NEW YORK - The numbers are almost too large to fathom, so many stop trying. As bodies pile up in disaster after global disaster, even the most sympathetic souls can turn away.

Experts say it is one reason Americans have contributed relatively little so far to victims of the Myanmar cyclone and China's earthquake.

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This statement & more in this article really pisses me off.

Did they take into account how many times & how much we have already given to other countries?

Did they take into account that our economy isn't too stable, Americans are losing their homes & jobs in staggering numbers?

Did they take into account that we have to buy food for our kids?

Did they take into account that our food banks have shortages, our charities are also feeling the pinch & we have had our own natural disasters?

The earthquake in Pakistan that killed nearly 80,000 people generated just $150 million from Americans

Just 150 million? Just??? Fuck it, give me that oh sooo puny amount.

Maybe we don't want to give aide to these people because their government will seize it for their own uses, the people in need will never get the help & then the government, fat off of our aid will cry that we haven't given enough?

We could give a BILLION dollars....

which would be just THREE DAYS of what we're spending on the "War on Terrorism"!

No, it's ok, we are printing the money that we need for the war.

But I thought the article did a pretty god job explaining why -- including the 'disaster fatigue syndrome', as well as the tendency to give closer to home, as well as the suspicion of the governments in those countries (I personally have not donated to Myanmar exactly for the last reason -- I doubt my dollars will reach the people, much ore likely to be seized by a govt official).

But d_b, as for the rest -- food banks, own natural disasters, losing homes etc etc....those are happening all over the world. America is still the WEALTHIEST nation in the world, so if Americans think they cannot afford to give because they're feeling a pinch -- well, then, who CAN afford to give ?

And $150 million is a pretty small drop in the bucket for country as a whole! Given US population -- that's less than 70 cents per head! Compare that to how much gets spent on Iraq in one day.......

It is amazing how the have nots insist that the have protect them from themselves. Fuck 'em. Let 'em rot. We have no business rescuing Pakis, chinks and gooks. The more of them that are dead, the better. Reduces the pool of potential third world scum illegal aliens and immigrants. I don't remember us rushing to the aid of Afrikanners when the niggers were tearing them to bits in the streets of Johannesburg. I don't see GW Bush over there in the Sudan defending Christians from the Sudanese Military Moslem butchers who kill 200,000 a year since 1992, except for the first five years of this decade when Bush coerced them out of their defensive positions because it was an insult to Islam and then equipped the Sudanese Military with a billion dollars in Army. Those years their murdeer rate went up to 320,000 a year. A 60% increse in genocidal efficiency due to GW Bush's "help". He never did rush in and defend the Sudanese Christians like he promised to do if the Sudanese broke the cease fire like they did, either.

If we can't defend our own, like the poor Christians in the Balkans who finally were defending themselves successfully from Jihadders (KLA), we have no business aiding the chinks, gooks and sand niggers.

God damn GW Bush for helping those Moslem cocksuckers after the Tsunami. God's wrath falls on those bastards for a reason. If anything, that's when we should have struck the Moslem countries and obliterated their civilization and reduced them to a subsitence economy of hunter-gatherers sifting through burnt-out ruins and jungle overgrown plantations. Let's hit them when they are down, not lift them up. Vermin should be squashed, posioned, drowned not cultivated.

Dd

No, it's ok, we are printing the money that we need for the war.

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Er...you ARE being sarcastic, right? (the 'No, its ok' part, that is).

Even though I read the whole article, I think my offense at some of the statements made me not "see" the rest of the words. It just urks the crap out of me whenever I hear how little the US gave.

70 cents per day, according to Sally Struthers, that would feed & clothe two people.

We donate a lot to charities, but with the cost of gas & stuff, our donation % is going down.

70 cents per day, according to Sally Struthers, that would feed & clothe two people.

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Not 70 cents per day, d_b! That would be fabulous.

70 cents just ONE TIME, that's all that was given on avg.....

Well in the case of the Mynamar cyclone, considering the rulers either refuse to allow the aid into the country or they take it then put their own names on it and claim they are the ones giving the aid to the people. When I give as much as possible I do it anonomously but I do take exception to someone else claiming credit for it. Another reason that the article did not go into is that at least some Americans are tired of giving to people who then turn around and insult us or tell us how evil we are. These same people who hate us and talk about how evil and corrupt we Americans are then expect us to give to them.

Bangladesh gave USA $1 million after Katrina. Can you imagine how much that represents to that dirt-poor country, how large a percentage of their GDP that is? And I very much doubt that they expected kudos from the american govt or avg american citizen in return. In fact, how many americans even know that Bangladesh sent aid ?

"Experts say it is one reason Americans have contributed relatively little so far to victims of the Myanmar cyclone and China's earthquake."

The generals in Burma have bottlenecked the aid so they can put their own names on it and China is quite wealthy, holding over a trillion Dollars of US paper, as well as their massive cashflow from WalMart. You help who you can and who needs it.

I did not say that we should expect kudos or thanks (part of the reason I prefer to give anonymously) but I do take exception to people claiming credit where it is not due and I definitely do not appreciate being insulted by the same people who come to me with their hands out looking for my help. You are sounding like those child help organizations that want to guilt people into contributing to them (give them $1 a day to help a child and maybe 25 cents actually gets used for that purpose).

"...and I definitely do not appreciate being insulted by the same people who come to me with their hands out looking for my help."

Hee, hee, you've got a problem with turning the other cheek? ;)

I suppose the people who need the aid don't care how much gets to them, as long as some does, or where it comes from. Myanmar was accepting aid from Taiwan - I don't see why we didn't just go ahead and funnel it through Taiwan. So what if the recipients don't know where it came from for a while? They will eventually and, besides, the rest of the world - the parts that matter - know.

But, quite frankly, I'm beginning to wonder if some of these countries aren't using these natural disasters to do a little population control...

happyatheist:

"...and I definitely do not appreciate being insulted by the same people who come to me with their hands out looking for my help."

Hee, hee, you've got a problem with turning the other cheek? ;)

I suppose the people who need the aid don't care how much gets to them, as long as some does, or where it comes from. Myanmar was accepting aid from Taiwan - I don't see why we didn't just go ahead and funnel it through Taiwan. So what if the recipients don't know where it came from for a while? They will eventually and, besides, the rest of the world - the parts that matter - know.

But, quite frankly, I'm beginning to wonder if some of these countries aren't using these natural disasters to do a little population control...

I'm not a Christian so I'm not expected to turn the other cheek. I understand that the people in need are happy with whatever they get but I do not wish to put more money in the pockets of some General, Politician, or Preacher. As to them knowing where the aid is coming from, I really do not like someone taking credit for the actions of another but if I had to let someone else take the credit then I would like to choose who. I do not think these countries are using the disasters so much for population control so much as control in general.

I did not say that we should expect kudos or thanks (part of the reason I prefer to give anonymously) but I do take exception to people claiming credit where it is not due and I definitely do not appreciate being insulted by the same people who come to me with their hands out looking for my help.

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As you may have read earlier, I personally haven't given to Myanmar because I think it'll go into the pockets of the military junta rather than reaching the needy, and I never give to charity organizations where only about 30 cents of a dollar reach the actual 'recipients', so we're on the same page.

But I don't agree with the POV that americans should withold aid because these 'same people' then insult them etc etc....first, its usually the government or the media elite doing the 'insulting' whereas its the poorest and most vulnerable who're doing the suffering following natural disasters. So its not the 'same people' beyond the fact that they happen to be from the same country.

Furthermore, my point with the Bangladesh and Katrina example was that a lot of countries whom America routinely dismisses or insults stepped up to the plate to help. Bangladesh apart, Middle Eastern countries that routinely get blasted by US folks for harboring terrorists or being primitive cesspools of medieval Islamic practices gave 10s of millions.

Aid and generosity cannot ever be compelled, of course. We all have our favorite 'causes'. But I don't think that not giving aid to those suffering because their govt or their journalists happen to be calling USA names is a fair reason.....