Our compassion may be numb but is never beyond the possibility of revival. Unfortunately, it is hard to predict what exactly it will take to revive it. If we understood this we could perhaps awaken ourselves deliberately instead of waiting for just the right event to break through.

Some praise the likes of Manning and Julian Assange for their courage, while others hate and fear them. Both reactions are understandable. But if, as a society, we scapegoat them, we are only trying to shift our own burden of guilt onto their shoulders, and to think we can get away with that for very long is a dangerous delusion.