So I got into a bit of a tiff with a friend today after he attempted to bagger me into donating for the Queensland flood appeal, granted it's a terrible tragedy, but frankly I don't donate to disaster relief. I'll donate to things like Make a Wish or Child's Play or even the Salvation Army on occasion because they provide services to bring joy, but I don't donate to disaster relief, and I'll tell you why.
I pay bloody taxes, a freaking lot of tax, I don't begrudge, I understand why I need to pay taxes; and that's exactly why I refuse to donate to disaster relief, that's why I pay my god-damn taxes, so the government has money for this sort of thing, they shouldn't need more money. I might donate money to an appeal to get toys to kids or something up there, but not for plain old disaster relief, that's the government's job, that's their whole reason for existing, to run the country and deal with problems.
And that's just the reason I refuse to donate to relief efforts in the first world, I refuse of sheer principle to donate to the "developing" world given the reports I've seen on 90% of the money and supplies ending up in the hands of corrupt officials or outright criminals, donating just props up those bastards. Sucks for the innocent people, but in the long run it actually helps them.
(never mind the huge amount of public money most 1st world governments piss away in "aid")
So am I alone in being a cold bastard?
I pay bloody taxes, a freaking lot of tax, I don't begrudge, I understand why I need to pay taxes; and that's exactly why I refuse to donate to disaster relief, that's why I pay my god-damn taxes, so the government has money for this sort of thing, they shouldn't need more money. I might donate money to an appeal to get toys to kids or something up there, but not for plain old disaster relief, that's the government's job, that's their whole reason for existing, to run the country and deal with problems.
And that's just the reason I refuse to donate to relief efforts in the first world, I refuse of sheer principle to donate to the "developing" world given the reports I've seen on 90% of the money and supplies ending up in the hands of corrupt officials or outright criminals, donating just props up those bastards. Sucks for the innocent people, but in the long run it actually helps them.
(never mind the huge amount of public money most 1st world governments piss away in "aid")
So am I alone in being a cold bastard?
