Hypocricy: crying out about Darfur and Kenya while avoiding eye contact and crossing the road to purposely ignore the homeless man sitting on the sidewalk asking for change. Or maybe he's just sitting there.
I know, I know. Darfur and Kenya are far away.
That homeless man is RIGHT THERE. He's unwashed and his clothes are tattered. He's probably mentally unstable. Also, he smells. And he might touch you.
Darfur and Kenya are far away.
Darfur and Kenya are easy. You can even click on a link from facebook and someone else will donate the money for you to help out a bit. You assume.
There's not any actual proof aside from the title "for every 100 people who join, I will donate $1 to Darfur." There's no way someone is just sitting on a computer somewhere seeing how many concerned philanthropists they can get to join their club.
You, along with 99 other people, click a button and someone that conveniently isn't you is, perhaps, really giving a dollar to help people. And then you are given the privelege of berating others until, they too, click the button and do their part to save the world.
That homeless guy wants a quarter from you, personally. Maybe. Maybe he just wants someone to smile and say, "hi." Maybe he just wants someone to see him. Maybe he wants to feel like a person and you can't click that away with your mouse.
But you can pretend he doesn't exist.
It's easy and, in a way, you do it to Darfur and Kenya every day.
this has been posted in other blogs of mine before.
Donating 1 dollar for every 100 people is silly, anyway. It should be more like 100 for 100 people.
it is silly. because for every 25,000 people that join, that is a whopping $250. As opposed to if maybe each of those people donated a dollar of their own... it's a little bit of a difference.
of course donating money doesn't do any good anyway without fixing the underlying problems of the country... oh a blog for another day...
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
Well said. I've always felt compelled to dislike those facebook groups and so-called causes and I never knew why. I may have been disgusted by the 'feel good' nature of clicking the add causes application.
Sustainably yers, http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/green-underbelly
It's the whole feeling of false goodwill emanating from those groups. It annoys me to no end. They give off the idea that clicking a link will make you contribute to a cause. No. Educating yourself and increasing awareness is a good contribution.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
I wonder at the motivation of these things. I mean, why not just donate the money? Why get the approval of 100 people first? I guess the argument could be made that they are raising consciousness of the problem, but I think it actually breeds apathy. I mean, just today I could have "donated" to the rainforest, Africa, and Katrina survivors through facebook invitations. If I weren't a cynic, I might feel like I had done my part. But I am a cynic.
Also, micro-lending makes so much more sense. It may not change the infrastructure of a country, but it can help an individual immensely.
Nice blog. I agree.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Sure, the group itself doesn't inspire knowledge or activism.
Education > Facebook
Sustainably yers, http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/green-underbelly