"Famine, Affluence, and Morality" is an essay written by Peter Singer in 1971 and published in Philosophy & Public Affairs in 1972. It argues that affluent persons are morally obligated to donate far more resources to humanitarian causes than is considered normal in Western cultures. The essay was inspired by the starvation of Bangladesh Liberation War refugees, and uses their situation as an example, although Singer's argument is general in scope and not limited to the example of Bangladesh. The essay is anthologized widely as an example of Western ethical thinking.[1]
Is it that people do not care, do not know or do not want to do anything about it? — FreeEmotion
They are failed nations, and we should start to help to establish a solid structure to build a rigorous state. — javi2541997
Yes, children have an innate sense of justice, until it's beaten or bribed out of them.This kind of thinking occurs to most people by the time they are teenagers. — Tom Storm
For a citizen from Senegal - for example - it is more urgent to fix the management of their society — javi2541997
Sound good. If it has the means to stop arms coming in from greedy westerners and easterners, advisors coming in from westerners and easterners (not forgetting China's keen interest) seeking political advantage, essential resources flowing out to western and eastern buyers. I dunno! Clear out all the Europeans, Americans and Asians, then blockade the whole continent and let them figure it out like they used to? We can't *gasp* do that! It contains oily bits near the top! And where do you put all the Afrikaners?I think that the future of Africa can be managed by the African Union. — javi2541997
And where do you put all the Afrikaners? — Vera Mont
Why should they be removed from Africa? They can live together with the rest of the citizens, ethnics, tribes, people, etc. — javi2541997
Isn't that how the killing usually begins? Lots of people object to living together with certain other people. — Vera Mont
But why does this happen at all? It seems that you give up on the close up on the relationship between the Afrikaners and the original ethnics of Africa. It should not have to end badly. — javi2541997
How much should one donate? How often? To what causes? — Tzeentch
What if money can't solve the problem? Am I morally obligated to fly over there and start digging wells? — Tzeentch
What if I am a poor person living in a rich country? Am I obligated to donate? — Tzeentch
People aren't put on this Earth to make other people's problems their own, and it is generally a good thing that they don't, especially when it comes to problems they know little about. — Tzeentch
If problems were easy to solve, people would have probably been able to solve them on their own. — Tzeentch
The RCC, when it had a monopoly on charitable collecting, had that covered. Tithes were set according the parishioner's income and the current cause was named by the priest.
Not everyone feels obligated to share his good fortune with those whom fate or humankind have treated unfairly. Those who do are able to decide how much they can afford to donate and choose the causes they considers most worthwhile, as well as most likely to make good use of it. Some people, consider it a kind of moral duty - something akin to a debt of honour - to give back when society has been generous to them. Some are aware enough of the larger world to realize that their material comfort came about at the expense of many other people's - perhaps not directly, but through accidents of birth, history and nationality. — Vera Mont
No. Just make up a bundle of clothes for the local thrift store or a bag of groceries for the food bank or drive a disabled person to their physiotherapy session. — Vera Mont
No, but many poor people do anyway. If you want people to donate to you directly, ask them - some might feel obligated. — Vera Mont
Society's problems are everyone's problems. — Vera Mont
Whether we are morally obligated or not to donate, this is not the solution for countries like Bangladesh. The problem is deeper and more complex than just giving them loans or food supply — javi2541997
Individually, we can support organizations that make sensible contributions to local improvement: water, shelter, agricultural improvement, education, hunger relief, medical aid and micro loans. We can also vote for candidates who put forward benevolent and fair policies, instead of tax cuts and more military spending. — Vera Mont
A moral obligation means one ought to fulfill it always. — Tzeentch
Societies don't have problems; people, individuals, have problems. Some problems are within one's power to solve, others not. — Tzeentch
That's why much do-gooding ends up not helping anyone. — Tzeentch
But sometimes (often?) it seems to turn into a crusade to solve 'the world's' problems while neglecting problems at home. — Tzeentch
Most, if not all, problems are human problems, and require human solutions. — Tzeentch
Arguing about charitable giving loses sight of the fact that by definition it is voluntary, that is free of moral obligation. If it was obligatory it wouldn't be a charity, it would be a tax. — LuckyR
These are great ideas, but people are starving due to wars, and lack of giving. Is there something that can be done on to change the status quo? — FreeEmotion
I think it is called callousness, and is causing many many problems worldwide.
So long have we relied on it for these purposes that we no longer need to be responsible for each other. There's your safety net; fall into it. — NOS4A2
However, volunteerism is alive and well:The total amount of charitable giving fell by 3.4% last year to $499.3 billion — a 10.5% decrease when adjusted for inflation, Giving USA found.
Between the lines: Americans gave 1.7% of their personal disposable income to charity in 2022, the lowest level they had given since 1995.
People haven't become entirely callous.Nearly 51% of the U.S. population age 16 and over, or 124.7 million people, informally helped their neighbors between September 2020 and 2021 at the height of the pandemic, according to the latest Volunteering and Civic Life in America research released today.
In response to a separate question, more than 23% of people in that age group, or 60.7 million, said they formally volunteered through an organization during the same period.
I doubt it, at this juncture. The world is daily more turbulent; the obscene profits of megabusiness keep sucking resources out of working people's reach; between climate and internecine conflict, more people keep being displaced and dispossessed. The need keeps growing, while the disposable income of compassionate people keeps shrinking. — Vera Mont
Between now and tomorrow morning, 40,000 children will starve to death. The day after tomorrow, 40,000 more children will die, and so on throughout 1992. In a "world of plenty," the number of human beings dying or suffering from hunger, malnutrition, and hunger-related diseases is staggering. According to the World Bank, over 1 billion people—at least one quarter of the world's population—live in poverty. Over half of these people live in South Asia; most of the remainder in sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia.
his kind of thinking occurs to most people by the time they are teenagers. For some it's a pathway to radical politics. For others it's a retreat into denial and the status quo. — Tom Storm
And for others, it's an opportunity to be sanctimonious. — Ciceronianus
Providing the callous a reason to ignore their message. — Vera Mont
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