A theme throughout this post is prudence (and the possible lack of it this particular case).
In the recent weeks, I have moved and taken a new position at a university library. I won’t say where, because as you have almost certainly read at least once, there have been cases of faculty and staff at institutes of “higher learning” losing their jobs because of opinions they posted on private blogs.
Furthermore, as I have not yet established Internet access at my apartment, the only place I can post is… at the university. I very much understand the potential risk this involves, especially since I often prefer to write and save my writings in Notepad or Word rather than directly in WordPress.
Even more than the above, however, is the fact that I read the campus newspaper.
When I was a college student myself, I wrote into and for my alma mater’s paper, starting with the occasional commentary and ending with a weekly column. On more than one occasion, what I wrote was a response to someone else’s opinion, giving my thoughts as to why, well, that person might not be thinking as clearly as he should. It had even been hinted to me that I seemed to have a personal grudge against one particular writer. (While the erstwhile editor — and current friend — did and still does joke about it, a professor also mentioned that fact to me while I was there.)
Now, as a staff member and “servant” to the students, it would be imprudent (see?) to write the same type of responses I would have as a student. In fact, it probably is advisable for me to leave the campus newspaper editorial section to the students from now on.
Yet, I am an opinion writer, I do have opinions, and occasionally I run into something that fires me up so much, thoughts run through my head and my fingers seem to desperately need to take to a keyboard to get them out.
Though I still realize that while this is the case, unlike when I write about articles posted on Yahoo! News or even letters to the editor in local newspapers, linking to and quoting anything from the newspaper at the campus I’m on is less than the best idea. So as much as I want you to read the exact column and particular quotes that raised my ire, I know I shouldn’t. Hence, paraphrasing is about as good as I can do for you, which is disappointing, to say the least.
But again, sometimes I simply have to write.
I don’t mind charity. In fact, I applaud it. (Certainly more than tax-funded forced “charity”, to be sure.) Hence if someone supports a charity or a particular cause, I can understand being passionate and wanting to encourage others to donate time or money to it, even if, respectively, I don’t have that same fire or I disagree.
At the library I work at, at least two people have adopted grandchildren from the island of Haiti, so I have no problem with the constant reminders of the work an affiliated mission is doing there and the multiple fundraising events that are held, especially since everything, with the possible exception of the “LARGE donation jar” in the administration office, is a gentle reminder of the need for funds.
However, I am weary of emotional pleas and images. They almost always backfire with me, and I end up losing sympathy for whatever cause is being touted. Likewise, I despise when charities set up tables in front of stores and really hate when I am asked to donate money at a cash register, mainly because they usually catch me off-guard, and as much as I like to think I don’t care about most others’ opinions, there are very few times I really don’t mind seeming like a jerk. In those cases, I do donate, often begrudgingly, but it is a long while before I return to that business.
Though as irksome as those people are, they almost always seem happy with whatever you give. If they happen to see you have a number of bills in your wallet and you pull out a one-dollar bill, they might think you ought to give more, yet they still smile and thank you.
But if you truly want to tick me off and kill whatever positive regard I might have had for whatever you and whatever you’re supporting, talk down to me.
There is a student at the university I currently work for who clearly moved by the recent events in Haiti much like the fellow staff members I mentioned not much earlier. He, however, chooses to go with the guilt trip.
– Money may not be as important as bathroom tissue to the survivors.
– Instead of indulging yourself, you should show “decency” and send the money to Haiti.
– The Bible says not to love through words, but action.
– Don’t you value another person’s life more than entertainment?
– If you don’t think this is important, keep living your life of material things. Since “money talks”, maybe sometime soon you’ll hear it say something about Haiti.
I would love to know if that columnist wears designer clothes, drives a new (or near-new) car, has a laptop or owns a smartphone.
I wonder if he has gone out to a movie or a restaurant recently, or in fact, ever. In fact, if he has or engages in any luxuries at all, he should get off his pedestal of morality and shut the hell up.
The earthquake in Haiti, while tragic, is sadly not a unique case of suffering and the arguments that columnist made about what we all should do in the case of Haiti also can be made everyday about some place in the world. Log on to Amnesty International’s website or ask your closest whiny bleeding-heart celebrity; there is always some sort of plight you can give your “extra” income to.
If the campus compass of humanity feels like he can preach to his fellow students and readers about how they should act, then maybe he should lead by example. As a start, I’d suggest wearing clothes from the Salvation Army or Goodwill, eating cold cut sandwiches (no mayonnaise or cheese, thank you kindly), giving up cable and the Internet as well as selling his car and walking everywhere. Give all that unneeded income to any of the thousands upon thousands of charities who will be thrilled to have it. I’d encourage him to find more ways to eliminate unnecessary expenditures in his life and send them to those who can use the money more. After all, doesn’t well over half the world’s population live on less than a dollar a day?
If he doesn’t like my idea, he should mind his own damn business. At the very least, he should learn to treat his readers and their spending habits with at least a modicum of respect.
Commentary charity
I think there’s an unwritten rule about pompous “altruism” being tied to college campuses. I’ve been there, done that, and have moved on with my life. You, in many regards, have not been so lucky. A confrontation with said student would not be so wise, so it’s probably best just to comfort yourself with the thought that in six or seven years, this guy is going to be in the same state we’re in – physically unhealthy, unemployed and jaded as shit. Although that’s mostly me. (Come to think of it, with the way that this country is spiraling into a depression, we might all be penniless and unemployed in a few years. That will definitely take the edge off of any “altruism” people might have now.)
As for Haiti – I agree with you about how exhausting charity appeals are. The Michelle Obama ad particularly grates on me. The idea is that opening your pocketbook is supposed to make you feel better about yourself, but that’s more about alleviating “guilt” than being magnanimous. In fact, I think the charity appeal going on right now for Haiti has a lot to do with “white guilt” or “rich guilt” or “first-world guilt” – whatever you want to call it. In a way, it’s a good thing – it gets a lot of money in the coffers fast – but it’s also impermanent. Once the big push is over, people are going to give up on Haiti and focus attention somewhere else. And the rebuilding effort will stall, government violence and corruption will take over, and foreign governments will continue to use the country as a pawn. Although that’s a cynical prediction, at the very least I can say that the United States, with its mounting deficit and dire fiscal predictions for the next 10 years, will not be able to fund Haitian relief efforts for very long.
I don’t think I have ever had a direct conflict with anyone, though sometimes I have quite directly taken on someone’s column. I already know it’s not the best idea to write in, and given how the paper is laid out, they would not have room for much of a reply, anyway. In fact, I really don’t need to write the paper; that’s why I enjoy this blog so much (even if circumstances won’t allow me to show it like I would prefer). Now, if I were given a column by some weird chance, I would not turn it down.
Maybe I can see where I could see some sort of justice in his being unemployed at 30, but I think I would enjoy it more if he were working at some nonprofit making $19,000 a year and seeing 35, 40% of the donations being completely wasted on overblown management salaries and lavish “fundraisers” and such. Does that make me a jerk? Oh well.
Haiti bugs me because it’s the, as you sort of alluded to, “affluent guilt” Flavor of the Month. I am tired of people thinking that the simple fact you are well-off or at least in the upper half of the world’s wealthiest people means you have cheated someone or done something wrong you must atone for. It’s the misquoted biblical proverb “money is the root of all evil” taken to another, more asinine level. (The proverb is actually “The love of money is the root of all evil”.) I like if people are charitable; I hate it when they are because they was to put some sort of financial salve on their egos.
And the financial situation? Well, as long as people think an entity which has to take money from other people to have it to spend can somehow create money, this country *is* screwed.