You have millions of people here in the affluent part of the planet who turn their heads. They see the house on fire; they see the child screaming from the upstairs window, and they say: I’ve got to go to the library and read a book about combustion because I don’t know enough about fires. (‘Changing Culture: Choosing Life over Money’, in Welton & Wolf, (Eds.), Global Uprising, p.28)
aka the existential heebeejeebies
Great quote!
Your discussion reminds me of http://xkcd.com/659/