Verified by 
We all care about human lives. But the cold, hard, truth is that few of us, if any of us, care about all lives equally.
What I have always found perplexing about this is the role that nationality plays. Why should a life matter less to someone — the lives of people we have never met — just because their parents happened to have had sex and give birth in a different geographic location? It's quite strange, isn't it? It's like "oh wait, you were born across an imaginary line people we don't know have decided forms a separate country, so, yeah, guess I don't have to be all that concerned if you die."
I'm putting this rather bluntly, but this reality plays out constantly.
Just recently, as an example, Blackwater militia members (working in conjunction with the U.S. military) were pardoned by President Trump for their roles in killing multiple Iraqi civilians. These weren't accidental killings that come with typical warfare; they were more along the lines of people straight up killing innocent people for the heck of it.
This has by and large been met with little attention, or concern, within most of America. The pardons of Trump's political allies have received a lot more media focus. Not to downplay the importance of that, but surely it should pale in comparison to pardoning people convicted of war crimes.
As a social psychologist, I know all about in-group bias. I know people tend to favor their own groups relative to groups they don't belong to. I know that when any sort of division is formed, the "them" that is formed will be of less importance than the "us" that remains. I know all about the importance of categorization in our ability to function amidst the sea of information that is bombarding us, internally and externally, at any given moment. (Probably 99.9999999% of this information doesn't even reach our conscious awareness). Without quick classifications, we would struggle to cognitively and socially function.
It still feels so weak in attempting to explain how we go from "that life matters" to "yeah, I can't be much bothered about that person dying."
This video here shows interviews with people who were there that day, and who lost loved ones, to the actions of those Blackwater militia members. I'm sure it will stir the hearts of many who watch it. Even then though, will it as much as it would if the people came from where you live? I don't know.
Perhaps caring equally about all life is an impossible pipe dream, but any movement towards that can only be a good thing.
References
Brewer, M. B. (1999). The psychology of prejudice: Ingroup love and outgroup hate?. Journal of Social Issues, 55(3), 429-444.
Turner, J. C., & Reynolds, K. J. (2011). Self-categorization theory. Handbook of theories in social psychology, 2(1), 399-417.
