The "This doesn't affect us" argument is weak

[TM99]

11. Another take.

"It's not any concern of mine" might indeed sound callous when said that way, however, the truth behind it can be accurate and appropriate to just such situations.

Before I can love, assist, heal, counsel, etc. an other successfully & meaningfully, I must love, assist, heal, counsel, etc. myself first. Sometimes we call those who try to do those things without first taking care of themselves, co-dependent. Their sense of self comes from meddling, fixing, focusing on others, at the expense of themselves and to no real value to the 'other'.

Our country has become that co-dependent who has no further business intervening in the sovereignty of another nation no matter what is going on there (civil war, genocides, etc.) We, as a nation, constantly pick and choose which 'genocide' to intervene in. Some are real, and obviously some are made up (Iraq's WMD mushroom cloud). How can you classify this particular gassing which may have killed several hundred or over a thousand and might have been done by Assad or the rebels as being more severe than Rwanda in the 1990's, Ethiopia in the 1970's, Guatemala in the 1980's, or the Kurds in Iraq in the later 1990's? Aren't they all equally atrocious and untenable?

We do not take care of our own. We allow the sick to go unhealed. We allow the poor to go unfed. We incarcerate millions for petty & minor drug offenses. We do not educate our youth without them incurring massive debt before they truly even enter adult life. We borrow billions for war and then give the bill to those the least capable of paying it off - i.e. we take from the social good to pay for the sickeningly wealthy and military industrial corporations.

We still believe that we can just go in and make it all better whether with boots on the ground or 'punishing' missile strikes. Did we in Korea? Did we in Vietnam? How about Iraq & Afghanistan? Did we in Libya or Egypt or even Bosnia? No, not really, not in any significantly positive ways. We do need to stop messing with other countries and fix our own. It is not my concern, not directly. Can I and my country support the ICC? Yes. Can I and my country support the UN? Yes. Can I and my country support the Arab League? Yes. Can I and my country support humanitarian aid that is given directly to the people? Yes. And it is not directly our concern too.