Pessimists say that the ways of the world are worsening; optimists say that news of catastrophes is more widely available. Whatever the truth, the unfortunate people of northern Afghanistan have suffered quite enough in recent years without the latest earthquake now visited upon them. Thousands have died, thousands more are homeless, and the weather locally is terrible.
Medicines and shelter are needed and the usual agencies are reacting with commendable speed and care but, at a time when there is argument over the precise nature of the suffering of the people of South Sudan and when Clare Short has warned about the deadening effect of photographs of the afflicted, it is necessary to reaffirm the importance of the compassionate tendency in human nature. Ms Short may be right about some photographs. A selection published yesterday verge on the perverted in their composition and dehumanisation. Yes, we need to know of and see these things so that we can respond, but to do so we must identify with the subjects as fellow human beings, rather than as voyeuristic images.
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