Hello everyone,
just a quick update, because this might actually interest a few folks. Yesterday, Wargaming EU introduced their charity drive (well, sort of). That was like in the morning. The charity mentioned in the article was the War Child, a respectable charity helping (as the name suggests) war children.
In the night, the text was unexpectedly changed however (picture not mine, took it from the english thread):
The name of the charity was removed and some folks started crying foul play – well, that is until Challenger (EU server’s military expert) stepped in and explained the whole situation: in short, due to some legal matters, the charity name had to be removed (possibly temporarily). So, no worries, the whole deal still stands, the money will still go to the charity.
Personally, I will not be “donating” this way however. First, if I wanted to donate the full amount to War Child, I could do so without paying for a bundle I don’t need (and so can you) – but, to be blunt, I just don’t believe in pouring money into Africa (and as you can see on the webpage, that’s where the charity money goes) when there is enough suffering around us here in Europe (one can donate to centers for homeless, or shelters for animals for example, the latter being my choice for donating).
Of course, that’s not an option for Wargaming (because they can’t “favor” one nation over another, they have to select some supranational charity organization – plus, I do believe only “certified” charities’ donations are tax-deductable in Britain where the tax seat of WG is IIRC), but I can’t help but wonder: why not war veterans?
Anyway guys, as I wrote, it’s not a fail really, only WG adhering to legal rules.
FIRST
also I don’t believe WG will give a single penny to any charity if so they would give only about 1% of it
It’s a good job you’re wrong then, isn’t it.
I bet that charity will receive only 1 pound for every transaction…
What a coincidance – horny donkey doesn`t do charity either.
I think they will do the charity just for the tax cut they get
Reminds me on ASIA/SEA charity event. Its on WG ASIA birthday (if i remember correctly) and also falls on Remembrance day on Aus/NZ . So WG ASIA choose to made some charity drive on their gift shop, and donate the result to various Aussie/NZ veteran charity organization.
Its all nice and good, and our Aussie/NZ playerbase were happy with this arrangement. Well, until some user dispute WG ASIA decision to select Aus/NZ based charity organization and result in some heated flame war. The point of that person is WG should not choose a nation-based charity organization,rather they should choose some supranational organization.
Kinda backward from EU situation now but eh. we have strange management here.
It’s a tough nut to crack. That’s why I believe in animal charity more. Cats are cats no matter where they are :)
Except in those places where they are food :(
That was cute. :)
SS prepare for my Sofia War museum pictures. Tomorrow is the “Independence day”, but there was nothing interesting. Only thing was used 76mm shells.
As humans are just humans, once you get over the fact that they live in a bit of land that maps have a different colour.
Man the small mindedness of many of these humans depresses me.
Ah, bugger.
Its ANZAC day, not remembrance day.
The announcement
http://worldoftanks.asia/en/news/49/anniversary-gift-shop-special-13/
http://worldoftanks.asia/en/news/49/peak-pccu-event/
I think that WG should give the money to some charity like amnesty international or wateraid or save the children
I think the choice of the charity is fine. I didn’t know the charity before and I don’t know if they’re doing a good job either, but choosing something close to war is logical. Obviously (a large part of the) players are interested in this topic and so are the WG staff – why not help there? :)
IMO it’s a very nice idea – for all sides:
* WG gains reputation and (probably) money
* Players get something in return for their “donations”
* Do I have to explain the point of the charity?
I don’t really get your point concerning the suffering in Europe. Yes,there is suffering in Europe and yes, there are organisations in Europe worth donating to, but that doesn’t mean that (Imo) we should put the problems in the third world behind the problems in Europe. Eventually, the money goes to the weakest, those who can’t defend themselves. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with that.
By the way, if anyone of you is interested in topics such as child-soldiers, I’d highly recommend reading “A long way gone” by Ishmael Beah.
Oh, and it gives players the feeling of having done something good, which is also nice.
Kind regards
25% of something that is almost pure profit seems a little chintzy if they’re going to make a big deal out of it.
If they want promotional value out of it, I’d expect either 10-25% *ALL THE TIME* or at least 50% for limited time things like this. It just seems crude to exploit the promotional value of such a small contribution.
That being said, it is of course better than nothing!
I would dispute that all the money is “pure” profit.
The game is Free to play, the costs of running servers for millions of players to play on is paid for by these gold purchases.
Thus the “almost”. We’ve seen the amount of cash they pull in, and they need about 10% of it to run WoT. The rest is blown on developing garbage like WoWP and so on.
You care more for pets than you care for african children, traumatized and scarred for life by rape, murder and violence? The “suffering” in Europe simply doesn’t compare…And this isn’t your typical foreign aid to Africa that disappears or gets wasted by their corrupt government. This is voluntary workers, doctors etc. setting up schools, giving treatment and support, a safe environment to grow and be a child.
Also: “War Child International implements projects in Afghanistan, Burundi, Chechnya, Colombia, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uganda, West Bank and Gaza” Yeah those are all countries in Africa… (and they originally helped children in Yugoslavia, also in Africa…)
Yes, I generally care more about animals than people, because they can’t help themselves. Want to donate to African children? Feel free to. With your money, that is.
*signed* :)
Yeah, because the children could have totally helped themselves against rape and violence… Yeah it’s actually their fault.
“Rape and violence” is not the threat, just like “War” doesn’t come knocking on the door, going like “Sup guys here’s a landmine, go nuts”. Other people cause all this. And people can help themselves.
So it’s their fault they were born or lived in a war zone? A child is just as helpess against other people as an animal is.
Not their fault where they were born, but not my responsibility. As I said, if you feel compelled to help, go do it mate, the link to the donation page is above. It’s your money.
It’s not about the money, it’a about the completely inhumane, ignorant and uneducated opinions displayed by you and other people in these comments.
Yeah. Everything different from your opinion is “inhumane, ignorant and uneducated opinions”. Bitch please.
You forget something…
You and I can choose who we give OUR money to…
…or spend it on vodka and get hammered…..
No-one, absolutely NO-ONE, has the right to tell you, or me, otherwise….
(personally I think cats are evil and need eradicating to asisst in world domination by the Supreme Master Race of English Springer Spaniels…
You do know that if you cage a cat for a few weeks in a very confined space, when it’s released its muscles will still be supple so it can spring out and rip your face off.. its the only animal that can.. thats not normal, thats possesed by the devil!!!!!)
Yes, saying that animals deserve help over children suffering in third world countries because “people can help themselves” “I don’t care” “not my responsibility” and that charity and aid towards Africa is a waste of money because “You help a person by teaching that person to fish, not by giving them a fish you caught every day”, completely ignoring that providing education is the very definition of “teaching a person fish” not forgetting all the other stuff like helping develop their agriculture, fair trade and pay etc. is to me, inhumane, ignorant and uneducated…
Thanks for bringing some sense Srsly. I wish SS would stick to the tanks. Every time he gets on to bigger things he starts sounding a little like the guys that end up in the hall of shame…
“Not their fault where they were born, but not my responsibility’
WTF is this about? It’s also not cats fault where they were born also, but unlike children they *are* your responsibility? I appreciate you’re saying its just your personal view, it’s just that your personal view makes no fucking sense. Though I guess holding a view that makes no sense is also your choice…
Animals can take care of themselves far better than children can.
Chechnya and Yugoslavia are the only two in Europe….
You’re missing the point…
What SS said ” I just don’t believe in pouring money into Africa (and as you can see on the webpage, that’s where the charity money goes)”
What it says on the webpage “War Child International implements projects in Afghanistan, Burundi, Chechnya, Colombia, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uganda, West Bank and Gaza”
8 out of 15 countries mentioned outside Africa…
Because they marked “Kosovo” as country (it is not internationaly recognised, and it’s secession was illegal), they wont get a flying **** from me.
Let ones who armed separatists pay for them.
The International Court of Justice, regarding the Kosovo declaration of independence, declared that “the declaration of independence of the 17 February 2008 did not violate general international law because international law contains no ‘prohibition on declarations of independence”
Also “103 out of 193 (53.4%) United Nations (UN) member states, 23 out of 28 (82%) European Union (EU) member states, 24 out of 28 (86%) NATO member states, and 34 out of 57 (60%) Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states have recognised Kosovo.”
I’d say in the eyes of most of the world, Kosovo *is* a country…
The glaring fact that Kosovo was part of Serbia, with national and cultural heritage going back centuries probably has no bearing on the secession by imported ethnic Albanians, right? Neither does the fact that USA poured money into the country to make it a platform for resource extraction and military presence( Google Camp Bondsteel)?
Because, you know, the UN, funded in, oh how much was it, 30% by the USA, is a legitimate and independent organization, so they MUST be right.
Serbia may have fucked up on their internal affairs front regarding Kosovo politics, for decades I might add, but that does not give the USA right to cut a chunk of their land off just so they can have a weapons and surveillance platform in the middle of Europe.
There is “official” and there is reality. Learn to read the politics of the world.
I agree with Meh by the way.
All I can say: want help them? Do so. With your own money.
Don’t feed the troll dude.
War veterans don’t need any more help then most people of their age living in selected country. I would never give a single penny for them. Also I remember when my friend was doing some charity for African children. When people heard about helping children they were OK with it, but when they heard these were children in Africa some of them said they would rather help homeless animals, just like you. Well, people are dicks, and everyone is racist to some degree.
*shrugs* Your choice, mate. I think all the “help” to Africa should be purely voluntary.
Well, I agree with you, that we should donate more in local degrees not worldwide, because there are a lot of work to do to improve our countries as a whole – charity to animals/orphans/animals etc. The biggest downside of these Africa donations is that only like 15-20% reaches its aim – corruption is the main cause, even in the rows of so called “volunteers”. Basically, when we donate in local area – usually 90-100% of donations reaches its goal. So statistically, we can help like 6-7 times “more” while donating in local area. I don`t do worldwide donations – countries do (after big disasters etc.), only local.
P.S.Everyone have their own opinion so be respectful to others and don`t resort to Ad hominem.
Share evidence of that claim Arcanum?
Also you forgot to consider the relative buying power. £10 in Africa goes a lot further than in UK.
Sometimes war veterans actually need more help than the average person (PTSD says hello), og but they are not more entitled to it than other people in need of help.
Silentstalker, whatever problems we might face here in Europe are insignificant in comparison to problems faced in those areas of Africa where there is a war going on or where there was a war recently.
In fact even homeless people in Europe (especially in the EU) are FAR BETTER OFF than many of regular Africans. In 2005 80.5% of the Sub-Saharan Africa population was living on less than $2.50 (PPP) a day and the rest of Africa isn’t that better off. Your average homeless person in the EU has a very low chance of dying because he’ll get help in the form of shelters, “free” meals and medical aid if he collapses. That’s why for many African citizens Europe is a paradise. The difference between the “first world” and the “third world” (in case someone reading this comment is wondering where is the “second world” that used to be the Soviet Union and its allies as the term originated in the West during the Cold War) is astronomical. That’s why I want to punch people who let the food rot as on the continent just south of ours there are people who are starving to death. That’s not even mentioning the problems caused by long and bloody wars often caused by tribal conflicts that have gone on for hundreds of years such as child soldiers, lack of proper child development (many children in African never went to school and can’t even read, not that many of their parents are better off), tribal massacres and violation of human rights on the part of both citizens and governments often led by corrupt dictators.
I’m not saying that donating money to animal shelters isn’t a good way to donate money to charity. In fact I think that animal shelters deserve that money more than shelters for homeless people. However that doesn’t change the fact that we are gods living in paradise compared to many African citizens.
So? It’s your money, mate. You can donate it to whoever you want.
Personally, I think “help” to some African countries is terribly counterproductive. They have become basically addicted to the western help. You help a person by teaching that person to fish, not by giving them a fish you caught every day.
That’s why you can donate to charities that, for example, construct wells that allow the local African population to develop. I understand your point and support it. I just don’t agree that providing education for children counts as “giving them a fish you caught every day.” That education will allow them to progress in the modern world because you can’t progress if you can’t read, write and count.
That is definitely not my responsibility. If you feel like it’s yours, that’s your choice and your money. Not mine.
With that Chinese proverb you hit the head of the nail. . There have been so much information about how they want money/food and not to work for themselves (partially true) and those “charity” organizations (sponsored by big countries) just give regular dose to Africans in order NOT to help or improve their living conditions, but to keep in such living state that they wouldn`t like any improvements and accepted their “fate” so that big corporations could use them as very cheap employees. If “they” really wanted to help – they would donate at least a part in infrastructure/ industry etc., not 100% in food/medicine + desperate Christianity advocacy. There have been cases when you don`t get food if you don`t learn some part of Bible paragraph and that kinda stuff and some basically starve to death, while those “volunteers” even gain weight. Seriously, sometimes those donations are even more degenerative then a war. I like the idea of people helping others, but you must analyze and think before. Have a nice day!
Isn’t providing education, teaching about sustainable agriculture, supporting local economy, demanding fair trade and pay etc. THE VERY DEFINITION of “teaching a person to fish”?
The situation what you are talking is how it was 20-30 years ago, but you know what? We have actually realised that simply giving money and food isn’t helping, it’s actually doing more harm!! It completely destroys the local agriculture and economy. Why farm and sell food when you get if for free? But you know what? WE’VE KNOWN THIS FOR YEARS!!!
If the Africans were going to develop sustainable agriculture and economy, they would have done so ages ago. All they do is overpopulate like hell, then we come and give them loads of food and money, they overpopulate again, maybe eat something that gives them a disease, then they spread that disease with little to no care.
Also @Zatiria, people have constructed wells and schools down there, loads of them. But as soon as you leave, they destroy the wells and/or deserts the schools. Fill the well up with trash or throw a dead body in there, whatever.
What we should be doing isn’t just instantly bumping them up to modern society, instead we should go for controlled evolution. Find out what kind of technology that sets the development in motion. For example, what the egyptians had that made them able to progress, then slowly integrate that into society. Slowly teach them what built our society many years ago.
We are already doing what you suggested. In recent years we realized that it’s pointless to build highways in Africa to improve communication and stimulate growth as much better results come from providing mobile phone service. It makes sense when you think about it because it’s easier and cheaper to maintain mobile network transmission towers than thousands of kilometers of highways.
Also Africa hasn’t developed sustainable agriculture and economy because until the second half of the 20th century pretty much all of Africa existed as European colonies and Europeans wanted nothing more than to take all the natural resources and ship it to Europe while keeping the local population obedient to their rule. Study the colonial history of Africa. It’s amazing that it wasn’t until the 1940s that the colony system started to break down.
I agree that there are some harmful charity organizations as, for example, many christian charities campaign against the use of condoms and other means of preventing STDs such as AIDS from spreading causing death and suffering.
And I agree with Srsly. Providing education for children is pretty much the definition of “teaching them how to fish”.
“Also Africa hasn’t developed sustainable agriculture and economy because until the second half of the 20th century pretty much all of Africa existed as European colonies[...]”
Keyword is “because”, it couldn’t be more false.
That’s not the reason they haven’t developed any agriculture. If that was the reason, why didn’t they develop it in the many many years before colonization? I guess it’s just a great “coincidence” that they started developing agriculture after the colonization.
Also, these “natural resources”, were the current locals using those resources? Did they need it to advance? If they were developed and such, they would have been able to fight the europeans at an equal level.
Wouldn’t the red cross or maybe medecins sans frontieres be a more current and international charity to help? They help both young and old, in states of dire need in both humanitarian and war time emergencies.
Zatiria: “whatever problems we might face here in Europe are insignificant in comparison to problems faced in those areas of Africa where there is a war going on or where there was a war recently”
And then you decided that because there’s a backwards culture in the world, where everyone is killing each other, pillaging and raping, that you should give them more money so they can kill each other with more advanced weapons, pillage and rape more?
Well done.
I am for colonialism and imperialism. No money should be sent to Africa at all. Instead, advanced civilizations with cultural achievements should colonize Africa entirely. The money should be sent from Africa to the civilized, not from civilized to savages.
Until racism comes in and treating the people that some country colonised as second class citizens or slaves you are not really helping them either and after a while they get tired and rebel
Hmm..
Funny how us Brits and the French empires gave all subjects citizenship giving them full rights to a Uk or French passport and Nationality…
Not many others did…
Thats why a large portion of the Indian population want us back… and many other countries..
I’d really like a study that shows this large portion of the Indian population, a country that has the third largest economy in the world, want to be treated like second class citizens again.
The advanced colonialists actually invented the concentration camp in Africa, when we British used them in the Boer War. Then we did it again in Kenya after the horrors of WWII. But I imagine a fascist like you considers concentration camps to be ‘advanced’. It took the great European mind to invent the wonders of the gas chamber right? How great we are.
Concentration camps were invented much earlier that than…
Yes by us Brits, they were originally used for interning the captured French Navy of Ole Boney…
And no.. we did not treat “our” natives like second class, they were entitled to a British Passport, British citizenship and full court redress and legal representation same as us whities…
Quote “But emulation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the fact that since 1947, Indians have built upon much of what Britain introduced them to – the English language, parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and the protection of individual rights – is an admission of the crucial role this country played in their history.” Nirpal Dhaliwal
Jamaica,, “Most Jamaicans believe they would be better off if they were still ruled by Britain, a poll shows. In a harsh indictment of nearly 50 years of independence, 60 per cent of those surveyed hanker for the days when the country was Britain’s biggest Caribbean colony.
Only 17 per cent said the crime-ridden, poverty-stricken nation would be worse off under British rule. The depth of feeling is particularly astonishing as generations of Jamaican leaders have portrayed the British as oppressors who subjected the Caribbean to slavery.
” From The Gleaner – Jamaica’s biggest newspaper
I could go on, but I can’t be arsed with someone who calls me a “facist”.
You don’t know me. stfu.
For dem kids
Yeah I so can see Serbs reaction to war victims. “How terrible”
Even if it is actually co-op with some charity, knowing wargaming the company without standarts, half of the money will magicly vanish somewhere in the middle of the way or [...any fail scenario...]
you had to mention Serbs and war victims… high potential for a shit storm…
Dont donate to africa just let em be, they will solve their own problems one by one or a savior like another mandela comes to their aid, we got other more important stuff to solve like global warming, potential over population, and fresh water for everyone
“Dont donate to africa just let em be” “potential over population, and fresh water for everyone” gj you just proved how stupid and ignorant you are.
There will soon be war over water in africa and middle east get ready your pockets for these charities then
Savior like Mandela? He made the most advanced country in Africa into what it is today, a haven for criminals. By what criteria is South Africa better now? Technological? Economical? Cultural?
They seem good. Only two employees paid over £60k (and no more than £80,000 either) in 2012.
I wonder how much Viktor and SerB get paid in comparison!
I hope SerB and Viktor get payed a lot, because they have a unique product that’s used by millions.
I KNEW something was wrong with it…. I browsed the War Child website and I didn’t see anything matching the charity event.
I really don’t believe in supporting Africa either so much corruption and the total amount they have recived from governments around the world currently stands at what 700 billion. 700 billion and the country’s still the same something fishy going on there.
i would rather support local charity’s and animal like charity
I agree that just giving them money is one of the worst ways of giving aid to Africa, because the governments there are so inefficient and corrupt that most of the money just disappears or is completely misused. Also just giving them free food and stuff completely destroys the local agriculture and economies.
I remember watching some documentary about some poor African country where the president-king bathed in cash and oil while people were slowly starved to death.
Someone donated a whole hospital to them with modern equipment and stuff, so the president-king of course claimed it as his own gift to the people, but didn’t even bother to pay for the water supply, so the hospital has been standing useless for years…
That’s why I don’t donate to such countries until there’s a network of Judge Dredd-like assassins wiping scum like the king that off the Earth.
Its pretty sad that this happens and i dont expect it to change anytime soon kinda sucks
I wonder how many of all these shitstorm warriors actually went and donated instead of commenting only, Frank…
As a South African, I find the statements about foreign aid to Africa to be distasteful in the extreme.
The reason all the governments in Africa are so damn corrupt is because they all evolved from the colonial mess you dumb fucking Europeans created.
Do me a favour you ignorant dummies, read How Europe Undeveloped Africa (as flawed a book as it is) and THEN tell me you still feel like the African mess is of Africa’s making.
Honestly, the Red Indians in North America got a better deal being wiped out by the European settlers because their descendants didn’t have to live in squalor from cradle to grave.
For the record, foreign aid needs to be in the form of investment not charity.
And I apologise for being rather rude in the first post, it’s just this kind of thing really ticks me off.
Because it’s aggravating to see people post about Africa as if it’s one country, rather than the 30+ it really is.
Never mind the hugely complex issues being experienced by countries if Africa right now.
I agree 100% with everything you’ve said. I cannot believe some of the opinions displayed in the comments here…
OOPMan: “Do me a favour you ignorant dummies, read How Europe Undeveloped Africa (as flawed a book as it is) and THEN tell me you still feel like the African mess is of Africa’s making.”
You’re the ignorant one. It’s a scientific fact that Africa did not have a civilization for 10,000 years (not counting white Egypt). Europeans brought civilization to Africa and developed it.
Saying that Africa is backwards because of Europeans is just silly, and a poor excuse. India was colonized and is nuclear power today, so is China. Why? Because they were even before advanced civilizations. But Africa is back where it was.
1: Not count Egypt is dumb because Egypt is part of Africa
2: Claiming Africa had no civilization for 10000 years is even more ignorant because despite what you claim, Egypt is part of Africa. Unless you’d like to argue that Alaska isn’t part of the USA because it’s closer to Russia than New York?
3: I never said that Africa was backwards because of Europeans, I said that the current political climate and economic status of Africa owes a lot to the fashion in which colonialism was pursued in Africa. European colonial powers exploited the people and resources of Africa in a fashion they were unable to do in India or China for various reasons and as a result they had far larger impact on Africa than any of the Asian nations.
4: Is it morally okay to exploit people who are less advanced than you? Was it cool for the European settles in North America to wipe out most of the North Americian Indians simply because they had the means to do so? Does might make right?
Yeah it’s totally only the Europeans fault. Cannot possibly be the people living in africa that messed it up, seeing as there are other colonized places that have developed just fine. If you hate south africa, then move to another country in africa. I’m sure you’ll like it.
Sure, the europeans colonized africa, but after a while they let them go. Then the middle easteners started “colonizing”. Mainly teaching islam in schools, aaaand now we have the mess we have today. During the colonization I am faily sure that the living conditions were better, but many countries wanted to be “free”.
I don’t hate South Africa, I happen to like my country very much despite it being fairly third world (Although a lot less so than most of Africa and South America). I also feel that people who leave a country are cowards because, as we all known, the answer to all of lifes problems is to turn tail and run, right?
I never claimed the only Europeans were to blame. Certainly, there are just as many corrupt African “Big Men” that helped fuck things up. But the fact of the matter is European countries established colonial governments in Africa and governed African countries in a managed fashion that benefited themselves primarily and the locals second. It was in the interest of such a form of governance that the locals not be too competent at ruling themselves otherwise they might realise they could do fine without their colonial patrons.
As a result, then the colonials where forced to leave following the dissolution of colonialism it’s not surprise that the remnants of government they left in place where simply not prepared to function in an efficient and modern fashion. In such an environment the the surge of corruption and dictatorship should come as no surprise. After all, the facist governments in Europe gained power during a period of great economics problems (The Great Depression) and thus it surprised no one that pulling out of colonial Africa so rapidly resulted in an economic climate that favours totalitarianism and corruption.
I realise that the colonial governments did plenty of “good” things, like building roads, schools and so forth. But at the end of the day they were there primarily to extract resources and leverage the local population for their own ends.
I don’t expect Europe to give us down here a hand-out. Fuck that shit, we don’t need any more goodwill from you lot. However, admitting that colonialism didn’t help Africa as much as it hurt it is not going to cost you anything (Unless you are 250 years old and worked as a slaver in West Africa?) and would certainly make us feel that you people at least realise you didn’t give us a helping hand so much as keep us down.
At least the Chinese are blatantly honest about wanting to exploit us for our resources :-)
Your problem is that you only speak of South Africa. Not Africa as a whole, but I see your point.
Then again, if there were no one that colonized africa, there would literally be basically nothing in south africa.
I know, this is why it’s a tricky issue.
Except most of sub-saharan Africa is Christian or Animist, not Muslim.
And tell the Congolese who had their arms amputated by their Belgian overlords for not collecting enough rubber that you are “fairly sure” that their living conditions were better under King Leopold.
Well, they could live without any technology at all instead, true. I mainly spoke about the whole of Africa, not the sub-saharan part. The Congolese doesn’t represent the entirity of the population of Africa though.
During that phase in Congo, sure, you’re right. Overall they did develop the continent.
Victim mentality will certainly help you in the long run…
Can i request keeping the blog impartial? like the authors not weighing in with their political opinions? I like how it neatly aggregates news, but if i have to find news elsewhere i will, thanks to the very over privileged opinions of this blogs owner, which is disgusting as fuck honestly.
Agreed
He is basically saying aid to Africa is a waste of money, that we should rather donate to animals and homeless people in Europe over children suffering from years of violence and abuse in war torn countries, and actually sees nothing wrong in that…
You should read the rules:
“1) This is a personal blog. This means I can post whatever I want, including my personal opinions (which I will mark appropriately to distinguish). Same goes for other authors of this blog. If you have a problem with that, see point 6)”
Just click on “Q&A Only” on top.
…..just on another point, if you go down the route that you give to charities that provide teaching etc then you may end up planting a seed which inspires the to try and find a path to the “1st world” so they can be given more aid for free?
I agree with SS, why not donate to more local issues, I think his point to begin with was that we have enough issues as it is.
I also agree that why shouldn’t we donate to help prevent suffering, but I think it comes with living in such a place in the world, by the nature of Africa, some areas don’t see such as water for months, cant provide much food etc… that is why so many people suffer and die etc. it isn’t our fault if there are people raping in villages and meaning there isn’t enough food to go round – the raping etc is where the issue is.
If I was going to donate in Africa, I think i’d choose to donate to charities which gave such as wells with drinking water, seeds for food and building materials so they could build a school or buildings or whatever they wanted to build. I don’t think they really care about schools, I think they just want water to beable to grow food or to drink so they don’t end up dying. there are some things we take so much for granted that we try and provide too much that we take so much for granted
I think there are a lot of reasons to be cynical about the way certain charities operate, how they collect their money, how they spend it ect, and how much is wasted by corruption, and everyone should feel free to donate or not donate, to whoever they like, but on a basic level you can do more good with less money in the third world than the first world, for example would you pay thousands to train a guide dog for one person in the west, or buy a vaccine for hundreds in the third world that prevents them going blind in the first place for the same money?
That aside, animal welfare is also “not your responsibly” unless you somehow contribute negatively to animal welfare by running over deer, or starving your pet dog. Its your choice of what to do with your money, but boycotting a product you might have bought otherwise because you don’t believe the charity is a worthy cause is just nasty.
As for “why not war veterans”? I don’t really see why war themed games have to donate to war veterans, war games belittle real war and I’m not sure its the most appropriate way to raise money for war veterans, I cringe when I see those pictures of airsofters with “help for heroes” banners… We’re going to honour their memories by pwning some noobs and doing a few ram attacks? Is it meant to be a kind of penance or apology from gamers for having fun from war? I think gaming is a good way to raise money for causes, and charities can’t afford to be choosers most of the time but maybe any other sort of international charity would be nice.
After reading most of the comments, i feel that SS is right,
Europeans are so dumb, uneducated and morally corrupt, that i just donated some $ to a charity that help EU children, as clearly they are in grave danger of becoming full retards when they grow up.
also to clarify, Humans are Animals by biological and behavioral definition.
so yea cats are much cute then humans and also they are the new age stars of the internet.
Yeah, people that don’t have the same (stupid) opinion as you are uneducated and morally corrupt. Humans are animals, sure. But they’re a lot smarter and capable of invention, which separates the two.
Also, it seems you completely misunderstood what the charity was for (no wonder, considering…).
Obviously you did’t see his sarcasm.
So much stupidity and ignorance in some comments here… not sure if I want to laught or just leave them alone with what they call life.
Also: Not GIving money to ANY charity because I do not know if everything goes as promised and I too do not know if the people receiving the money r werth it.
I do charity by myself. So I can estimate the subject to help.
On what SS wrote:
I sort of agree in some stated points.
People CAN help themselfs. If they submit(in masses) to a system which is plain wrong(I even include the economics, religions and nations) then they bring the suffering upon themself. There r actually people starving in the USA(most people cannot even imagine that because they never really cared about anything going on on this small planet).
North america isnot like a dry desert… so why do people starve? Because of money. This society is so materialized and addicted by painted sheets of paper that they forget what really is important.
SO it’s their fault if they suffer and get pushed into wars and chrisis.
Only the strong survive.
THis is an universal natural law which cannot be changed by any court ever.
Mankind has not learned this lesson yet. But they have to. Or they have to suffer the same fate as everything weak.
Lol so helping animals in Europe is better than helping ppl in Africa? Lolok can’t argue with this logic.
The African governments handle the charity money and chances are they will spend more on weapons than the people.
Pointless flaming -_-…
Just wanted to say it is nice to see people actually *thinking* about the sense it makes to give money for Africa. In recent years more and more researchers find that just pouring money on Africe is not only not helpful but in many cases even actually hurting.
The whole animal vs. humans discussion is not mine. But when it comes to donating I feel very similar: Stay local and if possible focused on specific projects not abstract causes.