Have you donated to Haiti yet?

why not??

Why should I?

Voted no because I haven't donated.

I don't often feel the need to buy morality boosters and when I do I prefer to donate to disease research charities, Cancer Research UK and the sort.

Also I feel international aid is part of the problem as to why the third world remains under-developed. Not the entire problem and it is handy in sudden disasters like this but mostly its one of the causes.



For a bit of fun I am going to take the role of the pihlosophical academic.

Explain why exactly it is wrong that we live in relative financial comfort (I use the word relative strongly, we have a bit more money but people don't sleep rough for the giggles) while some parts of the world are financially poorer?

And if you can establish why it is a good thing for everyone to be wealthy (and assuming that is even remotely possible under any economic/financial system) please explain why it is our responsibility to provide that wealth and should we pay off capital that our respective countries have developed over centuries to prop up other under-developed nations?

In fact this is open to everyone, lets make this thread a bit more intellectually stimulating rather than the mindless charity drive circle-jerk back-patting.

I donated. I can understand people not donating because they'd rather give money to another cause, or because they're not sure if charities are able to make a huge difference, but some of the attitudes in this thread are incredibly depressing. You don't care? Well done for being honest, I suppose, but it's sad how some people are apparently incapable of empathy...

Yep. It seems logical enough not to care, as in the world is inherently unfair and so why should I do something for the losers? But it is so cold-hearted and detached from human empathy. Perhaps people do die all the time but not in one go, your whole country flattened before your eyes.
I think not giving a **** about this can only come from people who haven't suffered nor really had trauma touch them.

Also, the argument that people in other countries don't really give a **** and simply donate a tenner to assuage their guilt really pisses me off. Of course they're not going to be as emotionally involved as Haitians themselves and it might not be something they lose sleep over but providing an offer of kindness, even if it's a relatively small amount, does not make them hypocrites.

I haven't and I doubt I will. I do feel sympathy for everyone who has lost family, homes or their lives; as selfish as it sounds, our country is up **** creak without a paddle, I don't know where but I read somewhere that we are £600 billion in debt as a country but on the 16th of January we had already sent out £12 million to Haiti, what's going to have when we reach trillions of debt in 2014 as someone earlier pointed out, do you think a richer country is going to bail us out? I just think we need to sort out our financial status before we start throwing money about. I do feel for those in Haiti though, don't get me wrong.

Yes, I agree with everything you've said. And to be honest, even if someone does donate a tenner only out of guilt, I think that's preferable to the mindless, defiant "I don't give a damn, why should I?" attitude that a few people have shown here...



But in terms of immediate suffering, surely Britain isn't remotely comparable to Haiti? No one's denying that we're in bad state financially, but individual people being generous and donating £50 to help another country is hardly a negative thing. I find the idea of our country always being the priority hard to understand.

but that's the point we're not, and I'm not saying the out state is at all comparable to Haiti as it would be ignorant to do so, but selfish as it is, on some occasions you have to look out for number one.

but that's the point we're not, and I'm not saying the out state is at all comparable to Haiti as it would be ignorant to do so, but selfish as it is, on some occasions you have to look out for number one.

Exhibit A: The economics student.

On principle, I think it fair to donate to charity on a rational basis... to hack away at long-term problems.

Aren't you over-estimating your ability to adjudge such a large-scale problem somewhat though? What if your judgements are wrong?