Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Naturegirl1999]

Charity is the drowning of rights in mercy.

how does charity inhibit rights? Or did I misinterpret the statement?

[sluissa]

I was under the impression that the infuriating thing about the new york thing was that they were cancelling the presidential primary, but the downballot primaries were still being held, and I'd heard somewhere they were trying to figure out a vote by mail system of some sort for the state.

Other than saving some money on postage costs by not having to mail out ballots in a few districts where there is no primary race, I'm not sure what that accomplishes other than to screw over Bernie or anyone downballot that would have benefited from Bernie voters. (AOC specifically is a target there, but probably not the only one.)

[da_nang]

Charity is the drowning of rights in mercy.

how does charity inhibit rights? Or did I misinterpret the statement?

By pushing work that should be done by the government onto charities, you'll make it more likely the charity will run out of money because charities can't enforce funding through taxes. Case in point: GoFundMe-paid healthcare vs government-paid healthcare.

Not counting church taxes, that is.

[dragdeler]

-

[Lord Shonus]

There's also the problem where people get furious that much of their charity donations goes into administration - ignoring the fact that dispersing large amounts of money absolutely requires a large organization and expert administrators that have every right to be paid for their time. So people go "IT IS A CHARITY! EVERY PENNY MUST GO TO WHERE I WANT IT TO! ANY CHARITY THAT IS NOT ALL VOLUNTEER IS A SCAM!" and stop donating. So most non-religious charities (those that are affiliated with a church get a steady revenue from the collection plate) that don't land a major corporate sponsor either stay too small to do much good or else collapse.

[wierd]

As long as there are no toxic strings attached, a religious charity is not a bad thing.

Salvation Army, for instance, is religious.  It is also leaps and bounds better at disaster relief than FEMA.

[Frumple]

Doesn't salvation army have pretty significant problems, though? There's (at least) one or two of the major thrift store/donation junk deals that do, but I can't remember which they are at eight in the morning. Pretty sure salvation army was one of them, though.

[Yoink]

They use indentured servants for free labour here in Australia.   

[Lord Shonus]

The biggest criticism of Salvation Army is that some of the doctrines of their church regarding sexual orientation and gender stuff are pretty backwards. The other organization you hear a lot of bad things about is Goodwill, primarily due to it being a coalition of organizations rather than one big centralized one. So people hear about local malpractices and tar the entire brand with it.


There's nothing wrong with religious or corporate-backed charities as a concept, but the fact that they are the only charities that can really grow large is a problem. Not only is there often a very real amount of baggage attached, they always have specific sets of problems they want to solve and leave a lot of people out of it. Religious charities tend to focus on a small set of evils - homelessness, substance abuse, and hunger being the most popular-, while corporate backed charities go for super-high-profile causes like breast cancer. This leaves a lot of gaps even though the causes targeted are worthy.

[Doomblade187]

Salvation Army being anti-LGBTQ is a major issue for a disaster relief organization, though, as vulnerable people are often targeted by missionary BS, and Salvation Army is a missionary organization.

[Trekkin]

Not only is there often a very real amount of baggage attached, they always have specific sets of problems they want to solve and leave a lot of people out of it.

That baggage shows up on the output end in a big way, too. If you want something cured -- or, indeed, any research done at all -- charities tend to have the highest burden per dollar and some of the least sensible criteria for distributing their grants, in part because they're understandably concerned with image first and foremost.

[misko27]

All I remember about Salvation Army is them sending a letter asking the webcomic Dead Philosophers in Heaven to take down the link to their donation page for the Canterbury earthquake, as the webcomic "did not align with the values of the Salvation Army" and that they "do have to be careful to maintain their image".

[Iduno]

As long as there are no toxic strings attached, a religious charity is not a bad thing.

Salvation Army, for instance, is religious.  It is also leaps and bounds better at disaster relief than FEMA.

I assume you're intentionally picking bad examples as a bit.

Doesn't salvation army have pretty significant problems, though? There's (at least) one or two of the major thrift store/donation junk deals that do, but I can't remember which they are at eight in the morning. Pretty sure salvation army was one of them, though.

I think that was the joke. The Salvation Army are horrible people.

[McTraveller]

I just got the IRS letter regarding the stimulus checks.  It's so Trump I think I might want to frame it or keep it in a scrapbook or something.

[Naturegirl1999]

I just got the IRS letter regarding the stimulus checks.  It's so Trump I think I might want to frame it or keep it in a scrapbook or something.

What do you mean, “so Trump”? Can you show an example?