Unless you live in a total dictatorship, it's selfish to be completely disinterested in what's going on in the world, more so if you're personally unaffected by a deluge of horrors happening to others. We don't yet live in that dictatorship here in the US, and the actions and expressed preferences of common citizens are still influential in politics, especially if you care enough to call up your legislators and write to your newspapers. We are the cast, not the audience.