Just to help this blog earn the title of eclectic, an incredibly depressing story about polar bears in zoos.Aside from being really depressing, I think this article points to a larger issue of the way that the emotional impact of a compelling narrative can overwhelm good programming. For example, in Community Therapeutic Feeding Programs — they found that inpatient care will inevitably draw resources away from more effective outpatient care, because malnourished children are so compelling that human beings will always commit their energy to the child in front of them.
That’s as it should be. None of us wants to be someone who could ignore a starving child (or starving polar bear cub). But we also need to go beyond gut instinct if we want to get the best result for our efforts.