More importantly, “In the mind of westerners, the people that matter are individuals. Few mourn people without names. There are just too many of them.”
America will go to war to save the lives of a few hostages, risking the death of dozens or hundreds to save individuals. But when we see a place like Pol Pot’s Cambodia, or the Rwandan genocide, while we abhor and deplore what happens, these are faceless, nameless people.
This isn’t racism. Were a handful of ethnic Cambodian or Rwandan Canadians taken hostage, and Americans were moved by their plight as individuals, we might very well risk our lives to save them. Because they had faces, and were individuals.
In other words, where is the Ukrainian, “Anne Frank”?