*puts on full plate...wades in*

There are LOADS of reprehensible things going on in the world. There are philanthropists (private citizens) doing their level best to address such issues. Doctors without Borders...Bill and Melinda Gates...the man who thought of the micro loan...Bono...many others.

Have you ever heard the twist on an old expression, "You can lead a man* to enlightment, but you can't make him* think?"

IMO, the most critical aspect of improvement of humans as individuals and a species is the development of a high level of enlightened self-interest. My own personal interpretation of this is not socialism, but the idea that what affects one member of the tribe, affects all members of the tribe. This does not preclude rewards for achievement, etc, as socialism as applied in today's world often does.

One way to foster enlightened self-interest is through education. Not necessarily the pap fed to folks in public school, but a combination of book learning, "apprenticeship" in the school of hard knocks, and good mentors.

If the only source of education is extremely polarized politics, religion, what have you, an individual cannot achieve anything approaching "enlightenment", and their "tribe" is a severely-restricted faction of narrow minded, like-minded individuals. The best of us will see more similarities than differences in peoples of the world, regardless of politics, culture or religion.

*Masculine form used because of no gender neutral personal pronoun in the English language.

Again, this is all my opinion, and for that at $4.00 you can get a latte at Starbucks.