by B.J. on 6/14/2003 10:32:00 PM 0 comments Print this post

Comments: Post a Comment
Beware of Charities !

Way back on the last Friday during Spring Break, I took Hane and got Keith and Bel to come to this soupline thinking that we'd be all doing good work and end the Break on a fiery note. But then we actually got there and I had to take Hane home before we actually did anything. When I came back, all the adults hogged the work. I suddenly came to the realization, "What the fuck am I doing here ? I'm not doing shit. I'm just helping a few motherfuckers get one meal, and that'll be it." The gist of it was souplines solve hungriness very temporarily, but they don't do much for day-to-day living. This soupline shit is not changing the world, it just makes the helpers look and feel good about themselves in front of the general public.

As images of caring, charities blind people to the fact that they accomplish nothing. We see all this shit on TV, radio, etc. about how this celebrity, this corporation, etc. donates a million bucks to fighting a disease. Citizens with well-meaning intentions donate time and money up the ass. I'm very sure that they're great people. Their efforts are misdirected. . .en masse. Despite all the "noble" deeds they do, I still see homeless and "crazy" people along the artistic streets of Silver Lake. Whilst people are "chroming" it up and spending millions on stupid things like Rolex watches as seen on MTV's Cribs, there are still these people who aimlessly wander the streets begging for a buck. Then, the American media and society loves to consciously and subconsciously beat up on the materially bereft people by telling us stupid folk stories about how these people would use it just to get drunk or high, which may or may not be true. But rarely does the media and society like to talk about how they resorted to just getting drunk and high.

In comes charities to give them short-term help. And help that is mostly about giving them advice. Most are religion-based. And religion tells them to accept being poor and abused because the afterlife will be kinder to them. Secondly, these charities exacerbate the problem by prescribing them all this bullshit mental care or food as short-term fixes when a long-term solution like a house or some unfulfilled material need would have stopped them from "going crazy" in the first place. Thirdly, large-scale charities are run by corporations. They use their proceeds to promote themselves. They don't work with anyone. And because of the exclusiveness of charities, they cannot accomplish anything big, and that's how corporations want to keep it --- divided and conquered.

Charities also cater to the needs of the rich and upper-middle class. The affluent people are glorified to the Ave Maria as "selfless givers" whereas the people receiving are stigmatized as "takers." Receiving charity is just trading in dignity, but people go because they have no other way else to sustain. Supporting charities is like supporting corporations. Knowing that charities only bolster the image, corporation people use charities to legitimize exploitation of workers. For example, McDonalds has that charity, the Ronald McDonald house for diseased kids. Lost in McDonalds' charitable causes is the fact that the people that deal with annoying people all day asking would you like fries with that make 500 times less than their corporate bosses. While I don't wholeheartedly think the guy at the counter should make exactly the same amount of money as the corporate suit because there needs to be incentive to work hard, I think the guy at the counter should make enough to at least survive because he/she probably works hard enough as it is. The government has a paltry minimum wage that works to "help the people", but where's the maximum wage to counter the dominance and influence of rich people in this place we call a democracy, a system predicated on people power ? That's a government job.

However, conservative people want to switch all dependence to charities.

So what's the answer ?

These assistance programs from the government or some wide-scale organization ala LBJ's War on Poverty, which provided job training and education.

How do we get there ? My solutions !

1) Voting and changing the representative people from primarily rich, white middle class to a more diverse background. That equals programs like affirmative action.

2) Some liberal people fuel up their own oil, fabric, and food corporations and make it work for the worker so that our dependence on the mainstream corporations lessens.

3) Unite all charities

4) Kick every heartless rich bastard in the mouth until they say 'yes' to one of the above solutions.

I realize I'd be categorized as a radical by most Americans who read this. I'm sorry that I think that people have the right to sustain. Just because I'm not the posterchild of the church, doesn't mean I can't have righteous intentions. : ) The funny thing is that this view that I hold today can be very well the conservative viewpoint in 100 years for the typical US citizen. . .err. . .the way it is in Europe. . .check the history books folks !

Labels:

 



Home Page