Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg writes:

We all get meaning from our communities. Whether they’re churches, sports teams, or neighborhood groups, they give us the strength to expand our horizons and care about broader issues. Studies have proven the more connected we are, the happier we feel and the healthier we are. People who go to church are more likely to volunteer and give to charity — not just because they’re religious, but because they’re part of a community.

That’s why it’s so striking that for decades, membership in all kinds of groups has declined as much as one-quarter. That’s a lot of of people who now need to find a sense of purpose and support somewhere else.

This is our challenge. We have to build a world where everyone has a sense of purpose and community. That’s how we’ll bring the world closer together. We have to build a world where we care about a person in India or China or Nigeria or Mexico as much as a person here.

Uh … how is demanding Americans care more about strangers on the opposite side of the world as much as they care about their neighbors in their own communities going to rebuild community in America?

The thing to keep in mind about Mark Zuckerberg is that whatever he says that he believes in, he really believes in. But not because it makes sense, but because he has a genius for increasing his wealth. Whatever ideas he pushes on you are ideas that will make him richer if you believe in them too. (Whether Zuck’s ideas will make you and your loved ones better off, though, is hardly his concern.)