From Passion to Politics: What Moves People to Take Action?
If I Look at the Mass I Will Never Act: Psychic Numbing and Genocide
Summary:Paul Slovic, President, Decision Research; Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon Introduction: Daniel Kahneman h*78, Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology; Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
About
The 2007 Colloquium will explore a vital question: what motivates people to move beyond cognitive awareness of a major policy problem to take actual steps to make change? It will focus on what factors and motivations spur people to care about something happening half a world away, as well as in their own communities; the reasons people don't care, and even if they do, still don't act; and what can be done to teach people how to diagnose, solve, and implement solutions to policy problems. Through keynote speeches and panel sessions organized in collaboration with departments and programs from across Princeton University, the Colloquium will challenge audiences - students, alumni, faculty, members of the community, and press - to debate the insights generated in light of the problems facing our community, our nation, and our world.
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Douglas Gilbert
Weeding Out
Janjaweed's fleeing victims
stopped in a camp
for a chat
A peacekeeper listened
for awhile
to tales of genocide
from refugees of Darfur
Slaughters on memory pause
too starved to indulge grief for
the dignitary just yet,
a drudgery one
asked why the UN worker cried
Bad news through Khartoum --
my child watching cartoons
sends e-mail that
the dog died
Melamine* from China
supporter of Sudan
did the canine in
Don't they eat dogs in China
the woman of dead child says
The worker is insulted,
has lost her appetite for politics
Oil for China
and a veto of sanctions.
Khartoum is happy, and
flies in weapons
for the final solution,
but politely
*Melamine, a chemical derived from coal was found in pet food that killed dogs and cats. It is used in China as a make-believe protein that has no nutritional value. See: "In China, Additive To Animals' Food Is An Open Secret," New York Times, April 30, 2007, pp. A1, A8, by David Barboza and Alexei Barrionuevo.
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