Why don't people care about human rights anymore?

I feel when Bucha happened in Ukraine still a lot of people were shocked and outraged. But somehow this extreame achievement of the human race to formulate human rights and at least try to defend them is withering away.

  • Genocide in Gaza, meh.
  • Genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh whatever.
  • Genocide in some African country again? They always have some genocide going on there
  • Genocide in Xinjang? Look they are dancing in the propaganda videos, how bad can it be?
  • UK sending refugies from all over the world to Rwanda? They categorized it as a save country so what's the Problem?
  • Guantanamo is still open? We haven't heard much about it for years, probably everything is ok there

I could go on and on. So is it just the times now that nobody wants WWIII so we are just looking the other way? Even worse, if you want to protest for human rights, you get into trouble, not just in dictatorship countries, but in Germany, US, etc.

Chainweasel , (edited )

Genocide in Gaza, meh.

What? People are willing to let Trump win (which would be its own entirely separate set of human rights violations) over the genocide in Gaza.
You must not be paying enough attention because your first point can be easily disproven by visiting any major news source and viewing the stories about the mass protests on college campuses all over the county right now.

cyborganism ,

Yes but that's mostly because Israel is involved, which is a white colonialist state with whom the west are heavily involved economically. Especially the US.

The other countries OP mentioned get no attention however.

Hypx ,
Hypx avatar

A lot of them were "disappointed" when the estimated death toll got reduced. That tells us who those people really are. Very likely, they're Russia bots that are using the events in Gaza as a distraction to their war in Ukraine.

pop ,

The world could care less if it is Trump or Biden. But your supposition that stopping one genocide supporter is rooting for another fascists is not the worlds fault, but your own. Democracy as you still would call it.

Stop trying to claim to be the police of the world, while at the same time also sell weapons to the half of the world including despotic regimes and genocidal ones. A very good business model, but the world is seeing through it.

We all know where your priorities lie, and it isn't Human Rights.

You must not be paying enough attention because your first point can be easily disproven by visiting any major news source and viewing the stories about the mass protests on college campuses all over the county right now.

Yes, the protests got more news time than the actual ethnic cleansing. Tells a lot about the populace.

It's fine that genocides are happening over other countries with your blessings, But hur dur… we… we don't want what we do to other countries happening to us. 😭

It's about time you face consequences of your actions.

NOT_RICK ,
@NOT_RICK@lemmy.world avatar

It’s not an “anymore” situation. Most people didn’t care enough to help European Jews in the lead up to and during the Holocaust. People by and large have always been about “but how does this effect me?” as far as I can tell.

TheIndonesianRichGirl ,
@TheIndonesianRichGirl@lemmy.world avatar

True, but students are vulnerable to being expelled from university for being involved in public protests. Public universities in my country do so in order to discourage students from protesting the government.

I’ve lost faith in the social power of public protests myself. I’ve basically stopped believing in democracy. Most protests these days are driven by politicians seeking to topple the government or other politicians.

shinigamiookamiryuu ,

I can't remember the last time I spoke to anyone who wasn't concerned with some kind of securing of human rights somewhere in the world. If anything, I've always seen some kind of disagreement over "what form" (because apparently "human" and "right" are not straightforward terms for some people, which is rather disheartening as someone who wants a reason to see humanity as intrinsically good). There are tragic world events I'm sure are themselves undeservedly lower on everyone's "care about this" list because thoughts manifest according to atmosphere and not clockwork.

HANN ,

I think people have a lot of good responses especially about outrage fatigue. Also as many pointed out, people do care, hence the protests especially about Gaza. But even if everybody agrees that the atrocities are terrible people disagree on the solution. Historically the United States has been very involved in foreign affairs and trying to be some sort of glorified superman that went around beating up corrupt governments and improving lives in oppressed countries but it went terribly. It turned out that the US occupying these nations and fighting them just upset the locals even more and led to extremists and even more bloody fighting. Now days I think a lot of people want to help but prefer the government stay out of it. I think what is happening in Ukraine and Gaza is terrible but I don't want the US involved. Us sending soldiers and weapons doesn't help. Instead, I give to charity, and do the little bit I can to help struggling people.

kbin_space_program , (edited )

Pictures, or lack thereof. In 2022, we were shown daily with the horrors perpetuated by the Russians. I suppose the corporate media were happy to do it because it was Russia doing it, and that means easy arms sales and no (sane) protests.

Now though, because of Israel's genocide in Palestine, there isnt the bombardment of pictures and videos from Ukraine. It draws parallels to what Israel is doing in Gaza, and Netanyahu/Likud's military is a multi-billion dollar "venture" by the US arms industry. One where Israel gets billions from the US gov and spends it on buying US weapons and ammo.

Edit: to be clear, showing the same videos now draws "unwelcome" comparisons to what Netanyahu and Likud are doing in Palestine. They don't want a return to the anti-war movement that came out of media from.the Vietnam war.

morphballganon ,

Conservatives, emboldened by Obama's presidency, have never cared.

Progressives have always cared.

I suppose you're just looking the other way and refusing to see the good guys? Possibly because you're one of the bad guys? Or maybe you live in a state that blasts Faux News everywhere.

MrJameGumb ,
@MrJameGumb@lemmy.world avatar

It's because we now live in a "post normal" world. Having 5 minutes to just sit and think without being blasted with news about 15 new tragedies is now considered a luxury for the rich. When you're bombarded 24 hours a day with terrible news of a never ending stream of ever more horrible atrocities they all just kind of blur together and turn into background noise.

So to answer your question, people DO still care about human rights, but actually doing anything about it has become a seemingly impossible task due to the sheer volume of awful things going on in the world right now.

Rentlar ,

A lot of people are shocked and outraged about each. Look at the protests and encampments around universities. Similar to people having a finite amount they can donate, they have a finite amount of energy and focus to pay attention to and change.

One group making up bullshit reasons to kill another isn't going to stop with Ukraine, Gaza, Xinjiang, etc. Even if there were major interventions and a global cooperative effort to ease those specific tensions.

My fight is focused on improving transit for everyone, keeping this planet from warming up too much, and keeping rich people from siphoning up every bit of liberty we have left.

theywilleatthestars ,

World leaders have only ever cared about human rights when it was convenient for them, but people have been protesting Israel for months now. Average people care, it's just that their misinformed and disempowered.

Tower ,

https://lemm.ee/pictrs/image/20635cf7-c859-4d46-910d-023c43c2438f.webp

snownyte ,

Agreed.

Like, it's like trying to get people to care about every single charity out there to donate to. We just do not have that money to throw around, otherwise we could.

We can't truly care about every single cause in the world because that'd be sacrificing our personal self-care and the care of others in our circles. If we do, we'll just fall further down in our pits to where it'll be inescapable where beforehand, we barely kept our head above water.

And Americans need to be fighting more on their home turf for a change. We can't change things over in countries that are across vast oceans with different policies, with different cultures, different ways of life .etc

Hello_there ,

Norms are eroded when they are violated and there are no consequences.
'Why should I pay attention to carpool lane signs if there is not penalty for violating them? I won't.' Lots of people think this way and now they are just another lane.
Violations of norms are also contagious. If one traffic law doesn't matter, maybe we can get away with violating it more. 'I did it before and didn't get caught. Maybe I can keep doing it to save time'

NeoNachtwaechter ,

People are getting more self-important.

"Me comes first, and then again me! And after a long while, still me."

Bunnylux ,
@Bunnylux@lemmy.world avatar

That's a short sighted* and anachronistic take lol.

tobogganablaze ,

Genocide in Gaza, meh

I agree with all the other examples you listed ... but this one? "Meh"? Lemmy and really the general media won't shut up about it.

If anything the question should be "Why don't people care about human rights ... unless it's in Gaza?"

sukhmel ,

I don't know, there really seems to be less Palestine news on Lemmy lately. Also, this likely depends on what sources one chooses to get the news.

I wouldn't say that nobody cares, and most of the listed genocides do get attention now and then, it's just too much for people, just as others said

Xantar ,

It is simple, you can't care about everything. Pick your battles. The burden of the world is not fit for one person to carry. Besides, once you feel outraged, what happens ? Nothing. Then you get desensitized. It's a survival mechanism to stay sane in a world where we have less and less power to handle more and more problems.

pop ,

People get outraged and go out to protest. Why is this kind of defeatism bs upvoted? You live way to privileged to even think about being desensitized, while the people in some parts of the world even struggle to survive.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Xantar ,

Ah yes, privilege...tell me about it. Everyone is against it but we all strive to achieve it. What hypocrisy.

It's rich of you to talk so high and mighty, but what has your protest done so far ? People who can really make a change don't care and laugh amused while you waste your days in the street.

If people back in the french revolution only protested we'd still be starving and working the fields. Thankfully for us they didn't really have any other option back then.

The real change is not from outrage and protest, it's from a demonstration of force. But that shit takes organization and motivation and energy and time, and. Nobody has any of that.

Knowledge is burden, and you're trying to convince me to know more and torture myself so you don't feel so bad about knowing too much. It has nothing to do with helping others.

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