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[slembcke]

@phubans: I don't think he meant that as an insult. I've seen that happen with volunteer stuff before. Sometimes you get somebody that is really eager to help, but requires more management than the amount of help they provide. On a number of times I've become acutely aware that that person is me.

@Theophilus: Yah. Most of my money sits in the bank and I'm too afraid to spend it on anything except rent when I only get paid a few times a year. Especially frustrating after seeing all the homeless people in San Francisco from GDC last week. I'd never actually seen people sleeping on the streets before. That was definitely a wakeup call for somebody that generally only leaves his apartment to go to the nearest grocery store.

[supershigi]

There's no objective gauge for anything - but morally, we gauge stuff. Donating money to the Israeli army is different from donating money to a hospital in Gaza. Donating money to the current rescue efforts in Japan is different from donating money to Haiti, etc, etc. I don't think you should feel this argument makes it impossible to donate for any cause, but instead feel, whenever you get that pang of guilt from watching the news, that this is a good opportunity to donate to the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières or any well-respected charity that works in more than one place.

Your original point was more along the lines of, "it's stupid to donate to Japan because they're rich and because other causes are more worthy," which is a rather flawed statement for all the reasons I listed above.  Yes, it's good to donate to charities that focus on worldwide efforts, but if there are folks out there who are donting to smaller legitimate on-site organizations, they are no less morally correct than those who exclusively donate to Red Cross.  I wouldn't discourage people from helping just because there are a multitude of causes out there, and I wouldn't assume that folks who donate to this cause are not also participating in other ones.

[Theophilus]

TL;DR: Donate to whoever the hell you want, for however the hell much you want, whenever the hell you want, why-ever the hell you want, if you want to.

[raiten]

My original point was actually the same, but it might not have come across as clearly (my fault, of course).

[raiten]

TL;DR: Donate to whoever the hell you want, for however the hell much you want, whenever the hell you want, why-ever the hell you want, if you want to.

No, that you shouldn't do. Not if your aim is to help. "Good intentions are not enough for aid to be successful. If assistance is done poorly it can hurt the very people it is supposed to help. Accurate information and sound practices are also crucial to smart aid."

[Ququman]

My thoughts for Japan and families of victims, sincerely.
About the media thing, I think it's easy to get pretty well informed, there are plenty of reliable sources dealing with correct numbers - I've been following all of this with Le Monde for example, which did not sell much bullshit as far as I can see. Written news are good for this.

Back in France politicians though that was a good idea to raise a debate among the lines of (hardly) "Aren't French nuclear powerplants better ?", I think it's disgusting u_u.
Also there is a big debate about nuclear energy brought up by the Greens coming up with the next elections.

I though it would be interesting to share the reactions from different countries.

[deathtotheweird]

No, that you shouldn't do. Not if your aim is to help. "Good intentions are not enough for aid to be successful. If assistance is done poorly it can hurt the very people it is supposed to help. Accurate information and sound practices are also crucial to smart aid."

huh, very informational. thanks for that.

[baconman]

Greenies can say what they want about the nukes, and they *could* be right. But three of four catastrophes prove another invaluable point:

NATURE IS NOT ALWAYS OUR FRIEND.

[Superb Joe]

I'm Super Joe and I have some words to say:

One upmanship about the relative merits of first world and third world suffering is crass and distasteful. Of course, this is to be expected of the internet, but you do not display enlightenment ahead of the curve by thinking of "big picture" chronic death in the face of acute death, rather, you show some manner of autistic disconnect. People who are donating have no way to simply pour money into a bucket labelled "Japan", mostly they are donating to the International Red Cross, and you could not possibly complain about that.

Also crude is the media's scaremongering and voyeuristic coverage. Since the markets have opened there is increasing discussion on calculating the costs of the disaster. The cost will not and should not be measured to two decimal places, it will be measured in the loss of and impact to life. Recovery will not be measured by an economist bellowing down from his ivory tower that things are getting better, but by when the scar on the human soul begins to fade. And I like to sniff farts.

[s0]

Yup.

[Mipe]

Did he say something?

[phubans]

Besides, everyone knows that when you donate to the Red Cross, you're really donating to a sect of Satanic Shapeshifting Reptilian Vampires that use the money to fund the New World Order and power HAARP, so they can cause more earthquakes and then ask for donations for it so they can do it all over again. And when you donate blood they drink every last drop. That's why I don't donate anything to them.

[Superb Joe]

Did he say something?

i say a lot of things

[Demon Lizardman]

I wish a poor indie like me could help.

Shame I bought Pokemon White before this happened.

You did, by buying one of their products.

[phubans]

I help Japan every day... by not taking over their country.

[raiten]

I'm Super Joe and I have some words to say:

One upmanship about the relative merits of first world and third world suffering is crass and distasteful. Of course, this is to be expected of the internet, but you do not display enlightenment ahead of the curve by thinking of "big picture" chronic death in the face of acute death, rather, you show some manner of autistic disconnect. People who are donating have no way to simply pour money into a bucket labelled "Japan", mostly they are donating to the International Red Cross, and you could not possibly complain about that.

Well, obviously from supershigi's response as well as yours, what I wrote came across as "one-upmanship", which wasn't what I intended. That said, starvation and hunger-related deaths are obviously every bit as acute as anything that's going on in Japan right now, there are loads of ways for people to donate specifically into "a bucket labelled Japan", and supershigi was specifically asking about how she should go about to donate to rescue efforts and nothing else, which is what I reacted too.

Talking about autistic disconnect is cool and all but if I'm gonna one-up you in talking about what's typical on the Internet, that's a typical thing people are prone to accuse others of on the Internet. I never said that we shouldn't feel sorry for people in Japan because there's people worse off in the third world, I'm just saying there's more useful things to do with that guilt than decide that those people we see suffering on the TV are the very ones we must send our money to. I'm sure you know that's true though, you just wanted to argue about what you assume is my lack of empathy because I came across as an asshole...  which is my mistake I guess, I should have been more careful with my wording.

[Superb Joe]

I'm Super Joe and I have some words to say:

One upmanship about the relative merits of first world and third world suffering is crass and distasteful. Of course, this is to be expected of the internet, but you do not display enlightenment ahead of the curve by thinking of "big picture" chronic death in the face of acute death, rather, you show some manner of autistic disconnect. People who are donating have no way to simply pour money into a bucket labelled "Japan", mostly they are donating to the International Red Cross, and you could not possibly complain about that.

Well, obviously from supershigi's response as well as yours, what I wrote came across as "one-upmanship", which wasn't what I intended. That said, starvation and hunger-related deaths are obviously every bit as acute as anything that's going on in Japan right now, there are loads of ways for people to donate specifically into "a bucket labelled Japan", and supershigi was specifically asking about how she should go about to donate to rescue efforts and nothing else, which is what I reacted too.

Talking about autistic disconnect is cool and all but if I'm gonna one-up you in talking about what's typical on the Internet, that's a typical thing people are prone to accuse others of on the Internet. I never said that we shouldn't feel sorry for people in Japan because there's people worse off in the third world, I'm just saying there's more useful things to do with that guilt than decide that those people we see suffering on the TV are the very ones we must send our money to. I'm sure you know that's true though, you just wanted to argue about what you assume is my lack of empathy because I came across as an asshole...  which is my mistake I guess, I should have been more careful with my wording.

i smell of cum

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

the small amount of money that an individual (non-millionaire) can donate to any particular cause renders null and void any concern about the efficacy of where their money would do the most good. where one's money would do the most good is a question that matters to philanthropist organizations like the bill and melinda gates foundation, not to someone who can afford to donate only around $50. the thought-time-and-effort-and-research expended by an individual to figure out where that money would do the most good (provided they did a thorough job of it) is more valuable and literally worth far more money than the amount they can donate. so it seems like spending all week researching and deciding whether to eat almond butter or sesame seed butter on one's sandwich: the thought-energy expended in deciding between the two would exceed the calories gained from eating the sandwich. better to just eat the one that you feel like having at the time, based on no reasoning process. same thing with charities, since the amount of money used is trivial anyway.

that said this may be a good time to mention that indie game developers have a group on kiva, which allows you to loan (not donate, you get the money back) to the working poor in 50+ countries: http://www.kiva.org/team/indiegames -- clysm (the developer of seiklus) and i started that group and to date collectively indie game developers have loaned out $24k. i encourage anyone who has extra money to donate to join this team, because although we don't individually know if it's the absolute best use of money, at least microfinance in general has been shown to be a more effective way of reducing poverty than just giving people money, because you're helping small businesses run by individuals and families grow.

[Superb Joe]

microfinance is a big fraud btw

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

your weapons are useless against me super joe. i'm like a big boss with no weak point, and you're a player character who dies in one hit