Alleviating Suffering

We struggle to spend time and energy on alleviating suffering of others because most of us are so focussed exclusively on our own problems or responsibilities, and have an acute sense of how hard we work to keep ourselves afloat. This is understandable, however, via the media, many politicians play off this factor and subtly (or obviously) shift blame for those who are suffering onto victims for their own suffering. This plays off the psychological “Just world fallacy” - we believe we work hard and that what we have is our own hard work, whereas others failures are due to them, when this is often not the case. This is just because we can be easily blind to the life experiences of others - we have not ‘walked in their shoes’. The just world fallacy also brings comfort to those who are better off because it seems to remove the moral imperative for them to do anything about it.

Furthermore, some politicians and commentators put labels upon those people who do insist that we ought to do more to help these people who are really struggling, labelling them as “social signalling”. This similarly limits their own moral responsibility to question themselves and whether they are doing enough.

Let us check ourselves before we get drawn into the idea that those suffering deserve it. We may not be sure what we ought to do about their suffering, but it is an expression of bad faith to assume that a person’s suffering is their fault rather than a consequence of circumstance (e.g. location of their birth and the wealth of their parents will greatly determine how their life opportunities will be shaped).