Rich helping the poor

[plates]

Or just admitt that they don't actually give a fuck. But don't pretend you do if you don't.

I definitely agree with this. False empathy annoys me no end.

What I hate, exactly is the veneration you describe and the people I've known who lead double lives and genuinely believe they are helping without looking at what exactly the charity is doing and their own intentions which can be far from noble.

 

[Phteven]

Fair enough, you think people are nice and caring, and think that you'd not feel guilty should you decide to keep the money for yourself.

And while I won't agree that billionaires actually put physical labour into their fortunes, they certainly put effort into it, and like every other person, they should be able to spend their money as they wish, be it owning a fleet of jets or making other people feel good.

It's about how WE feel about them, or are supposed to. We're supposed to venerate them as such fantastic individuals because they're helping others without needing to, giving amounts of money that none of us can. But we don't consider that they don't actually feel that loss; they're not sacrificing anything. Just like us giving a penny to a homeless man on the street, except we're not considered heroes for it.

Well, to reciever, the rich would be heroes, of course. As long as the fact that the rich could've given so much more is ignored, of course. I mean, we'd not think Superman was such a hero if he'd go "Fuck it, I'm not taking you further to the hospital", drop off the rescuee a few blocks away, and then fly away. I'm not saying he had to, obviously, but I AM saying that he's not being heroic enough to be venerated to the level that he is.

lol meh you dont make sense... i get that fake bull shit like doing charity for appearances but a lot of charity is done anonymously and is done out of empathy and i find it just stupid to say if u dont dive all the way in and give all your money away you really dont care and why bother giving at all cause u really dont care..thats bull shit but meh really i think your view is warped and seems more like jealousy than genuine concern to me..but meh i could be wrong...

 

[Axiom]

I always thought it was about what that money can do for the situation. If it's 1% of someones money, a billionaire is going to have alot more compared to the average joe. (like the penny thing you said)

I dont really care who these people are, but i understand why they need the publicity. It's an ego boost, it's an encouragment to others, it's a economic boost(shows the "best" parts of a company, especially if it's the owners personally doing it), and it brings a highlight to the actual situation. More on that, it helps other people connect to the situation via someone elses "good will". *edit* lol I forgot this point. It helps the situation by supplying funding/resources.

I dont think we're supposed to look at these people as anything really. Im canadian, so perhaps I have a different upbringing. I see it as someone attempting to help a situation and bring a highlight to it. Who they are and why they are personally doing it are secondary to the situation. I don't hold them any higher or lower than someone who donates $10. We do what we can with what we have.Some just have alot more, and are positioned to help more. Good on them when they do.

If Jane joe donates a million dollars only for personal economic and public gain, so what. I don't care. She could be doing it for the "right" reasons too. I don't particularly care. It's her life, she can play it how she wants. The rational behind the act is inconsequential compared to the effect the support can give. unless that support is someone tied into the actual fueling/initiation of the situation, then that's just pure manipulation.

I think, you either really give a fuck or you just dont. I pick and choose,.. could be why im insane though?:IrishDoll:

 

[ali-wali]

I don't give anything to charitys, well... if you count whatever change I get from a shop into a box. Which even I know wont do much good. So I don't think I could judge people that give alot money. But I certainly feel that me and everybody else out there should give more, and volunteer more. Like you said families are going with nothing. Hmm I feel horrible now! :O

 

[sickjk]

"Almost two-thirds of the world's billionaires made their fortunes from scratch, relying on grit and determination". The rich for the most part are self-made meaning the came from nothing.

Source?

 

[Lovecraft]

Even if I accepted 100% of billionaires made all their money themselves it'd still be blatantly ridiculous that they get a billion when someone else does the same amount of work in another field - even other fields with massive educational requirements - making < 100k/year

 

[Axiom]

Is there anyone specifically we're bashing/defending? The discussion is really general, and actually unpracticle when it's coming to the opinons now. Just my opinon, perhaps suggest some people/companies so it can be more, specifically broken down, instead of us just blanketing rich donators. (sry if ive missed examples)

 

[Krem]

Is there anyone specifically we're bashing/defending? The discussion is really general, and actually unpracticle when it's coming to the opinons now. Just my opinon, perhaps suggest some people/companies so it can be more, specifically broken down, instead of us just blanketing rich donators. (sry if ive missed examples)

I, the maker of the discussion, am "bashing" that we are expected to greatly respect rich people who give large amounts of money to charity, and say that it's not enough, while at the same time they're flying on private jets and generally living in absurd luxury.

 

[Axiom]

Says who?

 

[Chameleon76]

I, the maker of the discussion, am "bashing" that we are expected to greatly respect rich people who give large amounts of money to charity, and say that it's not enough, while at the same time they're flying on private jets and generally living in absurd luxury.

It's all relative though.

Compared to people who have absolutely nothing, the average middle class american is living in absurd luxury.

I could easily donate 1,000 dollars a year to charity and not feel any financial burden or have to alter my lifestyle at all. If I did that, would I then be in the same catagory as the millionaire who donates 100,000?

People will help others up to a point, but not at the expense of the themselves. Noone does that, and doing so would be foolish.

 

[Phteven]

Source?

lol yeah more of a value judgement on my part i read some study in the news and quoted it but really dont have any facts to back it up but its not a totally ridiculous statement to make (accept for the "most" part change that to "some" and it would have been more accurate) but my point still is valid i think...

 

[chjones21]

I kinda agree with krem on the 'adulation' part but on the whole there are just some people who seem very sanctimonious about giving and/or only doing it to improve their ratings in the public eye (Bono or Madonna) and others where I think their influence and input is amazing - such as bill gates funding research into malaria, which is phenomenal. So for me, my irritation is more linked to the attitude that I perceive the person holds to their own giving...

As for buying big yachts etc. I guess it is keeping the money flowing - right from the designer, builder to the guy that sells the rivets - it is all just money spinning from one place to the next and who knows where it ends up? The money from the yacht which was the interior designers salary might be part of her charitable drive and be used in building a new hospital in India - and the money donated for flood relief in Pakistan might end up squirreled away and buying more guns for a corrupt politician or a new park lane mansion and another blood diamond for his wife.

Still, if I was living in Russia and saw all my country's natural wealth and resources being spent on overpaid footballers for some ridiculous London club rather than building schools, roads, hospitals - I would be pissed!!!!!

 

[damage.case]

A lot of the poor are poor because they're lazy and unmotivated to improve their situation. Why should people who work hard give anything to them?

 

[flyingdutchmen]

A lot of the poor are poor because they're lazy and unmotivated to improve their situation. Why should people who work hard give anything to them?

This is not about them, do you realize there are people working 18 hours a day in ricefields under the hot sun trying to support their family for not even a dollar ? These people just happen to be born at the wrong place, it is not their fault they arent born in western europe, the USA, or any other developed country. Dont they deserve a somewhat decent life with similar oppertunities then we have ? What exactly makes us better then them ?

 

[damage.case]

What exactly makes us better then them ?

Our forefathers worked hard to learn the skills and trades necessary to exploit our natural resources and build profitable enterprises.

 

[Prinnctopher's Belt]

Very astute perspective, OP, but to be quite honest, if I were a multi-millionairess, I wouldn't want to reduce my lifestyle back into poverty either. I think I'd try to give at least a fifth of my income and time away, but I would certainly want to maintain my own hypothetically comfortable lifestyle at the same time.

 

[flyingdutchmen]

Our forefathers worked hard to learn the skills and trades necessary to exploit our natural resources and build profitable enterprises.

ah yes indeed, after all the nations we europeans have kolonized, all the black people the US has enslaved and all the wars we have fought over the good old black gold we have made ourself so superior that only we have the right to an somewhat decent life

[/irony and rant off]

 

[johnnysays]

We're greedy. 95% of us are looking out for ourselves. There might be 5% of us that're altruistic. The rest of us will help others if it helps us. Or we'll stick to ourselves if it helps us. No matter. We just want to live the good life.

The gap between the rich and the poor has steadily grown worse. It's disgusting, sure, but so is a pile of poo. Lots of things are gross. That's life. People die. Not everything is fair. Good people die young. We make poo. Lots of it.

*shrug*

Don't expect much. Things will stay this way.

I asked my 99 (he died at 100) year old grandpa what made the world the way it was. He said greed. I agree.

Now, I gotta go to the bathroom and make more poo. Excuse me.

 

[jota1]

ah yes indeed, after all the nations we europeans have kolonized, all the black people the US has enslaved and all the wars we have fought over the good old black gold we have made ourself so superior that only we have the right to an somewhat decent life

[/irony and rant off]

As a Caucasian westerner I am not going to apologize for something that happened a few hundred years ago, its a slippery slope that has no ending. When do we stop apologizing to each other? the big bang?

As someone said on one of the threads... everyone is looking out for themselves whatever the color, race or creed.

 

[Righteous]

This is a good discussion and I agree with Krem. Its a joke most of the time about how the rich help the poor. Its like some of the rich think that just because they feed a hungry person a bowl of corn that life is suppose to be a whole lot better for that hungry person. And its also messed up that rich corporations like Wal-Mart pays low wages to people that are trying to work for a living