KEYNOTE PAPER: The Power Of Indifference

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By May 26, 2015 No Comments

Authors: Carmen Lawrence, WA

Year: 2009

Event: 2009 TheMHS Conference

Subject: REFUGEES, ASYLUM SEEKERS

Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers

ISBN: 9780975765357

Abstract: Indifference is a potent psychological defence against the kindred feelings which might otherwise overwhelm our detachment from the suffering of people like those who sought our succour from persecution and were corralled in mainland camps and beyond our shores. During the height of the manufactured panic about the asylum seekers many Australians were persuaded that they had no obligation to these people because they did not share our "values", our culture our race or religion; many developed an attitude of indifference which added to the damage already inflicted on those detained. Whatever its parents or its progeny, indifference, as Wiesel reminds us, is the most poisonous of human reactions when action is needed

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