Care example essay topic

Drawing on contemporary geographical examples, critically analyze the extent to which people should care for distant others. David Smith asks the question in his article written in the progress of human geography 'How far should we care?' When this question is first put to anyone they are immediately taken aback. They begin to think who they care for, and how much; where does the caring stop. The first question to ask is what is the meaning of care? '... caring for others as well as caring about them: the focus here is on beneficence as doing good or showing active kindness, rather than on benevolence as merely the desire to do good or charitable feeling' The meaning of 'caring' is defined differently by each individual; it is how we as a person look at things. It is quite clear to me that we would care for our close and loved ones first over others, Marilyn Friedman supports this in her article 'The Practice of partiality' by saying 'Hardly any moral philosopher these days would deny that we are each entitled to favour our loved ones. ' This can be down to instinct, whereby like animals we will always look after members of our pack or group above others.

Historically caring for others outside your particular gang or tribe would be extremely negative, 'those posing a threat were repulsed. ' This action took place very early on in the development of the planet whereby tribes would be competing over land and there was a distinctive lack of communication existing. Communities would work together with everyone helping each other and everyone knowing what the other was doing. This is an excellent example of the early signs of the communitarian's, where the focus of the community was not on the individual but as a unit, 'personal identity reinforced an exclusive sense of localized 'we' rather than an autonomous 'I' 'one of us' could be interpreted as 'part of us'.

' In the modern world this situation was to be developed, as people moved to live in different countries there became an amalgamation of different race and nationality living together. The United States of America was, and still is a prime example; historically the Native Americans occupied the Island, then after colonization people from Europe and the rest of the world moved in. This meant that cities like New York would become a mixed racial and cultural society. 'The American city with its patchwork of immigrant ghettos, became the archetype of a new urban form.

' This arrangement of people into groups of same origin is visible in New York today, with China town, little Italy Greenwich Village and so on. New York is not the only example of a city split by social segregation, by today the majority of countries have something similar in the towns and the countries. In the past this may have caused some problems socially as members from the different groups came to blows with newcomers to the area. The act of caring for others can also cause unease in communities.

There has been a recent increase in Asylum Seekers entering the United Kingdom through the ports. This has meant that the government has been forced to set up a contingency plan. Through this some are housed and gain United Kingdom citizenship and others are sent home. Local authorities have been encouraged to accept groups of immigrants to house in their area, as a result of this civil unrest within the communities has been visible. In a more recent incident on a housing estate in Wrexham this summer, a fight broke out between the locals and the immigrants; petrol bombs and objects where thrown at each other over a continuous two-night battle. Police were unable to prevent the civil unrest and the immigrants were forced to be re located.

In this incidence the active kindness of caring for others who may have had huge problems in their country, was not welcomed. Peter Singer makes a valued opinion on the assistance to others, ' It is not beyond the capacities of richer nations to give enough assistance to reduce any further suffering to very small proportions. ' This article was written at the time of the Bengal food crisis in 1971. What Peter Singer did was to look at the extent we could and should care for the people starving in Bengal.

He discusses the issue of the moral importance to help others. He looks at how particular groups of individuals in particular spaces and situations can be seen as inappropriate or appropriate, what he is saying is that the whole way of life and our thoughts on matters like these needs to change. The affluent society should begin to think about others in the world and not only themselves. The article follows the lines of 'If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening... we ought, morally to do it.

' Peter Singer uses the example of a child drowning in a park, and what he says is that if a person walked past the fact that the child is a stranger won't prevent him from jumping in to save him. This also applies to a child abroad that we don't know, 'the fact that the person is physically near to us... does not show that we ought to help him rather than another who happens to be further away. ' But what is clear here is the fact that the person in the park could be the only hope the child has of being saved whereby the people starving in Bengal has the whole world watching over them. When looking at the situation like this the act of caring becomes a more complex format, we begin to think about charitable forces of caring. If every individual gave ten pounds a year to a starving child in the world then a dramatic difference would be made. Because of this individual decision whether to give or not to give the question of how far should we care remains.

Over the last few decades with the development of the media and technology, the world does not seem as big as it used to. It is now classed as a 'global village'. Through watching the television and reading the newspapers we learn about activities and tragedies immediately as they happen. The most recent example is the Iraq war, never before has there been such a detailed account of what was actually going on. There were channels dedicated to 24 hr frontline action; it is with programmes like this that spark off concern by people the other side of the world. It is true to say that 'we cannot discriminate against someone merely because he is far away from us'.

But there is a psychological issue here which can be looked at, because if we didn't hear anything about what was going on in wars around the world then it is quite easy to forget about them and do nothing to help. Another view to look at is whether we are helping for the right reasons, take Iraq as an example are we really helping for the freedom of the people of Iraq; or are we just looking after the oil fields of the future. The tragedies of September 11th in the USA is a prime example of media working to its limits, live images of the planes crashing and the towers falling where beamed to our screens; peoples feelings and emotions where brought to our front room. As a result of this people in the United Kingdom were also in mourning, gathering in churches and outside the American Embassy in London.

On a personal note I think this is a complete extreme point to follow, in fact I would go as far as saying by doing this all the sadness and scale of the tragedy is lost and it becomes a facade. On the other hand the media can bring hope to some of the countries and people that are genuinely suffering in the world. It is through the development of media that people are able to feel they 'belong to a community, to be recognized, to share, to care and to be cared for' (Markov ic, 1990: 132) Over the last decade or so aid agencies have been set up to provide and care for others less fortunate than us. Organisations like Children in Need, Operation Christmas Child and Comic Relief have been set up to provide for others.

By showing documentaries on people starving and dying in different places around the world in one night alone the general public of the UK donate millions of pounds worth to make someone's life slightly better. Therefore we can look at the media as being an excellent resource to making the world aware of what actually goes on elsewhere and not only in your own back yard. Throughout this essay we have looked at the whole aspect of caring at home and abroad. What is clear to me that we now care far more about people in other countries than we would have done fifty years ago.

This is partially because we are now more aware of what is going on in the world more than ever before. But on the other hand we will always care for our family and neighbours above anyone else, this is because of our natural instinct. Therefore to conclude on this matter it is clear to me that it is up to the individual whether he or she wants to care for distant others. Some people feel they need to and others are quite happy going on with their lives without thinking of others. This is quite simply the society that we all live in.

Bibliography

Becker, L. C 1992: Places of pluralism.
Ethics 102,707-19 Doy al, L and Gough, I. 1991: A theory of human need.
London: Macmillan. Mend us, S 1993: Different vices, still lives: problems in the ethics of care.
Journal of Applied Philosophy 10, 17-27 Sibley, D. 1995: Geographies of exclusion: society and difference in the west, London;
Routledge Smith, David M. 1998: How far should we care? On the spatial scope of beneficence.
Progress in human geography 22, 1 15-38 Sibley, P. 1972: Famine, affluence and morality.