One thing is, we've most of us been to the seaside some time and can imagine it happening to us.
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I don't think it's really "lack of education" that gets in the way. You've really got to work at it pretty hard to avoid knowing that stuff, and to dumb yourself down so that you "can't understand why people are poor".

It seems to me it's more to do with a feeling that if we don't succeed in ignoring this stuff it's going to make us feel distinctly uncomfortable in the midst of our comfort.

Basically it's not all that disimilar to the way most Germans managed to avoid being aware of what was being done in their name, and ordinary decent enough people in racist societies manage to persuade themselves it's not really that bad.

Two sayings sum it up: "There's none so blind as they who will not see" and "When ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."