Oct 26 2009
∞
… became a statistic.
I despise this phrase. It is used to invoke the unbelievable, impersonal namelessness that being one in a large number carries. At the same time, though, it shores all of the true human concern that those statistics are seeking to support and suggests that there’s just another nameless casualty gone by instead of an effort to turn away these eventualities. It’s a denouncing of the herculean effort borne by those who work to improve our world.
It’s a call to the postmodern notion of being truly alone and unhelped while facing a cruel infinite world of harm. Actually it’s not even postmodern, it’s pure Lovecraft.
Besides, statistics are agglutinated summaries — at best you’re becoming a tiny, tiny influence upon a statistic.
