why has their been such a poor response (donation-wise) to the pakistan floods?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reminder. I've been meaning to donate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:op here - i kind of guessed all of the above reasons (minus the hateful racist comment from one poster - and 1 billion in aid is nothing), but its very sad for me, especially considering the people on this website seem to generally be well-educated, cultured, and diverse... as for the person who doesn't think its their problem b/c its far away... i think one of common perrceptions of America for people abroad is a selfish minority that controls the majority of the world's wealth, which has probably contributed to extremism. And I wonder if you also didn't contribute to Haiti, because it wasn't your country. And did you contribute to Katerina, because that's nowhere near DC? And do you contribute to children's hospital? It serves mostly black patients; if you're not black, should you bother, since its not your community or your problem? What happened to our global America?

unffortunately, starvation and the death that will ensue will only turn ordinary oblivious people (farmers) into targets for terrorists for recruitment. its the marginalized who are easy to recruit, you know? there's a great book called "spokesman for the despised" that sums up this theory really well.

NP here, and hold on there, OP -

What is the racist comment? If you meant 10:00, I think your racist radar needs to be recalibrated. It's perfectly understandable that individuals with finite resources to contribute sometimes pick and choose based on political philosophy.

As for the comment that it's not our problem because it's far away - what is incorrect about that? You can believe we should help, or have a responsibility to help, but sorry, that statement's valid. Do you believe every American is required to write a check every time there is a natural disaster, no matter where it is? And do you really think it's wrong that local causes (Children's Hospital) or disasters in the US (Katrina) are given priority by many people? I understand that as a Pakistani-American, this is personal for you, but you have to understand, for many Americans it's not, and everyone (Americans and otherwise) is more likely to contribute to causes that they have a personal connection to.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
What is the racist comment?

My guess is that it is this one:

Don't we already give them a ton of foreign aid, to the tune of 1bil a year?

Personally, I'm not too fond of giving money to a country that sponsors, supports, and nurtures terrorism and is chock full of madrasha's spewing hate to their youth. No thanks. There is no way of knowing of that money will make it into the hands of people who hate our way of life and who treat women worse than cattle.

Unlike America, Pakistan has elected a woman as it's country's leader. I don't know if that says more about how Pakistan treats cattle or the US treats women.

The rest of the post is similarly ignorant.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What is the racist comment?

My guess is that it is this one:

Don't we already give them a ton of foreign aid, to the tune of 1bil a year?

Personally, I'm not too fond of giving money to a country that sponsors, supports, and nurtures terrorism and is chock full of madrasha's spewing hate to their youth. No thanks. There is no way of knowing of that money will make it into the hands of people who hate our way of life and who treat women worse than cattle.

Unlike America, Pakistan has elected a woman as it's country's leader. I don't know if that says more about how Pakistan treats cattle or the US treats women.

The rest of the post is similarly ignorant.

Ignorant - maybe. But how's it racist?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Ignorant - maybe. But how's it racist?

Racist might not have been the correct word -- and it wasn't mine -- but the post is certainly loaded with prejudice. Whether that prejudice is against a racial, religious, or national group is sort of splitting hairs. Obviously, there is something wrong with justifying a lack of concern for innocent people -- including many children -- on stereotypes that are largely inaccurate.

[Anonymous]

In addition to the reasons mentioned (summer vacation, lack of intense media exposure, etc.) I would add another reason. I think it's hard for many people (or maybe just me) to get my brain to understand why this is a disaster. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, etc. are sudden, violent actions that intuitively seem 'bad.' Whereas flooding just brings to mind lots of water, and the places I've lived flooding has been inconvenient and can sometimes be fatal, but isn't normally associated with words like 'devastation' and 'catastrophe.' Of course this is probably in large part because I've never lived anywhere with truly massive floods, and as I look into the situation I am understanding why the need is in fact so great. But when I first saw the headlines about flooding, my brain didn't flash 'disaster' the way it has for certain other incidents.

[Anonymous]

16:49 - just wanted to be clear that it's not hard for me to understand why this is a disaster once I learned more, just that it required me to actually think about it, whereas my brain automatically thinks disaster when there is a sudden violent event with a sudden death toll.

[Anonymous]

For me, I haven't seen an easy way to donate. With Haiti, I could text $10 to the effort. Haven't seen a Pakistan cell phone donation thingy.

[Anonymous]

I do not have the faith that any money I contribute would go to the people who need it most. I am pretty sure that money from even reputable relief organizations in Pakistan goes at least in part to line someone's pocket at best and fund a terrorist organization at worst.

If I thought my money would be put to good use, I would contribute. That's sad, but I think it also really means that Pakistan needs to work on its image and economy so they don't leave that impression across the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me, I haven't seen an easy way to donate. With Haiti, I could text $10 to the effort. Haven't seen a Pakistan cell phone donation thingy.

I posted it on the prior page. Here it is again:

You can text SWAT to 50555 to donate $10 to the UN's UNHCR.

[Anonymous]

I was wondering about that the other day; I think because of many of the reasons previously cited, as well as the pace of the disaster...it's a slow-moving train
Also, a perception that Pakistan is arguably not as poor as Haiti; after all, they have nuclear weapons, so they should have the infrastructure to help themselves more.....

[Anonymous]

I'll confess I only skimmed this thread, but am confused by those of you who don't want to donate because you oppose the policies of the Pakistani government. It was a flood. A big-ass flood. And people are suffering. Babies, dehydrated and crying, have no food. Families separated. What the HELL does that have to do with the war on terrorism? These are people.

For those who are interested in a charity that is there on the ground and has low admin costs, I recommend Catholic Relief Services.

For those who are not interested in helping, where is your heart?

Oh, and by the way, I watch and like Fox News, and am a conservative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me, I haven't seen an easy way to donate. With Haiti, I could text $10 to the effort. Haven't seen a Pakistan cell phone donation thingy.

I posted it on the prior page. Here it is again:

You can text SWAT to 50555 to donate $10 to the UN's UNHCR.

Or, you could spend some of your DCUM time and go to the website of a charity you support and donate. Is that easy enough?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who are interested in a charity that is there on the ground and has low admin costs, I recommend Catholic Relief Services.

For those who are not interested in helping, where is your heart?

As I said before, my heart is in other places. Who are you and the OP to say whose needs are more important? My family has many breast cancer victims so my heart is in donating towards a cure. My heart also goes out to the local schools where the children don't have the basics needed to get a decent education. I can go on and on, but my heart is somewhere else.

Anonymous wrote:Oh, and by the way, I watch and like Fox News, and am a conservative.

It really is not hard to understand that among the gazillion charities and people in need across this county and the world and without unlimited resources people have to make decisions on where to donate based on something. Usually it's a charity or need that has somehow touched their life.

Then again, you actually watch Fox News AND like it. You may be a conservative, but your also probably not that smart.

[Anonymous]

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Then again, you actually watch Fox News AND like it. You may be a conservative, but your also probably not that smart.

Fantastic that when insulting someone, you use poor grammar. Nice work.