Stingy Bastards, all right...

[logansrogue]

Here's a little post by my friend Lothar...

Eighty-four percent!? You CNN.com voters should be fucking ashamed of yourselves. >:[

Comments

[crzydemona.livejournal.com]

I only donate to one relief fund... St. Judes Childrens Hospital. If that makes me stingy, so be it, but I put a lot of money towards curing cancer in children.

Jen

*blinks*

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

That's creepier the more you think about it...

Sure, there's some people in the US who may have a rough time at it right now. However, the people who are voting probably...

- Have computers (so have had a noticable sum of money at one point)
- Have internet access (so they are getting a noticeable sum coming in on a monthly basis)
- Are CNN fans (and don't get me started on that)

I'm donating through my church's humanitarian aid agency, which is impressive because we've been struggling to get by ever since dad died.

[jen-ella.livejournal.com]

I have issues with this 'stingy' characterization. Florida got hit with 4 hurricaines this summer (one of which hit us twice) and thousands - now in the middle of winter - still have tarps for roofs or no homes at all but despiter the millions in damage and the thousands made homeless there wasn't a vast international relief effort. (I know Canada sent electrical teams to help restore peower - thank you)

It is assumed that the people of America will take care of themselves and the rest of the world too. However, our generosity does not translate into bottomless pockets. We have problems at home to attend to but god forbid anyone suggest that because anyone who did would be called heartless and self-centered at a minimum.

There is also some strange world expectation that we are obligated to fix and protect the world while being called monsters, bullies and *stingy*.

I wonder what would happen to the world if we were to pull out all our troops and military spport, stop all our food donations, weapons donations, medical donations and the *billions* in loans and grants we ship around the world for just one year and put that money back into repairing crumbling schools, inadequete housing, feeding our own children and providing all americans access to the healthcare they need. Maybe then the world would stand up and take notice of how GENEROUS the American People really are.

[http://users.livejournal.com/lothar_/]

Yeah, and I wonder what would happen to the U.S. if the world pulled its oil, cheap labor, and raw materials from the market. Maybe then the U.S. would stand up and take notice of how NEEDED the rest of the world really is.

Guess what, when you're that powerful and wealthy, it's an expectation that you help those with needs greater than yours, and everyone has the right, nay, the obligation to call you out when you abuse your power. Don't hand me this "double standard" crap that I hear from the right-wing bloggers all the time. If a nation doesn't want the "double standard", then it shouldn't enjoy the benefits of power inequities, capice?

The vast majority of people who surf CNN can afford to give a few measley bucks for a grave human tragedy, but they didn't. They're stingy. End of story.

Admittedly, this is flame from a complete stranger, but...

[http://users.livejournal.com/doctor_k_/]

From the Sydney Morning Herald today:

"One measure by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that none of the world's richest countries donated even 1 per cent of its gross national income. The highest, as of April, was Norway, at 0.92 per cent; the lowest was the United States, at 0.14 per cent."

And IMHO, if US (and Australian) troops hadn't been sent to invade Iraq, there might be *billions* of spare dollars lying around for all these things you've mentioned.
And don't get me started on the inequities of your healthcare system and how costly it is compared to the coverage it provides.

The US of A has donated to Tsunami relief less than what it spends in one day in Iraq.

I believe that individual Americans are, on the whole, lovely, generous people who help others, but as a nation, you need to take a long hard look at how the rest of us see your nation and its government.

And go watch "The Corporation" if you haven't already, and see the attitudes your fellow Americans have for those in Third World countries.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I'm not belittling your efforts of curing cancer in children. That's wonderful, it really is. I just can't relate to anyone having a spare bit of money and not donating it to the best cause possible to help a helluva lot of people in need. I guess - I know I get very full-on about certain things, and I'm sorry if I ever offend you personally (I don't mean to, I don't), I just get single-minded about these sort of things, I suppose.

Re: *blinks*

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Bless you, man, bless you. *hugs* And it is creepy. Some of the richest nations in the world have also been the stingiest. Makes me ill.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I love you, Jen, and most Americans I've met are very generous and wonderful people. Your government, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired.

Yes, you've had suffering. But the people that have tarps for roofs, still probably have clothes and food and fresh water. They're not dying, en masse, from disease, starvation and thirst.

I'm not calling people who are trying to build their lives themselves 'stingy'. You know I wouldn't do that.

I'm talking about the millions upon millions of people who have *more than they need*, who refuse to even give a *little* of what they have for people who have, literally, *nothing*.

You go to church, you read the bible. Some of this message is in there (as well as plenty of other wonderful world belief systems). Someone is in need - you give them what you can. America is the richest country in the entire world. It is also guzzling most of the world's resources. I think it's fair enough if the world says, "Oi! We need a little of what you got to stop some serious suffering."

Re: Admittedly, this is flame from a complete stranger, but...

[http://users.livejournal.com/lothar_/]

Straight.

[jakie-em.livejournal.com]

BTW, BBC has some great articles on the tsunami... pics are
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4136895.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4136781.stm and this map shows how wide spread it was http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4136781.stm#map

[jen-ella.livejournal.com]

I already gives quite a bit of my money and time to charity and pays tens of thousands of dollars in taxes each year and pays for insurance AND paid to repair my own home after the 4 hurricanes and am not alone.

The property/county taxes in my area were *doubled* last month to cover the remaining bills from the damage caused this summer. I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep my house.

Many of those who aren't sending money to the tsunami relief (including myself), I believe, simply aren't sending *any more* than they usually donate to charity - especially given that 4 months ago lives of several million of our citizens were ripped apart by weather.

We're now sending 350 million dollars.

Is that enough or will we still be haranged in the world stage for our stinginess or for it taking us 6 whole days to come up with more than a quarter of a billion dollars? How soon until we're accused to abusing our power in the rebuilding if these countries? Or bereated for not doing enough in the next disaster area?

[http://users.livejournal.com/doctor_k_/]

http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2004/12/pissing-contests.html

[(Anonymous)]

I wonder what would happen to the world if we were to pull out all our troops and military spport...

We would all cheer.

Seriously, sending people tanks and guns isn't generosity. It's just creating more suffering. Sending aid money and food, however, is great, and the US is at least stepping up to the plate over this. Unlike my own miserly government...

Idiot/Savant
No Right Turn (http://norightturn.blogspot.com) - New Zealand's second-best liberal blog

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

350 million is plenty. I think people were a little surprised when it was only 35 million.

I don't expect people to give their first-born, or half their pay, for God's sakes. I'm saying, what if each person with a pay-check gives two to five dollars? You spend that on a coffee each day, probably.

If everyone in America did that, then that sum above? That's something like what you get. That's all I was expecting. I just hope that the countries giving relief stay committed until these people's lives are back on track.

[jen-ella.livejournal.com]

And you know this because? Do you have access to my bank records to see what I gave and where? Or what anyone else who watches or surfs CNN did? Perhaps, like me, they are standard year-round donors to certain charities - you know the poeple who are there day in and day out.

The illusion that America is an ocean of wealth is widespread and I'm not excatly sure where it comes froms. But I do know two things I was told as a child that falls right in with your "obligation to call you out when you abuse your power." There was something to do with sin and casting the first stone and another about a speck in your neighbor's eye.

Americans bring jobs, tourism and, yes, aid all around the world and are portrayed as demons because of it and I'm on LEFT-wing American who is really quite sick of it.

[jen-ella.livejournal.com]

So would I. Then we could focus on repairing the mess we've got here instead of trying to clean up messes around the world.