Insanity

[arwen_lune]

I feel a very bad person for even feeling this, let alone expressing this.

And don't get me wrong, of course it's great that so many people are getting involved with donating and stuff.

And I agree that a lot of money will be needed to help an awful lot of people back onto their feet.

And I've made my donations and am involved in a charity auction type thing to contribute a bit more.

But all this begging is driving me fucking BATTY! You can't walk 30 seconds without being bothered by 2 people wanting you to sign up for some sort of sponsor thing, another who wants you to put part of your shopping in a box for 'Asia' and 3 more who are just plain out begging. Then you get home and people ring your bell to collect old newspapers, empty bottles (can't remember the word in English but they're worth money of you return them) and a whole bunch more people with sponsor things and/or just plain begging. They guilt you into giving, and I suspect 98% of these people do this mainly 'cause they feel all grand and charitable for having pressed you into giving more, more, more.

It's not about helping people anymore. It's become some kind of competition...

Comments

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

"I've already made my donations, goodbye." Shut the door/walk away (delete as appropriate) - oddly, nobody has hassled me either in the street, in the shop or at home to donate - though the local Rotary Club were out last Friday (we were elsewhere at the time) apparently with buckets and raised £8K - which for this place is bloody amazing.

The headmaster at K's school is a bit annoyed at the massive "we must send all of our money" attitude that has hit the place, mostly because he is very active in various African aid projects (the school is soon to be "twinned" with a school in Ghana to encourage closer community feelings and thus more desire to aid - seeing them not as strangers but as part of the wider community IYSWIM) and has had very little luck in getting the town as a whole to back any decent aid projects in the "third world".

[arwen-lune.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's part of my irritation I guess. There are so many places that can use our support, but I guess most of those make people feel uncomfortable in a way, like Iraq (war) and the AIDS problem in African countries (sex). Damage by Tsunami is nice and 'clean', not caused by humans and therefore a comfortable goal to lavish sympathy on. And people - and countries - are practically falling over themselves to one-up each other in giving money. I wish people felt the same about other places that could use the support...

[borgseawolf.livejournal.com]

From what I've heard, the UN gathered more money for tsunami relief within a week than it managed to gather for all of last year for all the other relief projects.
Makes one think if that doesn't have an itty-bitty something to do with the fact that it affected the rich guys as much as the poor ones (OMG, where will I go for holidays next year?)

[megpie71.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm going to come out and say it: I haven't given anything for tsunami relief. Not because I don't sympathise with the people who have lost everything (I do). Not because I haven't heard about it (I have, trust me, I have). Not even because I don't believe that the money will get to the people who need it (although my ingrained cynicism is pointing in that direction). Nope, just out of sheer, selfish, laziness.

The Australian government is apparently giving a billion dollars to the relief effort, which is all very nice. Except that this is the billion dollars we didn't have to fund things like health and education six months ago. It's the billion dollars we had to cut by getting rid of people two years ago. The billion dollars we're sending to these nations is the money we didn't have for ourselves, apparently. So I find myself asking: where the hell is it coming from?

I have to admit, I'm waiting to see what happens at the end of all of this. Will the rich countries be "loaning" money to the poorer ones? Will the aid effort go into providing things like housing which is unsuitable to the climate, the conditions and the people living in it? Will the money be spent on "big infrastructure" projects which benefit First World traders rather than Third World people? Will it, in other words, be pretty much more of the same?

Meanwhile, we're being asked to give and give and give, but I wonder who's going to come out of things at the other end better off. I'd love to think it would be the people affected by the tsunami. A cynical corner of my brain, however, is prepared to watch the multinationals pocket a lot of our donations and declare it honestly spent.

I already gave at the office...

[dragnflye.livejournal.com]

Actually, I just say, "Sorry, I can't" and keep on going. I've spoken to the panhandler who sits across the street from my apartment building and at least he doesn't ask. But I would still rather donate to an organization that would assist in providing a solution, ie, providing affordable homes, sufficient food, etc, instead of just putting a bandaid on the problem.

And if I get called at home to donate to this or that charity to helped crippled kids play basketball, then again I say, "Sorry, I can't." I have distinct thoughts on what I consider worthy causes to donate to.

[triestine.livejournal.com]

I haven't given anything. I give to all kinds of charities when I have money - diseases, poor countries, etc - but now I have no money for myself, let alone others. Also, I couldn't agree more with what you said about the difference between 'clean' and 'unclean' devastations. Gahhhhhhhhh. :/