I think it's not like that at all. The bulk of population can rationalize (and kind of push out of sight) poor and homeless because most of the population are n

I think it's not like that at all. The bulk of population can rationalize (and kind of push out of sight) poor and homeless because most of the population are not poor and homeless... it's just 'them' and we don't care about them that much. But living in a totalitarian country was different. Human right violations were so widespread that basically everybody was somehow affected. Everybody had some grandma who had her family farm taken away by communists or uncle who was not allowed to study because their family was not loyal enough, everybody was not allowed to travel... It's way harder to rationalize things when you are directly affected by them - when it's 'you' and not just 'them' any more, you become sensitive and when you see that happening to other people you can relate more and your reaction is stronger. Also, you are more afraid that if it's happening to them now, you are going to be the next. But that's obviously just my experience - I don't have any research to back it up, just some anecdotal evidence based on nothing more than just me observing things in different countries.