Wow, this post just made me lose a lot of respect for you. I'm so baffled right now I'm not even sure if you're being serious, or if this was an entirely sarcastic post. "Who gives a fuck?" That was really your bottom line? God I hope not... Whatever happened to the human in humanity? 2000 years without progress in this world is inarguably a sad state isn't it....

That has to be the most arrogant, ignorant post I have ever read on this forum. Sorry if you think otherwise. There is quite a difference between homelessness in America and poverty in Haiti and other undeveloped nations. I realize that there are thousands upon thousands of impoverished people living in the US and Canada, and a lot of them don't choose to be that way. Homelessness, on the other hand, is usually a result of people who've made some extremely bad choices in their lives. Drugs, alcohol, choosing to abuse the system, etc. Homeless people here have the opportunity to get the help they need. Impoverished people in Haiti do not. "Mud-covered island dweller"? That's a terrible stereotype. These people don't have the money to even rent a home for themselves, and they certainly don't have the proper resources to even build one.

All I'm saying is that I think it's a bit ridiculous when organizations like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army see fit to send oodles of money to Haiti while the exact same things are going on throughout the world. I'm not saying there shouldn't be aid provided, but when people are being chopped up and burned alive in Mexico, Somalia, Brazil, and all over Africa on a regular basis without any PSA/media coverage it's kind of off-putting. It's as if the lives of natural disaster victims suddenly mean more when they're "covered in mud", which wasn't a meant sterotypical or hateful label but rather a criticism of the images utilized to convince people into donating.

The problems in those countries tend to be aggrieved by compounding effects of civil war and general political instability. For instance, the ongoing conflict in Somalia has abbreviated aid efforts by not actually distributing aid received from other countries (this actually contributed to the 1993 U.S. military injunction). It becomes somewhat tiresome to hear people chant "save Darfur!" when they haven't the slightest clue of the problematic circumstances that beset aid efforts.

Haiti is a different story. Despite being incredibly poor, they still have a somewhat functional government, and more importantly, it isn't in tatters. They simply do not have the resources to fix this themselves.

i'm not so sure i even have words to respond to your argument, anticipation.

i was really surprised to read somebody had posted something like that on here...maybe i shouldn't be so surprised, i don't know. i'm just glad most other people on here seem to feel otherwise.

We are in an economic recession and we are sending aid to a country that will not benefit us. It does not make any sense.

Of course, if you view us all as slaves of each other then maybe you can make an argument for sending aid to Haiti. You still advocate that self-sacrifice is moral and you expect everyone to do the same.

I feel bad for Haiti, and the earthquake was horrible. Donating money won't help me pay my bills.

the US dragged the world into the recession from a bunch of stupid **** that we did and simply because the standard is on our dollar. and as much as we have done to haiti (see above posts) yes we ****in need to send aid.

if i had to choose money going to aid or war...hmm tough one..

If you believe you're here on Earth to look out for yourself, then you shouldn't feel guilty. However, I think most of us are aware that on a deeper level that that's not why we're here. There's an old belief that exists in both humanism and spiritualism, and that is that in some sense, we're all responsible for each other. Unfortunately most people do not really live their lives according to this belief. People seek their own happiness and thus find themselves miserable. It's one of the strange ironies of life. If you want to truly be happy, you have to seek the happiness of others. Like it or not, we've each been born into a world where we're all responsible for each other and where our lives were never meant to be fully our own.

In the end, we're not here for just ourselves.

^
well put

Then don't donate. No one cares if you do, just don't complain when other people choose to help.