Is reading a news article really that difficult?

'To read the entire article and see all the pictures, click the link in the tweet.'

Apparently a lot of people seem to think the 280 characters in a tweet, posted by a news agency contain an entire article. Therefore they need to be told to click the link embedded in the tweet.

Have people become numb to the news? Do they not care anymore? There must be a reason why they don't take the time to read actual news articles. I flatout refuse to believe they really do not know how.

Could it be people simply stopped to care about what happens to other people?

In the thirties of the previous century a group of people was treated as second rate citizens.

The general populace did not seem to care:

'Who cares? I'm not Jewish so it doesn't bother me.'

Only a decade later Jews were rounded up and killed.

Most people still didn't care 'Because I'm not Jewish and I don't even have Jewish friends.'

Things changed a little when their neighbour Mo was taken from his house:

'Why take my neighbour? I know he's Jewish but he has never done any harm!' 

But most decided to close the curtains, pretending it didn't happen.

Now jump to our time: will you do something when your Muslim neighbour Mo is taken from his home, simply because he is Muslim?

Is this a made up scenario? Not at all. It happens all around the world. On a daily basis. And most of us simply close our curtains, pretending we don't see.

I like to think I wouldn't but the truth is I simply don't know how I would act.

Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon