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Originally Posted by jorgelito
2. likewise, for the contrarians and apathetics, could it be construde that the notion of "other" acts like a veil and obfuscates and dulls our perceptions?
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Speaking for myself and no one else, as a person who finds this problem to be something to be fixed well after many other more pressing issues, if not written off as one of those unpleasant things people do now and again regardless, I subscribe to the monkeysphere theory. I can give a good goddamn about 150 people, give or take, maybe twice that on a good day. Now that's not to say that it's always the same hundred fifty, and it's not to say that I have no empathy. It is to say that I define Other as those I do not know personally. I do not feel that it is an effective use of my time and energy to agonize over the plight of folks on the other side of the planet (or the other side of the state for that matter) who I will never speak to.
I particularly think it's a waste of time to agonize over distant problems of exceptionally long standing with no prospect of solution. Sorry, Levantine Arabs, but so far as I can tell the problem is Never going to go away.
Is the Dalai lama a wise, sweet, brilliant old man? Absolutely. Is it terribly unfortunate that China has decided it needs Tibet for it's strategic position or whatever? Absolutely. Am I gong to spend another minute worrying about it when I could be determining whether my kids go to a good school?
Nope.
Face it, if everyone would just mind their own business then this wouldn't be a problem. (Until the resources run low, but that's a whole other kettle of fish for my kids to boil.)