So, the TV is on. I'm watching a thing on the Science Channel about how stupid Al Gore is and an ad comes on for the Christian Children's Fund. That hippie-looking guy that replaced Sally Struthers when she got embarrassingly fat was going on about little Bindi--about how she knows there's a school, even though she's never been there; about how she knows she's still hungry, even though her mother has no food for her. Then they guy says "what she doesn't know is that there is someone like you out there, who can help her." So I'm thinking "Cool! If she doesn't know I'm out here, I guess I'm off the hook."
You think you're going to hell? Every time I see that fuzz faced bastid, I think "NAMBLA member, right there".
Me, I always feel kinda bad when I see those. I'd hope someone would help my kids if there were starving and had no school...I wish I weren't quite so broke right (relatively speaking, of course) or I would donate some money.
I'm of the Sam Kinneson mindset - Like, the film crew could slip this kid a sandwich off the lunch truck, couldn't they?
Exactly. Why doesn't he feed the kid, he's only five feet away! Of course if the kid would hurry up and die already I wouldn't have to send any of my hard-earned cash to feed him.
I always think of that South Park episode where Sally "Jabba" Struthers is eating all the food that is supposed to go towards the orphans.
As a general rule, I am: 1) Very much prone to help out when there is a real need if I know about it and am able to do so. 2) Very unlikely to give to organisations, even Christian ones, that "raise money to help the needy." The reconciliation between those two apparently contradictory positions is that since I know that I can't possibly help everyone, and since I know that far too many organizations (not all of them, but a not insignificant portion) use a disproportionate amount of what is "given for the poor" just to fund the activities (salaries, offices, trips, advertisements...) of the organization, I prefer to help in those cases where I know the need is real and the money given goes toward that need. In practice, that amounts to cases where I am personally involved (like the work I do in Madagascar) or someone I know well enough to really trust them is personally involved and can tell me how it works. I wouldn't have sent these people anything either...
