Perhaps I shouldn’t be so taken aback by these reactions, because blaming the victim is not a new phenomenon. After all, rape victims are shamed for getting raped, and the poor are held responsible for their penury, so it should come as no great surprise that those who died under the goods train are now being squarely blamed for their own deaths.

Reactions to the Death of 16 Migrants Have Exposed Our Dangerously Low Empathy Quotient