Volunteers notice when their ‘close to home’ rationale fails to explain their own care

Evidence

Referring to the group that was trying to in£uence U.S. policy abroad, Carolyn said, I would much rather look for something close to home, close to me.'' But, she chuckled, she was very concerned about three whales that had been in the news that week, trapped in Arctic ice with an international rescue force trying to dig them out. Now, whales, they were far away, but they’re animals!” Carolyn laughed at herself, noticing that the habitual phrase close to home'' did not exactly ¢t. Lisa added, You know, there’s only three of them, there are not thousands of them.” Carolyn agreed, continuing, “But they’re defenseless and, I don’t know, I would rather help closer to home, I don’t know, that’s just ^ and then the other is just so large, political, and” ^ and she trailed o¡. — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 26

Categorization

• QUESTION: Carolyn’s self-reflexive chuckle at the whales suggests the ‘close to home’ rule is a socially available script rather than a deep motive — worth pursuing how close-to-home functions as a discourse giving volunteers words for care.
• DEFINE: The whales case is a live self-test of the ‘close to home’ category, showing volunteers treat it as a real rule even while sensing its limits.
• XREF: connects to: Volunteers justify engagement by geographic proximity of a problem — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 25; The ‘close to home’ criterion breaks down when moral concern for creatures overrides proximity. — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 26

Related

• The ‘close to home’ criterion breaks down when moral concern for creatures overrides proximity. (similarity 0.84)
• Volunteers justify engagement by geographic proximity of a problem (similarity 0.82)
• Toxic sites sat in volunteers’ actual backyards yet were treated as distant (similarity 0.79)
• Volunteers classify nearby catastrophic hazards as ‘not close to home’ (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The ‘close to home’ criterion breaks down when moral concern for creatures overrides proximity. #expands (0.78) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 26
• Volunteers justify engagement by geographic proximity of a problem #qualifies (0.75) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 25