Conspicuous Compassion: Why Sometimes it Really is Cruel to be Kind"We live in an age of conspicuous compassion. We sport empathy ribbons, send flowers to recently deceased celebrities, weep in public over murdered children, apologize for historical misdemeanors, wear red noses for the starving, go on demonstrations to proclaim 'Drop the Debt' or 'Not in My Name.' We feel each other's pain. We desperately seek a common identity and new social bonds to replace those that have withered in the post-war era - the family, the church, the nation and neighborhood. Mourning sickness is a religion for the lonely crowd that no longer subscribes to orthodox churches. Its flowers and teddies are its rites, its collective minutes' silences its liturgy and mass. This book's thesis is that such displays of empathy do not change the world for the better: they do not help the poor, diseased, dispossessed or bereaved. Our culture of ostentatious caring is about projecting your ego, and informing others what a deeply caring individual you are. It is about feeling good, not doing good, and illustrates not how altruistic we have become, but how selfish. And, as Patrick West shows in this witty but incisive monograph, sometimes it can be cruel." |
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User Review - atyson - LibraryThingWhilst citizens of developed countries are more affluent and comfortable, they are not more happy. Unhappiness has sought an outlet in recent years in bouts of public mourning and other forms of ... Read full review
Contents
Conspicuous Compassion | 1 |
Mourning Sickness | 7 |
Noncesense | 15 |
Copyright | |
12 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
abuse According actually Africans animal anti-war apologised appear August awareness Bangladesh become beggars begging better Britain British called campaign caring causes celebrities cent charity Church collective concerned conspicuous compassion countries crime crowd cruel crying culture Daily death debt December Diana displays Drop drugs emotion empathy ribbons expressing face fact February feel flowers football friends gesture girls giving going Guardian historical homeless human Independent individual instance Irish issue July June killed lives London lost Manchester March mass merely million move murdered never November observed October one's parents petitions political problem protest prove question raised ribbons seek seen September silence slave trade social society Soham sorry spending stop strangers streets Sunday Sunday Telegraph Telegraph television thing Third World thousands tion United victims wearing West
Bibliographic information
| Title | Conspicuous Compassion: Why Sometimes it Really is Cruel to be Kind |
| Author | Patrick West |
| Publisher | Civitas, Institute for the Study of Civil Society, 2004 |
| ISBN | 1903386349, 9781903386347 |
| Length | 79 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |