(December 5, 2016 at 3:58 pm)alpha male Wrote:(December 5, 2016 at 1:31 pm)Shell B Wrote: I never once said I didn't find my family more important to me than everyone else. I said I don't find my fellow countrymen more important than people in other countries.And I don't believe that. I used loved ones as that's harder for you to deny. The truth is that we care about people who are closer to us than those who are farther away. You probably care more about some neighbors than you do other countrymen, but care more about those other countrymen than you do about foreigners.
Look at news reports of some accident or disaster. They frequently say something like "Plane crash kills 28, including 2 from [our country]." That's because people care more about their own countrymen than they do about others. It's not a religious or atheist thing, or a left or right thing. It's a human thing.
I don't care what kind of thing it is. It might be *news* to me because I'm from the U.S. so it's more likely that I would know the victim, but I don't find their lives to be more important. That's not a human thing to do. If you stuck an American and a Syrian in front of me and had a gun to both their heads, I would not care for the American more than the Syrian. I'd be equally horrified for both. There's no question about it. If I had some history on both and one was say a child molester, that would tip the balance. Their nationality does not. The only reason that I and people like me help our local humans out more is because of proximity, not some national identity thing. If it wasn't impractical for me to donate food, clothing, etc. to people in other countries or there weren't people near me who needed help, I would certainly turn my efforts there with the same enthusiasm. It just makes more sense fiscally for people closer by to help.
You used the family analogy as if I had said I care about strangers the same way I care about my family. Of course it's harder for me to deny because I never denied it nor would I. You can't equate strangers to my family. Strangers are strangers no matter where they are from.
