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Growing up relatively poor (at least for Western standards), it feels that I can empathize with the poor a lot more than those who did not grow up similarly. Y

by lee 16y ago

Growing up relatively poor (at least for Western standards), it feels that I can empathize with the poor a lot more than those who did not grow up similarly. You can read about poverty, imagine it, and have knowledge about it. But unless you've experienced it first hand, you cannot truly understand what it's like. I think that understanding can lead people to be more altruistic.

yardie 16y ago
I agree completely. A poster above was saying how giving to charities is a waste and giving to the poor just means them getting drunk. I can assure you the homeless drunk needs to eat at some point if he doesn't want to be dead in a ditch. And the easiest way to do it is spare change. I've met far too many people trying to do the noble thing by buying a sandwich or milk. Completely oblivious to that persons dietary requirements. It would have been far easier to give a dollar, let the poor guy figure out what he wants to eat. If he buys alcohol he'll only get thirstier and hungrier.
- gaius 16y ago
  It's quite normal to be asked for money to something to eat, but in 20 years of saying, I'll buy you whatever you want to eat from this store, I've never been taken up on the offer. Another thing (in London anyway) is to be asked for money to stay in a shelter overnight. Well the shelters are free, paid for by the local councils, and always have spare beds. I think if anyone did ever say, I need the money to get high, I'd probably give it them, just because they'd be the first honest one...
  - ollysb 16y ago
    I once saw a couple of beggars in Barcelona sitting with three pieces of card propped up next to a wall. The cards each had a title: whiskey, wine, and rum. It raised a chuckle out of me and I did give them so money.
roc 16y ago
Does it lead them to being legitimately altruistic? Or simply more charitable toward problems they understand and people they empathize with? Social programs to help the unemployed are, economically speaking, little different from something like TARP. Would you say that your increased altruism extends to supporting assistance given to rich/corporations?
- lee 16y ago
  I think it does lead to what you call "legitimate altruism", because the scope of poverty encompasses many things: hunger, increased illness, increased suffering, etc... Being poor means you experience all of these burdens, more so than those who are not poor, and so you can understand the plight of those who experience it. >> "more charitable toward problems they understand and people they empathize with?" Can you be charitable to problems that you don't understand? I don't think so. If you gave your money away to anyone who asked, that's not charity. >>> "Social programs to help the unemployed are, economically speaking, little different from something like TARP." I disagree with that statement. The TARP is a calculated move by the government to prevent economic collapse. The motivation for it was self-preservation, not altruism.

by lee 16y ago

yardie 16y ago

I agree completely. A poster above was saying how giving to charities is a waste and giving to the poor just means them getting drunk. I can assure you the homeless drunk needs to eat at some point if he doesn't want to be dead in a ditch. And the easiest way to do it is spare change. I've met far too many people trying to do the noble thing by buying a sandwich or milk. Completely oblivious to that persons dietary requirements. It would have been far easier to give a dollar, let the poor guy figure out what he wants to eat. If he buys alcohol he'll only get thirstier and hungrier.

gaius 16y ago
It's quite normal to be asked for money to something to eat, but in 20 years of saying, I'll buy you whatever you want to eat from this store, I've never been taken up on the offer. Another thing (in London anyway) is to be asked for money to stay in a shelter overnight. Well the shelters are free, paid for by the local councils, and always have spare beds. I think if anyone did ever say, I need the money to get high, I'd probably give it them, just because they'd be the first honest one...
- ollysb 16y ago
  I once saw a couple of beggars in Barcelona sitting with three pieces of card propped up next to a wall. The cards each had a title: whiskey, wine, and rum. It raised a chuckle out of me and I did give them so money.

roc 16y ago

Does it lead them to being legitimately altruistic? Or simply more charitable toward problems they understand and people they empathize with? Social programs to help the unemployed are, economically speaking, little different from something like TARP. Would you say that your increased altruism extends to supporting assistance given to rich/corporations?

lee 16y ago
I think it does lead to what you call "legitimate altruism", because the scope of poverty encompasses many things: hunger, increased illness, increased suffering, etc... Being poor means you experience all of these burdens, more so than those who are not poor, and so you can understand the plight of those who experience it. >> "more charitable toward problems they understand and people they empathize with?" Can you be charitable to problems that you don't understand? I don't think so. If you gave your money away to anyone who asked, that's not charity. >>> "Social programs to help the unemployed are, economically speaking, little different from something like TARP." I disagree with that statement. The TARP is a calculated move by the government to prevent economic collapse. The motivation for it was self-preservation, not altruism.