Help Australia?
The latest Livejournal news post introduced a "Help Australia' vgift to donate money to the victims of the flood in Australia. It's the same idea as the "Help Haiti" and "Help Chile" vgift that were available after the earthquakes. Certainly Chile and Haiti needed the help - they're third world countries where many of their citizens live in poverty. For these people the government often doesn't have the means or desire to help them get back on their feet - there's no safety net in those countries.
The thing that bothers me is why lump Australia in with those countries in desperate need of aid? Yes the floods were terrible and it's tragic that people lost their lives and homes, but they live in first world country with a non-corrupt, non-bankrupt government that is both willing and able to assist them in times of need like this. The infrastructure to provide aid and support to the victims is already there to a greater extent. And yes the financial cost is and will be high, but Australia at least is in a position where they can absorb the costs as a country without going into debt for the next half-century. So the question is should the floods in Australia - disastrous as they are - be treated like something of the caliber that happened to Haiti and Chile?
It's not as if Australia is alone in their problems - in the past week Brazil has also suffered from serve flooding and mudslides that so far have killed 727 people with many more missing. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/19/ap/latinamerica/main7262276.shtmll
Seven-hundred and twenty-seven. Versus the thirty killed in Australia. The numbers alone tell the story, yet I don't see any 'Help Brazil' vgifts in the LJ store.
Or look at Haiti - over a year after the earthquake they're suffering from a lack of leadership and purpose in rebuilding the country. The international aid has largely petered off now that people and the media have lost interest. Many of its people are still homeless in refuge camps and cholera is running rampant from lack of proper sanitation infrastructure.
So what puts Australia above those countries? What makes it more important, its plight more needy? Is it because there's more Australian members here on LJ that give their country a greater voice (not that I'd blame them for it)? Is it because people think it's fashionable to donate to well-publicized causes (because the news has been pimping this like woah)? Is it because - dare I say it - the Australians are by and large white?
It makes me uncomfortable and leaves me feeling jaded with Livejournal and the media. I'm not trying to insult people from Australia or to dismiss the disaster that happened there. But to put it blunt, there are many people worse off than they are.
The thing that bothers me is why lump Australia in with those countries in desperate need of aid? Yes the floods were terrible and it's tragic that people lost their lives and homes, but they live in first world country with a non-corrupt, non-bankrupt government that is both willing and able to assist them in times of need like this. The infrastructure to provide aid and support to the victims is already there to a greater extent. And yes the financial cost is and will be high, but Australia at least is in a position where they can absorb the costs as a country without going into debt for the next half-century. So the question is should the floods in Australia - disastrous as they are - be treated like something of the caliber that happened to Haiti and Chile?
It's not as if Australia is alone in their problems - in the past week Brazil has also suffered from serve flooding and mudslides that so far have killed 727 people with many more missing. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/19/ap/latinamerica/main7262276.shtmll
Seven-hundred and twenty-seven. Versus the thirty killed in Australia. The numbers alone tell the story, yet I don't see any 'Help Brazil' vgifts in the LJ store.
Or look at Haiti - over a year after the earthquake they're suffering from a lack of leadership and purpose in rebuilding the country. The international aid has largely petered off now that people and the media have lost interest. Many of its people are still homeless in refuge camps and cholera is running rampant from lack of proper sanitation infrastructure.
So what puts Australia above those countries? What makes it more important, its plight more needy? Is it because there's more Australian members here on LJ that give their country a greater voice (not that I'd blame them for it)? Is it because people think it's fashionable to donate to well-publicized causes (because the news has been pimping this like woah)? Is it because - dare I say it - the Australians are by and large white?
It makes me uncomfortable and leaves me feeling jaded with Livejournal and the media. I'm not trying to insult people from Australia or to dismiss the disaster that happened there. But to put it blunt, there are many people worse off than they are.