To not much care about the rest of the world but care deeply about the UK

[CatieBlanket]

It's a mess out there, always has been and, let's be honest, always will be. When we intervene we tend to make things worse (Afghanistan, Iraq to name but two). The new governments end us as corrupt as the ones that were overthrown. Aid money is, on the whole, squandered. Billions of £ & $ & € of it

A significant minority of men just love to kill indiscriminately. The others love to oppress women.

The situation in the Middle East is unsolvable and the poverty in African too vast for us to deal with.

I'm actually becoming immune to hearing about hostages being beheaded and suspect many of us are, hence ISIS new method of murder by immolation.

So let's concentrate on righting the wrongs of our island. Sort out the NHS, get people into work, look after the vulnerable, stop domestic violence and child abuse, build decent housing for people who live here?

AIBU (Labour supporter, by the way before, anyone accuses me of being UKIP)

So, what do you suggest then? Censorship? Pithy little news items about missing pets?

There's no law that says you have to watch any of it. I'm sure some people feel that by watching it they've somehow made a difference to it it but they haven't, and couldn't. The atrocities carry on regardless - Humans are vile. I have no wish to burden myself with the worlds pain, which is all the media want to do. I spent most of my life watching the news the the realisation that I don't actually have to has has a huge positive impact on my mental health.

Starving ISIS, for example, of their main means I'd spreading their hatred could only every be good yet here we all are buying the Guardian dutifully every day and watching the news just do no-one can accuse us of not caring. We are playing right in yo their hands.

I gave up watching the news many many years ago, and I certainly dont expose DS to it as there are things even at 6pm that are reported on that he just doesn't need to know about. I dont think we are missing out at all.

I also think too many people have tv on in the background and just dont think the adverse effect it can have on young DC's but thats another story really.

In DS's school there were issues with some of the Forces kids being upset by their parents being sent off to Afghan. I remember one (non Forces) Mum saying how she felt for the DC's and what they went through. She was surprised when I asked why expose them to that, they dont need to know all the details. Its bad enough to know Daddy is going away for months, why the fuck have you let them see the horrible scenes in a war zone. My DS has only ever learned of all the goings on in Afghanistan through school

Can I also ask why certain things are largely ignored? China for example has the most revolting cruelty. People being slain in Zimbabwe. Floods, earthquakes and child labour. Could it be related to oil by any chance? Nearly all propaganda at the moment seems to be focused on laying the foundations to spend yet more on bombing people.

Look up how many people died in the Philippines from Typhoons. Didn't make it to the UK news much

No, OP, you wrong. Most evil in the world is NOT the result of "A significant minority of men" who "just love to kill indiscriminately", or even of "The others" who "love to oppress women". Most evil in the world is allowed to spread and continue because of a majority of people who would rather not get involved, or even think about it too much.

And, OP, when your DC bring home The Diary of Anne Frank, you be sure to tell them that thinking about little problems in other places is the wrong thing to do, and they should just put the Anne Franks of the world out of their pretty little heads. Write a letter to their schools and ask if they can read Katie Gets A Kitten instead, or whatever. Then you can go bake some cupcakes.

You are BU, and you are frightfully ill-informed, and yours is the sort of mentality that allows evil in the world to flourish.

But I'm sure you bake lovely cupcakes. Carry on.

I don't bake (or do Facebook as Nancy suggested).

I am very well-informed, thank you. And I can have a discussion with strangers on a public forum without resorting to personal abuse.

I have a DD and we've already discussed Anne Frank in an age appropriate way. Though I'm not sure what that's got to do with discussion.

Yes, your reply underscores the point Nancy and I were making. (Nancy and I were utilizing a figure of speech called "metaphor"; neither of us was REALLY talking about Facebook or cupcakes alone).

I don't doubt that you are being truthful in your comment "Though I'm not sure what that's got to do with discussion". But by all means, continue to take pride in your ability to "have a discussion with strangers on a public forum without resorting to personal abuse", even as you proudly assert your intentions to ignore the "abuse" in non-UK countries (that abuse extends far beyond the realm of "personal").

We can only go on what you write OP. You certainly do not sound "very well informed". You sound, in fact, extremely ill-informed. To the point of ignorance. That's not a personal attack: just based on your posts. To be honest I am with you: I am soooo over beheadings, and female genital mutilation and bad shit like that too. And as we all know the best way to deal with bad stuff is to, like, ignore it. Like cancer symptoms, tax bills, burst pipes. Just please reassure me of one thing: you're not a teacher are you?

Why that particular boundary, why not just focus on your county, your town, your street or house even? Obviously the answer to that is that it wouldn't work, if you ignore the breakdown of communities the repercussions spill out over beyond the area. The same applies internationally. Even putting aside any of the moral questions (of which there are many), it doesn't make sense from a selfish point of view.

I'm not saying that as a nation we've done everything right, far from it, but we can't do nothing.

OP I understand your sentiments - it is getting so wearysome of late listening to the awful atrocities in other countries. Part of me would like to batton down the UK hatches and leave them all to get on with it. Another part knows we can't be apathetic and ignore the evil and brutality.

I would play devils advocate and say you DO ignore a lot. All of you. The propaganda on the news is mainly oil inspired. Nobody gives a shit about China because it's too big to invade and they have loads of oil. Ditto Saudi.

catie you are ignorant, not all African and Middle Eastern countries survive on 'your' money aid and military assistance, there are more South African troops in the DRC than what the Uk provided. Nigeria still receives aid, but it's own economy sustains itself. Get off that high horse

I'm with OP. Since the death of the Jordanian pilot, I prefer to not hear the news if possible. I'd rather live in my bubble, thanks.

RichPetunia - yes I know what you mean. That public burning of the pilot has been like enough is enough. It's like they're just animals out there - and I prefer not to read about it and avoid looking at awful pictures.

I'm in Ukraine at the moment. There is a war raging a short distance from me, and it has gotten progressively worse in the past few hours. No one here has any real hope that the "ceasefire" will be effective or lasting. People's sons and fathers have died horrifically over the past weeks, and more will die tonight. Orphans of Eastern Ukraine will starve/prostitute themselves on the streets of Kyiv. And why should you care about this?

You should care because the catalyst of the war, the force fueling it, has far greater, wide-reaching ambitions that extend beyond the borders of Ukraine. OP, you are very lucky that people in UK, and US, and Europe DO care, and are taking action to prevent the misery from spreading. You don't want to feel even a ripple of the suffering here. Trust me, you should, even if it is only for selfish reasons.

There is no such thing as a "bubble". I chose to come here because I care. I don't think everyone should do that, but it enrages me to see such horrible suffering here, and then think of smug, selfish, self-sheltered, ignorant people lounging on their sofas at home, proclaiming that they don't want to think about bad things that happen outside of their own small world. My hands are shaking right now, it makes me so angry to think of this.

That's just how I feel.

Emilywrites - well you've put us all to shame there!

What are you doing in the Ukraine?

Yes, why are you in Ukraine? Why not Syria or the Sudan? What exactly are you hoping to achieve other than endangering yourself?

I'm not lounging on my sofa. I'm back from spending a few hours with my neighbour who has Parkinson's disease. It gave his wife the opportunity to get out of the house for her mental well-being as they receive no respite care and she is at the end of her tether. That is what I'd like our politicians to address, not what some nut jobs in the Middle East are doing; they've been massacring each other for centuries and will still be doing it long after I'm gone.

I'm with an organization that helps children.

Those questions, Catie, and the accompanying comments, are staggering. I'm sure I don't have the words to answer in a way you would understand. Perhaps someone else can try. Good night.

I too am just back from caring for someone - an elderly, infirm parent. I am not an uncaring person, but the world at the moment is a miserable place. I am getting by by seeing to my family. I am sick of war, the reasons for war, the aftermath. I am trying forge some happiness for my family and if switching off is the way I do it, I make no apologies.

I love how far your socialist boundaries extend.

How dare you, Madame, you are talking to someone with "enormous compassion" (if they live in the right place)

Well done Emily and well done everyone doing lovely things EVERYWHERE.

I agree that the news at present is horrendous. I become very distressed by some of it and DH's response is always that as I can't control it, I shouldn't care so much.

To an extent he is correct. What good has my distress done? Emily - I take my hat off to you.

But I care deeply and think those who manage to live in cupcake world - and I know many - seem much happier.

I think people are being a bit mean to the op. I don't think she was saying what has been interpreted. I salute the selfless people who are dedicated to changing the life of anyone anywhere in the world whether looking out for a neighbour or going to Ebola stricken areas. What's the difference? I do however not salute the bloody gap yah crowd who ask for 3 grand to spend a day having pictures taken at an orphanage and then lecture everyone on charidee work. Funny how the people on here protesting they care considerably more than you can turn into something so snidey and uncharitable.

Had the OP said she had an issue with foreign aid, I think she would have started a good debate and have been supported.

Had the OP said she finds the news sickening and dreadful, I think she would have been very supported.

Instead, she said she doesn't much care about the rest of the world, she's immune to hostage beheading and if it weren't for the internet we wouldn't know anything.

She's either racist or dim. I reckon dim.