Who cares?

Philosophy
1

True story, I was protesting a facility that created parts for nuclear weapons a long time ago, when someone drove by honking their horn. A guy with a mullet was hanging his head out of his truck, pointing at his boat. “Who cares?” was the name of his boat.
I’ve since learned that people care a lot about people they know or who they connect to. So, we get programs like “adopt a kid”, where you get letters from an impoverished child in Africa if you give money. But most people start losing interest when you say millions of kids die all the time. I understand the evolutionary biology of it, but personally, I have no problem feeling empathy for large numbers of people.
What’s your experience?

2

Often when we say “what difference does it make what I do” we simply need to get past the singular “what can I do” and think plural, “what can we do.” One drop in the bucket will not save millions but millions of drops will do just that.

3
Often when we say "what difference does it make what I do" we simply need to get past the singular "what can I do" and think plural, "what can we do." One drop in the bucket will not save millions but millions of drops will do just that.
Good one
4

I get that argument all the time. What does it matter if I recycle, put extra insulation in my house, drive a Prius and turn vegetarian if China keeps building coal plants? Well, how about leading by example instead of being part of the problem?

5
I get that argument all the time. What does it matter if I recycle, put extra insulation in my house, drive a Prius and turn vegetarian if China keeps building coal plants? Well, how about leading by example instead of being part of the problem?
I just realized I used to ask myself that. Then I realized I can't remember exactly when that was. I must have been quite a bit younger and had not yet started to think. For me, that's anytime before age 30. The 70's were rough.
6

When I got to do a little speech because I ran the annual recycling drive for 5 years in my neighborhood, I finished with something I once saw a comedian to. He said, “I’d like to thank each and everyone of you tonight”, then he started at one end of the stage and pointed at people and said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, …”
There’s some minimum number of people that have to participate to make things work.

7
True story, I was protesting a facility that created parts for nuclear weapons a long time ago, when someone drove by honking their horn. A guy with a mullet was hanging his head out of his truck, pointing at his boat. "Who cares?" was the name of his boat. I've since learned that people care a lot about people they know or who they connect to. So, we get programs like "adopt a kid", where you get letters from an impoverished child in Africa if you give money. But most people start losing interest when you say millions of kids die all the time. I understand the evolutionary biology of it, but personally, I have no problem feeling empathy for large numbers of people. What's your experience?
I care about other people though my concern for them gradually declines the more remote from me they are. Caring about causes is much different in that one can only care if one is inspired by the cause.