It seems we don’t care. Put another way we either decide to care only for those we care for or believe we care for everybody, but don't care very much.
If we care only for those we care for, we suggest a limit on how far out our Circles of Care radiate, and that may not be far. I care for family street and community but I don’t care beyond that.
Or we think we care for everybody, but just don’t care that much. I am fatigued by care. Which reaches the equivalent limit.
Is it inevitable that in a modern digitally connected society we limit our caring? Our exposure to concerning global issues has grown exponentially, so much that caring fatigue is inevitable. As a result, we are forced to limit our caring, at a point we choose. It appears that limit moves inexorably closer to us.
Is there another way? If we choose to care beyond our proscribed limit it only works if coupled to the ability to act upon that caring. The helplessness of seeing famine, strife and war, but unable to affect it, creates impotence.
Post Trump the flavour of society seems to be one of closing borders, limiting scope of influence and saying out loud ‘I don’t care’. We are not only choosing, but being told not to care about global conflict beyond our borders. The irony being that its likely we have had a direct or indirect influence on the cause.
There is Another Way To Look At This. What happens if we decide to care? Does it burden rich western societies so much they fail? Probably not. Does it reduce out personal comfort and wealth so much we resent it? Probably not. If the bright minds behind Google and Apple were to follow the lead of Gates Foundation and choose to focus on global concerns would their resources make a difference? Very possibly.