The Toronto Star's Ben Rayner turns away from deep thoughts on pop music for a day and predicts tsunami fatigue will be the next wave to sweep over North America.

An excerpt:

Mark my words, though, it's on the way. Which isn't to say that the Western world will suddenly stop caring once the 24-hour video reels of smashed fishing villages and holidaymakers being swept to almost certain deaths from their resort courtyards grow normalized through repetition, the body count reaches a final, vague tally and the media decide to shift their attention to newer varieties of news — the incipient pre-election holocaust in Iraq, most likely — but it will, without a doubt, care less.

We are easily bored in this insulated and over-privileged part of the globe. We tire of trends very quickly. And, sadly, much of the coverage of the Indian Ocean tsunami and its aftermath has reduced caring, has reduced generosity and compassion themselves, to the level of a trend.

Giving is all the rage. Charitable donations to relief agencies have reached unprecedented sums to match the unimaginable scale of the catastrophe. Pledges of aid from foreign governments keep creeping up and up. New benefit concerts, charity drives and fundraising events are being announced on the hour.

The massive outpouring of support is noble, understandable and, above all, absolutely necessary to hasten the afflicted region's recovery. But the scorekeeping mentality and almost hectoring tone ("What can you do?") of the coverage of this "tidal wave of generosity" — as numerous, decidedly insensitive media outlets have been putting it — will, in all likelihood, ultimately sour the public on its own benevolent spirit.

FWIW, I covered some of this ground while critiquing an Antonia Zerbisias column on media coverage of the tsunami disaster.