Is it better to not help someone and let them die rather than kill them directly?
The omission bias is an alleged type of cognitive bias. It is the tendency to judge harmful actions as worse, or less moral than equally harmful omissions (inactions) because actions are more obvious than inactions. It is contentious as to whether this represents a systematic error in thinking, or is supported by a substantive moral theory. For a consequentialist, judging harmful actions as worse than inaction would indeed be inconsistent, but deontological ethics may, and normally does, draw a moral distinction between doing and allowing. The bias is usually showcased through the trolley problem.
Related to lying by omission, where leaving out a fact is not seen as lying because the person who said it didn't say anything at all relating to the fact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omission_bias
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie#Lying_by_omission
I think that omission bias is becoming a key plank of the right wing today, this is seen with their cliche of "Not my problem".
Worried about your health insurance? Not my problem.
What about refugees? Not my problem.
You're unemployed? Not my problem.
"Not my problem" is the wrong answer to human rights, it a phrase that should never be said by people who claim to represent us because if they do represent us then it is their problem, and in the case of people fleeing Daesh, it is no better than their battle cry. It's time to realize that and get it out there.
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