Lest you get the impression that I’ve gotten all soft on you, the last post was just something I started writing and, after a few minutes wondering if I should or shouldn’t, posted. I struggle often with what should and shouldn’t see the light of day lest I get more hate mail than I usually do.
That happens on occasion. Like last night, I was over at Wetwired just doing my nightly perusal when I caught py’s post about Tsunami Relief. Now, I’m just as heartless as the next guy, but when it comes to feigned compassion, I draw the line. I wrote the following:
Py and his cohorts over at wetwired are a good bunch and I’m sure their concern is legitimate, but enough with the Tsunami Relief effort!
So a fucking wave obliterated substantial portions of southeast asia, india and northwest africa. Call it God’s will if you’re a Christian or Allah cleansing the Earth of infidels of you’re a Muslim. Either way, the end result is that the Earth’s population got a tiny bit more managable. Before you comment, know that there are few causes I believe in as strongly as I believe in perils of overpopulation and the idea that only the fittest should survive. Is it sad that hundreds of thousands were displaced, killed or injured by the tsunami?
Is that any worse than the substantial number of homeless and unemployed that can’t seem to get back on track in the US? The thousands of women who succumb to breast cancer each year? Or the numbers of people who die of HIV/AIDS worldwide every day? Where is the great outpouring of concern for these people? Are they any less worthy of your compassion? Why isn’t there a telethon for these people? Hell, most of the areas affected by the Tsunami are playgrounds of the rich. That’s why you see so many people giving to this particular cause. Once one movie star decided to give, it was just a matter of keeping up with the Jones’ or more appropriately, the Clooney’s and Bullockses. Phuket? Hell, that area has needed a good hosing for some time now. I’ve been to Phuket and believe me, it needed to be rinsed off like a $2 hooker the morning after a particularly busy evening.
I guess the biggest reason why I’m so pissed by the whole Tsunami Relief effort is because it is just so fucking fake. I’m sure millions of tiny violins are playing for the dead, but c’mon! A vast majority of these people are the kinds of people you wouldn’t allow your children to play with if you met them on a vacation! They’re poor, disabled, aged, retarded, unemployed, unhealthy or of a lower economic class. Honestly, if you were on vacation in Sri Lanka and one of these people walked up to you on the street and begged you for a few rupees, you’d tell them to fuck off, or at the mimimum pretend that you don’t see them! If you’re going to tell me I’m wrong, I’ll call you a liar. The fact that many people in the US (arguably the richest, most indifferent, culturally myopic country on the planet thanks to GW Bush and his fanatical Christian support base) are suddenly caring about the welfare of foreigners is fucking ridiculous in the extreme. Perhaps they should care more for the welfare of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the innocent citizens in those countries that are being killed every day as Bush tries to hunt down the terrorists responsible for 9/11.
Where is the fucking rock concert for the innocent Iraqis? The Star Studded Telethon for Afghanistan? Want to save the world? Why not start in your own backyard. Go out, find a homeless person and buy them a warm winter jacket, spare some time to work in a hospice caring for the sick, or join Habitat for Humanity and build something. Giving money to a cause is all well and good, but only action truly shows your commitment to helping others.