Comments on Fluffytek Art Blog: The Charity Essay

"Clearly I need to read some more photography book...

2008-10-10T23:54:00.000+01:00

"Clearly I need to read some more photography books"

A nice Charitable Nekkid Picture would be nice too. :-)

D.L. Wood

Nicely written my dear Grommit, and you're absolut...

2008-10-10T15:18:00.000+01:00

Nicely written my dear Grommit, and you're absolutely right of course, on every count.

I love the category of "chugger"
Can't think of a more apt way to describe them. Regarding writing to my MP, hadn't thought of that, although I will be penning a letter to Mr Cameron in the near future regarding the inner workings of the new totalitarian HMRC...doesn't qualify as charity though, unless you count helping poor oppressed tax inspectors.
More soon on that.

Oh dear, this blog seems to be turning rather political. Clearly I need to read some more photography books.

Ahhhh, now I largely agree with you, but your post...

2008-10-10T15:06:00.000+01:00

Ahhhh, now I largely agree with you, but your post does flag up a wonderful contradiction.

1) We want those charity causes we deem worthy to be supported/helped
But
2) If we do so, we effectively let those who can actually make a serious difference (i.e. governments) off the hook. So long as a charity 'appears' to be doing something about a problem, no matter how ineffectively, then governments will mostly leave the issue alone.
They do this because
3) In western democracies, we usually vote for the political parties who most effectively offer to put more money in our pockets through lower taxes, even if this public spending reduction means that there is nothing in the pot to look after those unable to help themselves.

So the answer is simple, we are all to blame (myself included). We want problems sorted, but we want someone else to sort them out, without inconveniencing ourselves.

Around where I live we have loads and loads of 'chuggers', i.e. charity muggers. They will approach you on the high street with a well rehearsed, heart breaking story about their particular cause, which will always end up in a request to sign a form to give £10 a month from your bank account. These Chuggers claim to be 'working for charity', yet are paid £7.50 per hour. Hmmm

Now I welcome the effort of putting campaigners out on the streets to raise awareness of issues, but the inevitable request for cash has several effects
4) Those of us who work near Chuggers get hounded by them up to 5 times a day, which leads to great annoyance, bordering on verbal violence and complete 'charity fatigue'. Heck the bastards have even taken to coming to my house at night. Like you Lin, I do my bit through work, in that the work that I do is campaigning of a sort.

5) Those who give in to the chuggers and cough up the dough feel as though they've done something useful, when in reality, all they have done is to perpetuate the circumstances the chugger has told them about - see
point 2 above.

It would be FAR more effective if the chuggers, instead of asking for money, gave out ready to sign letters, pre-addressed to the relevant political representative, enabling a mass of people to hound those who CAN actually do something about the issues. Politicians will take more notice about 5 hand written letters from those who voted them in than from a score of charity representatives.

My view is that the whole situation is depressingly cyclical. Everybody wants something done, and the small feel good factor involved in charity giving give people just enough reward to think that they've now 'done their bit' and don't have to do any more. This actively gets in the way of people getting involved in the political process and complaining to their Member of Parliament - which DOES work once a critical mass of people get sufficiently annoyed to complain.

And in case you're wondering, yes I do write to my MP. I hope to go and see her quite soon for a grilling on her standpoint on climate change. Now that WILL be fun.

I loved "A Christmas Carol" (both book and Jean-Lu...

2008-10-10T08:19:00.000+01:00

I loved "A Christmas Carol" (both book and Jean-Luc Picard's televised version) although I didn't realise it was the anti-capitalist bible (I learn something every day!)

But who knows, maybe there is some sort of higher power acting through the yummy mummies? Now that's a scary thought.

Lin, you are right, of course. Charity must come ...

2008-10-10T01:03:00.000+01:00

Lin, you are right, of course. Charity must come from the desire to give, from the heart, not from social pressure or persistent telemarketing or guilt campaigns (I receive appeals with postage-stamped return envelopes provided to guilt me into actually sending a donation, and just to show them they can't cow me into giving, I rip off the stamp and use it to pay a bill).

Now. Are you and I in the Scrooge category in Charles Dickens' anti-Capitalist Bible "A Christmas Carol"? Certainly not. Scrooge did not give the holiday bird to Tiny Tim until he felt like it. No one could coerce him into giving, well, except those three putz ghosts. But that was supposed to come from a higher power than the Yummy Mummies.

But you get my point. We give where and when our heart leads us. And no one should succeed in guilting us into it.

Btw, I can attest to the fact you are charitable with your most precious commodity--your time.

Dearest Lin, it’s so nice to have you back in such...

2008-10-09T20:49:00.000+01:00

Dearest Lin, it’s so nice to have you back in such fine form! I echo your readers, I’ve always found it much better to do things for a person rather than give cash. In return Karma has a way of finding you when you need it most. Have a nice day!

M

Thanks chaps. I actually thought I’d get flamed fo...

2008-10-09T18:30:00.000+01:00

Thanks chaps. I actually thought I’d get flamed for this post. I didn’t think folks would agree at all so I’m pleasantly (?) surprised that some others feel the same.

I liked Mr Wood’s warm fuzzy pencil story. He’s right of course. The problem with giving to beggars is that too often it takes away their dignity. That’s a novel way to deal with the issue of giving whilst maintaining self-esteem. I’ll have to remember that one.

"Do not tell me of my obligation to put all poor m...

2008-10-09T17:07:00.000+01:00

"Do not tell me of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist

"You are much surer that you are doing good when you pay money to those who work, as the recompense of their labor, than when you give money merely in charity."
Samuel Johnson
1709-1784, British Author

I totally agree with you. I find it very offensive to me when people accost me for money then are indignant when I decline.

It is also appalling when you find that in a great number of them a very small amount of the money given actually goes the the actual charity subject.

A number of years ago the local religious groups complained that we did not have affordable housing in our community for the low income people and that we as tax payers and good citizens should provide for them. In that same year the local churches spent 28 MILLION dollars in putting up new, expanding or remodeling buildings.
I figure they could have bought damn near every low income family a house.

Just last week someone called and wanted me to donate $50. I said that I couldn't right now - they said that it was a small amount and would I rethink my refusal - I said no - and then they said well what amount would I feel comfortable with - I said again I couldn't help right now - then she says that surely I could help with a few dollars - I said well what would really help would be if you would send ME $50 because I had a hard time paying all my bills last month - she hung up.

Just gives ya the warm fuzzies.

I know this is long - but one more.

A motivational speaker whose name escapes me right told this story.

A man came up to me after a speech. He said that I would probably not remember him. But that several years earlier he had been down and at a low point in his life. He had been sitting outside a N.Y. subway station with a bucket with some pencils and a sign that said $1.00 each. That I had come by and dropped $5 into the bucket and kept walking. But then I had came back and said that I was very sorry. I then had told him he was not some charity case begging for money, but a business man selling pencils and that I wanted the 5 pencils I had purchased from him. He told me from that moment on he was a business man and now owned his own shop and had a family and a good life. He then thanked me. I told the man I indeed didn't remember him, but that I would never forget him and it was me that should thank him.

Now that's a warm fuzzie.

This was given in the context of how what you say to someone can affect them. So charity doesn't always have to be money.

D.L. Wood

I'm very much in your corner, Lin. I've had too m...

2008-10-09T16:18:00.000+01:00

I'm very much in your corner, Lin. I've had too many instances when asked to join a board or similar organization, simply because they want to tap what is viewed as a source of fresh and bountiful capital, not because of anything I can actually contribute to the organization in terms of brains or effort. They learn quickly that it's not a route to my pocketbook.

January-November I have a stock, very firm reply to solicitations: "We make all those decisions in December." Come December, in normal years (and this is decidedly NOT a normal year), one institution, The University of Chicago Law School, receives a sizable donation, because in that case I'm "giving back" for the full-tuition scholarship I received -- which by this time I've repaid many times over. Otherwise, if you (a charity) don't ask in December, you won't get anything. This year nobody gets anything.

Woooooooho!

2008-10-09T15:09:00.000+01:00

Woooooooho!