AIBU to wonder why «we» care about people we don’t know, have never met and aren’t related to? Or not?

[Watchagotcha]

Maybe a TAAT. I was just reading the current refugee thread and it led me to wonder: why do some people care so strongly about people that they don’t know, haven’t met and are not related to? And why do others not care to the same extent?

How far does your concern extend? Immediate family / extended family / family and friends ... or the whole of humanity equally?

Sorry if the voting options are a bit all or nothing, it’s a complex issue.

YANBU = my concern extends as far as thé well-being of myself, my family and friends and not much further.

YABU = I’m concerned for the well-being of all human beings, even if I don’t know them, haven’t met them and am not related to them.

Journo alert

Me, a journo? I wish. I’m on a coffee break while cleaning my kids room!

I’m interested in this because my background is biology / ecology and I read The Selfish Gene a while ago. It made me think very differently about how individuals respond to situations where they might be asked to risk something for another person - and how that is influenced by their relationship with that person.

I care about everyone, I find so many things heartbreaking. But then again I wouldn't let a homeless stranger move into my house, but I would if my brother was homeless. So I don't know. Fascinating subject.

Stories in the news often focus in on one person because the old adage (albeit Stalin said it!) runs true: "the death of one person is a tragedy; the death of one million is a statistic"

We can identify with a single person, we can find similarities and think it could be us.

It’s empathy. And it’s so true that it’s far easier to relate to individual stories than mass statistics.

Surely it’s simply that without really engaging your thinking brain your heart goes out to people having a shit time because you put yourself in their shoes. I look at my baby and think how incredibly lucky she is purely by the circumstances of her birth - she’s getting free medical care, she’ll get a free education and lives in a country where her rights shouldn’t be impeded by her sex. She lives in a safe, warm, dry home. Her chances of a long, healthy life are hugely increased by things she hasn’t earned and deserves no more than any baby born anywhere else in the world. It’s all luck.

Apologies op, I read it wrong.

Yep, empathy. Some people have more of it than others and some probably have enough of it to make daily life a bit emotional for them as a result. It is often easier to act on empathy when a relationship isn't clouded by a shared past or resentment or boundaries or whatever, ie easier to donate to a cause like a food bank than feed the family you know vaguely from a few doors down.