A brief discussion about charity.

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Meowshi

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#1  Edited By Meowshi

Okay, so something has been bothering me lately. 
 
Namely, the sentiment that people only give to charities for selfish reasons.  Not because it isn't true, but because it doesn't matter
 
I mean,  I was a nihilistic teenager too at one point my in my life, but this is so frustrating.   
 
In my opinion, it doesn't matter why someone decides to donate their time, energy, or money to a charity.  If they are doing it for entirely selfish reasons, then I say good for them.  Nothing wrong with a little selfishness.  If they are only doing it to feel better about themselves, then perfect, it's certainly better than Yoga!  The fact is that charities provide a useful service to society, and that unjustly criticizing them rests solely in the territory of assholishness. 
 
Basically, giving to charity for completely selfish reasons still contributes more to society than not giving to charity for selfish reasons.  There is literally no difference besides the fact that the former actually helps someone other than yourself.   
 
So no, I don't care when people are overly "braggy" about giving to charity.  I don't care that Celebrity Bimbo X likes to appear on the cover of magazines, talking about how great she is for building a school in Mexico.  You know what?  Good for her.  She's still contributing more to society than some smug little punk criticizing her and not doing shit for anyone else. People who help others should be applauded, no matter what their motivations are. And they shouldn't have to be humble about it, because most people are dicks.   
 
And as not to sound like a hypocrite, I’ll admit this here: I do not give to charities.  I am unemployed, and even if I did have tons of spare cash, I am an utterly selfish, egotistical, self-obsessed, twenty-something. I have no problem admitting that.  But even though I don’t donate to Child’s Play, or jog during the Aids Walk, or buy any of those dumb Armstrong bands; you will never see me criticizing the people who do.   
 
Thanks for reading my pointless rant.  Now you can all go back to discussing Mario farts or whatever else you degenerates use this Off Topic forum for.

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Oldirtybearon

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#2  Edited By Oldirtybearon

Being nihilistic and generally not giving a fuck is the "in" thing to do right now. People can harp all they want, but it won't change. I understand this was venting more than anything else, but I feel like this is a topic worth discussing. 

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Origina1Penguin

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#3  Edited By Origina1Penguin

I don't trust my money with some charity organizations. I don't want most of my donation to go towards overpriced expenses and advertising. The best thing for me is to hand pick a couple and stick with them every year.
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Pinworm45

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#4  Edited By Pinworm45

The issue isn't people donating to charity for whatever reason - selfish or not. 
 
The issue is probably people going around sniffing their own farts because they contributed something to something. 
 
Doing it for selfish reasons to feel good, fine. 
 
Being an obnoxious cunt asking for everyone to praise you because you put a loony in mcdonalds box makes you annoying. 
 
At least that's the impression I get, I've never bitched about it and I'm used to ignoring people who want attention and praise.

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StarvingGamer

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#5  Edited By StarvingGamer

People only ever do anything for selfish reasons.
 
EDIT: And there's NOTHING wrong with that.

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Video_Game_King

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#6  Edited By Video_Game_King

I'd want to reference Nietzsche and his thoughts on the subject, but I feel like that would be pretentious as hell, no matter how appropriately it applies to this situation.

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melcene

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#7  Edited By melcene
@KingWilly said:
" Being nihilistic and generally not giving a fuck is the "in" thing to do right now. People can harp all they want, but it won't change. I understand this was venting more than anything else, but I feel like this is a topic worth discussing.  "
Agreed.   I also agree that being obnoxious and pretentious because someone does donate doesn't make them any better than the person who is apathetic to charities.
 
I used to be much like @Meowshi:.  I couldn't afford to give to charities, and even if I could, it was my damn money.  I still don't give much.  I've done a little bit for Child's Play.  I've done a little for a couple of other ones.  And by little I mean amounts under $25.  The only charity that's ever gotten more than that out of me was a dog rescue, and they were a nonprofit so couldn't take an adoption fee so our adoption fee was officially a donation. 
 
But anyway... here's one of my problems with charities.  The second you give up some money to one, I swear it's like fifty suddenly have your name and phone number and think you're mister moneybags.
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Pezen

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#8  Edited By Pezen

To me it's all about motivation. Because a selfish charity is about as meaningful as not doing anything at all. I can respect people who go out and figure out solutions for developing nations, such as clean water and sustainable food growth and so on. Tools to help people help themselves. I have no respect for anyone signing a check to ease their guilt, because let's face it; how much of that money will be used at the end when it's been through the 'charity' organization? There's a reason a ton of them are black-liated.

Sure, I agree that at the end of the rope, giving something to help even if it's for selfish reasons is more than not giving anything. But still, it's an empty gesture and how much I try, I can't intellectually get over that fact.

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beej

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#9  Edited By beej
@StarvingGamer
People only ever do anything for selfish reasons.
 
EDIT: And there's NOTHING wrong with that.
Can you reasonably say that though? I'm tired of the belief that everyone is entirely self motivated. While it seems like belief in altruism is stupid, it's proven just as much as your statement.
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StarvingGamer

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#10  Edited By StarvingGamer
@beej: Maybe not with the traditional definition of "selfish."  I merely mean that all motivations come from the self and, therefore, all actions serve to satisfy the self.  For example, if you help an old lady across the street you may not be doing so because you want her to give you a shiny quarter or impress the cute chick walking behind you, but you are still doing so because you want to be socially responsible, considerate or nice because you consider those qualities important to your sense of self.  To me altruism = selfishness.= everything else in between.
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lazyturtle

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#11  Edited By lazyturtle
@beej: Humans are social animals. There is an evolutionary incentive to be   altruistic..to a point.
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griefersstolemykeyboard

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People need to stop caring about what other people do or think, the world would be a much better place.

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beej

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#13  Edited By beej
@StarvingGamer: While I'm tempted to quibble as to whether or not all actions are inherently self referential in their effects, I feel no need since you're not saying that everyone is a giant asshole who only ever looks out for number one.
@lazyturtle: I would posit that not everything we do is necessarily grounded in evolutionary tradition anymore. That said, I'm not disagreeing with your fundamental point either, I'm not saying humans are inherently altruistic, I'm just saying that there's room for altruism, and douchebaggery within humans.
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ReaperOfLiving

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#14  Edited By ReaperOfLiving

I don't trust charities.  I found out the Salvation Army keeps over 70% of profits.  The money never gets to the people in need.  Besides I believe in Social Darwinism. 

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Meowshi

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#15  Edited By Meowshi
@griefersstolemykeyboard said:
" People need to stop caring about what other people do or think, the world would be a much better place. "
But these forums would be awfully boring. 
 
@ReaperOfLiving said:
" I don't trust charities.  I found out the Salvation Army keeps over 70% of profits.  The money never gets to the people in need.  Besides I believe in Social Darwinism.  "
In my experience, people who say they believe in Social Darwinism, only mean that to a certain degree.
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HitmanAgent47

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#16  Edited By HitmanAgent47

Let's talk about the psychological motivations of some ppl donating to charities. Our basic human needs are certainty, a bit of uncertainty, importance and connection. Once you get past that, you have growth and you have contribution when you already meet your basic needs. Some ppl are satisfied with their life to a point they can donate and contribute to others. However some does it out of importance, to make themselves feel better if they didn't meet their basic human needs. The ego is really what destroys growth and contribution in others, they do it for their own selfish need to be important.  
 
I may not understand philosophy, however I sure do understand the psychological motivations behind it.

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jkz

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#17  Edited By jkz

The assholes who call themselves nihilists, but are actually just teenagers, give those of us who actually have our own, developed views on the world, and who find that we fall towards the existentialist side of the spectrum, look like bad people. 
 
It's aggravating as hell.

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Meowshi

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#18  Edited By Meowshi

I don't want to be that "old guy" ragging on teenagers.  I hated when people did that to me when I was a younger.   
 
But man...
 
Now that I'm a little older they just seem so...
 
...

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Meowayne

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#19  Edited By Meowayne

I don't think I can approve of your nickname.

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lazyturtle

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#20  Edited By lazyturtle
@beej: No, I think we've gotten a little more advanced that just base instinct. But all of our traditions root back to a time when we were more..simple. So things that we consider part of our social norm..helping the poor for example..most likely go back to a time when helping the group was important to personal survival. I think thats why we see so many similarities between world religions.
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isomeri

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#22  Edited By isomeri

I only give time and money to charities for selfish reasons. I do it out of my own self interest, which is to feel good or at least better about myself, the world and life in general. I probably wouldn't donate if it brought me no joy at all. Heck, I've even given extra money to the government once, just to prove a point and make me feel proud or just or whatever bullshit emotion I wanted to achieve.

Still, to your point, it really doesn't make a difference why people donate. Even a big charity organization, where the proceeds are not "justly shared", is a better place to put my money than almost any other thing.

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Arabes

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Wow things are quiet on these boards if people are commenting on 5 year old threads that weren't even that interesting then.

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mike

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#24  Edited By mike

@arabes said:

Wow things are quiet on these boards if people are commenting on 5 year old threads that weren't even that interesting then.

A spam account bumped it and the comment was deleted, which you can't see. In the future it would be safe to assume this is the case when you see ancient topics bumped for seemingly no reason. We would prefer it if you simply flagged posts like that and let us take care of them.