3 ms·

Hopefully with your great compassion for others you will be donating most of your income to stop this malnutrition and suffering in the third world that would o

Hopefully with your great compassion for others you will be donating most of your income to stop this malnutrition and suffering in the third world that would otherwise be stopping this girl from getting to school.

drcode 11y ago
Why is grendel responsible for the (potentially) poor financial decisions of Japan Railways?
qrendel 11y ago
I'd hoped it wouldn't need to be stated, but I'm definitely glad they're doing something valuable with the resources. I was just pointing out an alternative reaction to the article. Of course it's far far better than if the money was being spent in a worse way - e.g. funding some irrational government policy to further some incumbent's chances of reelection. (Not living in Japan I'm not aware of a good relevant example from that country.) I'll skip inundating the thread with some personal defense of whether I'm a hypocrit or not. I agree with what TeMPOral said about it being a positive symbol, and was just pointing out another way that it's a negative one. "We've come a long way but we still have a long way to go" sort of thing.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  You have a good point and it is definitely not hypocritical. I addressed it in the response to your comment upthread, but let me do a tl;dr of it here: I came to believe that you simply can't expect 100% efficiency from humans. We're not wired that way. If too much is required from us - like being asked to donate all surplus beyond sustenance level to charity - we simply stop caring at all. On the other hand, a positive emotional nudge can make us care more. Helping effectively means taking into account our own psychological makeup.
baddox 11y ago
And similarly, hopefully anyone applauding this train situation would gladly pay to keep it running themselves, instead of reveling in the incredible human capacity for being generous with other people's money.
- pm24601 11y ago
  You just said more about yourself than you probably intended.

drcode 11y ago

Why is grendel responsible for the (potentially) poor financial decisions of Japan Railways?

qrendel 11y ago

I'd hoped it wouldn't need to be stated, but I'm definitely glad they're doing something valuable with the resources. I was just pointing out an alternative reaction to the article. Of course it's far far better than if the money was being spent in a worse way - e.g. funding some irrational government policy to further some incumbent's chances of reelection. (Not living in Japan I'm not aware of a good relevant example from that country.) I'll skip inundating the thread with some personal defense of whether I'm a hypocrit or not. I agree with what TeMPOral said about it being a positive symbol, and was just pointing out another way that it's a negative one. "We've come a long way but we still have a long way to go" sort of thing.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
You have a good point and it is definitely not hypocritical. I addressed it in the response to your comment upthread, but let me do a tl;dr of it here: I came to believe that you simply can't expect 100% efficiency from humans. We're not wired that way. If too much is required from us - like being asked to donate all surplus beyond sustenance level to charity - we simply stop caring at all. On the other hand, a positive emotional nudge can make us care more. Helping effectively means taking into account our own psychological makeup.

baddox 11y ago

And similarly, hopefully anyone applauding this train situation would gladly pay to keep it running themselves, instead of reveling in the incredible human capacity for being generous with other people's money.

pm24601 11y ago
You just said more about yourself than you probably intended.