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If you’ve been following the news you probably know that authorities have found that missing boyscout. Before that particular story over the last few months, actually years for that matter there have been particular stories that the public has gotten caught up in – last minute rescues, missing children, shark attacks, even trapped pets . While these stories and the individuals they are about are important they do make an interesting contrast to the media’s coverage of the crisis in Darfur for example and the emotional investment the public makes in stories like the boyscout, versus the hundreds of thousands that have been killed in Iraq in the last five years. Numbed by Numbers

If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” This statement uttered by Mother Teresa captures a powerful and deeply unsettling insight into human nature: Most people are caring and will exert great effort to rescue “the one” whose plight comes to their attention. But these same people often become numbly indifferent to the plight of “the one” who is “one of many” in a much greater problem. It’s happening right now in regards to Darfur, where over 200,000 innocent civilians have been killed in the past four years and at least another 2.5 million have been driven from their homes. Why aren’t these horrific statistics sparking us to action? Why do good people ignore mass murder and genocide?

The answer may lie in human psychology. Specifically, it is our inability to comprehend numbers and relate them to mass human tragedy that stifles our ability to act. It’s not that we are insensitive to the suffering of our fellow human beings. In fact, the opposite is true. Just look at the extraordinary efforts people expend to rescue someone in distress, such as an injured mountain climber. It’s not that we only care about victims we identify with—those of similar skin color, or those who live near us: Witness the outpouring of aid to victims of the December 2004 tsunami. Yet, despite many brief episodes of generosity and compassion, the catalogue of genocide—the Holocaust, Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur—continues to grow. The repeated failure to respond to such atrocities raises the question of whether there is a fundamental deficiency in our humanity: a deficiency that—once identified—could be overcome.

Are traditional comic book heroes lossing their appeal? If so then why?

The rest of the mainstream industry doesn’t fair much better. Of the 300 comics published monthly by Marvel, DC, and a clutch of other companies, only a half-dozen or so titles feature a black hero in a starring role. And according to the industry website Icv2.com, none of these titles – which include the Black Panther, Blade and Spawn – sell well enough to regularly crack the Top 50, which on most months is a realm reserved for an all-star (and all-white) cast of heroes like Spider-Man, Superman and Captain America.

Female superheroes, meanwhile, haven’t fared much better in the pages of mainstream comics. While there have been many notable super-heroines in comics – including DC’s Wonder Woman, who was among the first to debut way back in 1941 – their ranks are far outweighed by the men.

White males certainly comprise a large enough audience to sustain the perennial favs like Spidey, Superman, Batman, etc. So there does seem to be an opening here for something new, a little different. While the last movie in the triology didn’t do that well it seems at least in the case of Blade people are willing to accept a black comic hero. Spawn would have done better building an audience for more if it would have been a better movie. Electra got tons of internet buzz across gender lines, but didn’t fare well, because again the story/script was lacking and a great cast couldn’t compensate for that. Maybe the answer to more diversity in comics is a combination of more promotion and when those characters are made into movies that the script not be written to the level of a nine year old.