The front burner of world interest seems to last about a week or so -- no matter how many people are being killed -- when any new frightening disaster takes over the public interest. At this moment, since an American newsman was "beheaded" by barbaric ISIS members, even our domestic racial riots in/near St. Louis are off the front pages for a time.
Public interest is so very fickle that no story, no horrible reality, no crisis, can hold our attention for very long. What determines public interest? Is it the newness -- or is it the fatigue factor at work on/during the current crisis? Are we all so shallow that we cannot hold several problems in our attention span at the same time?
"Network" -- the movie, got it right! The New Thing -- no matter what it is -- is the most popular thing; the New Thing commands our interest almost completely until the next Newer Thing slides into view. It is an atrocious and sickening process -- as we slide from crisis to crisis, from tragedy to tragedy, until we are finally glutted from all such news, and withdraw and retreat.
Are the deaths and injuries suffered in Donetsk not as important as Ferguson, MO? Does the beheading of one American journalist in the Middle East count for more than any number of lives elsewhere? Are we just running out of compassion, and thus interest, in the rest of the world?
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