Desensitisation of the masses

Picture shows a family staying on a railway platform. See that small infant on the newspaper?

This is just a thought process that was triggered off yesterday by a small incident. A guy was trying to cross the road by taking his bike over the road divider without bothering to check traffic on both sides. He was almost in my path, had I not been alert. So I started blaring my scooter horn as I approached him. By the time I reached him I was clear on my left so could quickly pass him. However my horn blaring probably irritated him and he thrust his bike into my path, to teach me a lesson. If I hadn't anticipated him as a complete jerk and my reflexes had been a bit slower, I would have fallen down, surely be creamed by the bus behind me. I however passed him safely and held up my finger to show him who was the daddy.
However I thought, why would anyone want to endanger somebody's life for such a small thing as a warning horn? Was that guy a jerk? Did he not value human life? But then so many examples came to mind. In the urban jungle, the value of human life has become nil. Everyday people risk their's and other's life to get into a train, to overtake, to get to the other side of the track. How many times had I passed a dying beggar at a railway station, knowing he would be dead in a month or so? How many times have I witnessed somebody getting pulled under a train and not even bothering to see if he is dead or alive?
On treks, I have witnessed, people welcoming us into their homes and offering water or something to eat. I have drunk a cup of tea, or eaten at a family who can hardly afford a 100 rupees blanket for their infants. I have patiently listened and helped with problems in small adivasi padas. What happens to me when I come back to the city? What happens to "everybody" when they come to the city? Why do I just helplessly watch that hungry infant wallowing on a dirty newspaper on a cold December morning?
The bus driver does not care, that you might fall down and injure yourself. He is in a hurry to get to the next stop, whether you have alighted properly or not is not his concern. Recently the railways closed an one of the two overbridges at Dombivli railway station. Imagine a station catering to 5 lakh people everyday having just one overbridge. The fact that one guy (Vinay Patil) lost his life due to this bad decision did not concern whoever took that decision. That was just one person, what about the kids in Nithari? What about all those riots for petty political gains? That injecting poison of religious and casteist hatred into an innocent population.
How desensitised can we get? What is causing this desensitisation? Is it the alienation? The "alone in the crowd" thing? Is this due to the failure of the undivided family, a non existent value model, children growing up alone? Is it the over exposure to violence or sheer overload of human interaction, ? There are just too many people around.
So as the population increases, does this desensitisation also increase? Will the future be all war?
Meanwhile, good thing I showed him the finger. He must be having his thoughts too.