fatigue

Treading a fine line on Australia Talks Back last night, Tim Costello (cv here and here) was careful not to accuse individual Australians of being ungenerous in their support of the recent earthquake appeal. There were the inevitable callers who reminded us that we should "look after our own" and that "charity begins at home." Costello, with a lifelong interest in the welfare of the impoverished in our midst, was careful not to disparage that idea. Would I be alone in supecting, though, that those who protest that "charity begins at home" also seem less likely to be magnanimous towards the homeless and underprivileged in our midst than those who give generously to overseas causes.
A couple of interesting points that tease one's intellect were made by a number of callers who were less diplomatic than TC

• Australia gave $10 million almost immediately to the US in response to the recent cyclone disaster
• Australia gave $500,000 to the earthquake appeal as its first response, though it has since brought it up to $10 million
  
• Both disasters were appalling but the Pakistani disaster affected at least 5 and probably 10 times the number of people
• Our initial response represented about 2c or less per person. Even the latter response represented only 50cents per person
• $10 million represents less than it cost to mail out the information about the proposed Industrial Relations changes.

It is difficult for mere mortals to get our heads around such things. One would be tempted to say "there's something rotten in the state of Denmark" were it not for the fact that we have all been so easily distracted by the birth of the little Australian princeling

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