NIMBYism is the primary factor that obstructs the erection of low-income housing across California which is why our rate of homeless is considerably higher than the rest of the nation.

We actually have to practice and choose to recognize other Americans (or even non Americans) as fellow community members worthy of regard, otherwise it's easy to just acknowledge your own parish and to Hell with the rest of the species. But then we don't really have a valid society when we disregard the least of us.

Curiously, in Christianity, this was the real crime of Sodom and Gomorrah, failing to acommodate the destitute and the stranger and feed the hungry. The outrage about the Lot's guests (and the desire to assault them) was only a symptom of the general sentiment in Sodom, a distrust of strangers even though they were flush with wealth and could be hospitable.

Not that I think firebombing them like the RAF Bomber Command over Hamburg was an appropriate solution.