Musings on Charity in the Wake of Disaster

[digitaldiscipline]

I think that making a donation to one of the myriad charities that exist to help victims of any dire circumstance (the tsunami, 9/11, hurricanes, what have you) is a personal decision, and everyone has their own constellation of factors that go into it (spiritual, moral, social, financial, etc). You'll notice I left state-mandated contributions, in the form of taxes, off that list.

Obviously, there are a lot of people who are willing and able to contribute to help deal with what happened. Not all who are willing are able; not all who are able are willing.

But I wonder if some of the donations are being done out of guilt or shame, rather than charity and goodwill. That doesn't lessen the effect of those dollars (or goods) for the recipients, but I certainly look at things differently when a plea is couched in the rhetoric of "You -should- do this" (whether or not a specific "... because _________" is appended, or simply implied).

I can't speak for anyone else, but I, personally, tend to buck the yoke of what someone else feels my social obligations and responsibilities ought to be. If I make the decision, for myself, to do something to help, I'll do it, and tell anyone who tries to stop me to go fuck themselves. But by the same token, if I'm disinclined to contribute, an ever-more-strident cacophony calling for my participation will only dissuade me further.

Bad things happen to people all the time; you can be a callous bastard and not care about any of them, or you can go insane trying to care about all of them. I don't understand justifications for what happens in between, but that doesn't mean that isn't where I fall.

Help if you wish.

[blame jabber's penchant for inciting discussion. :-)]

[ETA: Thanks to everyone for engaging in a really good, thoughtful discussion; my intent wasn't to single anyone out (honestly, I read everything y'all post, and know your intentions are for the best), but to present a different perspective and opinion on how some of the news and other expressions have made me think and feel.]

Comments

[ivy]

See, I think the "strident" is the problem. I have no issues with a polite "you might want to consider, if you can" request. The "GODDAMNIT YOU FUCKER YOU OWE ME" approach, on the other hand, is likely to do more harm than good.

That said -- wow, etcet, I think you are more of a libertarian than me. I do think that in some cases it's okay to browbeat or guilt the haves into helping the have-nots. Of course, that depends on a myriad of complex socioeconomic factors that are not reducable to a simple rule.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I am a libertarian (and a randian, go fig). But it's amazing to finally find out I'm more something than you that doesn't involve my penchant for messing around with a screwdriver or having a penis. *laugh*

[kungfugimp.livejournal.com]

I'm all for contributing if you want to contribute - if someone thinks they're going to guilt me into giving - F them with a capital F.


On an aside note - it's always interesting to see how the news media, the american government and the american people react to such situations. Office cooler fodder had talks of "what if that happened here? We'd be screwed"

No, not in the same way with those casulties. Ahem - 4 hurricans in a few short months anyone? But not to digress in nature's catastrophies, how long with the average american attention span keep tuned to India and Sri Lanka once the New Year starts?

[ivy]

Wow. That makes you the first Randian I've ever found to be non-obnoxious. [grin] Good thing it was yeeeears into our friendship before I found this out. Hee. I am now fascinated, and want to sit down and pick your brain over Objectivist philosophy sometime. Next time we're in the same city (come visit Vancouver!), what say we have a salon lunch?