“People think that niceness equates to goodness, when the true motivator is selfishness”- Undisclosed, 2015
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Persistent knocking jolted me from two hours of dreamless sleep. I must have been more tired than I realized from the night before, because things in my room (like my gun!) weren’t in their proper place. This knocking continued, and out of irritation I decided to answer.
I peered through the peephole; saw a man in business attire. My first response was to wonder what I did last night for an investigator to pay a visit to my house. My curiosity got the best of me and I opened the door. Turns out the man was soliciting donations for charity. He didn’t get a chance to finish his sales pitch because the confluence of variables such as me being tired, irritated, and elated at not being investigated caused me to slam the door in his face, lock it, and go back to bed.
When I awoke many hours later, I wondered why this brilliant tactic for handling solicitors had not occurred to me before.
I have noticed that in American society today, there is always some drive to get people to donate to whatever cause. There probably are ok charities out there, but in my opinion they are tax havens of political patronage. How much of your donation do you think goes to the six-figure salary of the president and how much goes to the actual cause you wish to support?
It’s nauseating every time some smarmy bitch boy, who barely makes rent working for a nonprofit, tells me about the value of collectivism. Therefore I will not feed those beasts and neither should you.
A culture of “tolerance”
You see, I can tolerate the Salvation Army ringing their bell outside the Walgreen’s. I can tolerate junk mail asking me to donate. But being blackmailed by aggressive philanthropists who expect me to justify why I don’t want to contribute is something I will not tolerate. This occurs at the bookstore, the grocery store, and even on the street these days.
These shameless vampires are experts at putting a man in a double bind: you have the choice of being an asshole or a pushover. Destroy the planet and starve Tiny Tim, or open your wallet like a dupe. What is a man supposed to do? Well since money equals time and power, be the asshole.
This sense of altruism that charities use is a weakness others prey upon as well. From the stripper in graduate school to that used car salesman, there is always some vulture, alerted by a whiff of carrion, selling you a story to get money out of you. Other things besides money could be the target of manipulations, such as social control or political loyalty.
Any time someone attempts to build a connection to you to get you to do something, you should question it. Not only should you question it, but you should also keep “no” as a live option. The mere act of not saying no can be and is taken as acquiescence. This acquiescence has led to many social and political trends that many men dislike today.
What should a man do when someone asks him for a handout, capital for business, a ride home from a stranger? Ask that person what is in it for you. If they cannot give you a payoff for your deed then they have no respect for you. Almost all the time they will reply with how selfish you are, even when it was them that asked for the freebie in the first place.
Would you like to donate to the Red Cross?
What is the payoff?
Can you give me and my friends a ride home from the bar?
What is in it for me?
Can you stay late to help Emily finish her project?
How does this help me?
My kid is selling Girl Scout cookies, would you like to buy some?
How well do I know you?
The Enlightenment, which had the courage to pronounce self-interest a virtue, wound up fostering a pathological altruism, expressed by excessive social trust in modern Western societies. Most wealthy people do not fall for such schemes, they don’t suffer from this madness. Neither should you.
If you are paying taxes then you are already supporting quite a few people less fortunate than you, so feel do not feel guilty about it. If you are not lighting your cigars with hundred dollar bills, you cannot afford to just give your money away. If you do, you already know the score and did not need to read this article.
Read Next: 40 Pictures That Show The Decline Of American Women
Charity begins at home.
This article sounds remarkably like a rehash and amalgamation of previous articles in the manosphere touching upon the same theme.
Anyway it helps to rejuvenate what other red pill maestros have repeated numerous times:– Put Your Needs And Ambitions Ahead Of Females or Corny Societal Pressures.
The only thing the article lacks is a strike at the core of the problem: women voting
yes emotion does not make for a good vote in most cases. My Mom is a conservative and a very smart lady someone who I think votes well. Anyway anytime I say anything about the Ultra Rich she defends them as if I am saying it about her.
The other day I told her that my friend who was an executive at Disney Mobile told me in his experience the only good CEO’s he knows exhibit psychopathic behavior. With no facts at all she came to the aid of the ultra Rich. Being a small business owner she, put herself in the role, and then asked about Mitt Romney.
Finally I went to the internet as my aid. My friend was right.
“Top Executives have four times the incidence of psychopathy as the rest of us”
http://www.sott.net/article/247697-Psychopathy-and-the-CEO-Top-executives-have-four-times-the-incidence-of-psychopathy-as-the-rest-of-us
Agree. I think we need it from time to time with so many new (and younger) members joining us. It’s always good to touch up on the basics (drill, drill, drill).
If you are paying taxes then you are already supporting quite a few
people less fortunate than you, so feel do not feel guilty about it.
This is my go to reasoning when some social justice weenie sneers at me for not “giving” to his/her charity. I “donate” 50% of my income in taxes, if you add up everything and not just income taxes, so fuck you. You want more? Tough shit.
I do give rides to decent people now and again, but not as a habit. If I have a friend who needs a ride, it’s because he’s in a real bind, not because he’s a lazy fuck stuck at a club who is just looking for a way to skip taxi fare.
I cannot afford a house.
I cannot afford a new car for making the payments would have me living on raman noodles.
I seldom eat out – probably 2 or 3 times a year at best.
I don’t go to bars much because I make my own beer.
I load my own ammo.
I do all of my own car repair.
Most of what I wear comes from Goodwill. Everything else I had for 10-20 years.
My apartment has roughly 30 dollars worth of furniture in it.
I have no credit card debt.
I cannot afford to take trips.
Rarely do I get 3 meals a day.
And yet, I still paid 8 grand in taxes for 2014.
And yet, there’s a socialist I argue with online who is boasting that he pulled in 74 grand last year and is complaining that hell “lose” money because one of his kids is reaching an age where he will no longer get the earned income tax credit (that’s a Republican invention in the early 70s BTW). He drives vehicles that I only dream of and I have a pickup truck pushing it’s 15th year.
There’s not a socialist idea he doesn’t like.
And the people who took that 8 grand did it by hiding in a voting booth and casting a vote. I have more respect for someone who would personally stick a gun in my face and demand my money.
For this reason I live by the Jack Sparrow rule: Take what you can, give nothing back. I don’t give a fucking thing to any charity and beyond that, if America were being invaded, I’m going the other way. Let the protected high exalted minorities and the special snowflakes handle it. I don’t have a country any more.
If our own armed forces decides that our ignorant greedy voters need to be put back in their place and stage a military coup, at this point I’ll support it.
Why do you think the armed forces would revolt? They get a large chunk of your taxes….
Good point. I forget sometimes that the armed forces itself is a huge welfare plan.
Alien invaders then. Especially if they come to take “our women”. A week later we’ll be fighting them to prevent them from bringing them back.
Doug Casey calls them “the post office with guns.”
A zymurgist, eh? Me too! Small world, eh?
“And yet, there’s a socialist I argue with online who is boasting that he pulled in 74 grand last year”
Its thoroughly mysterious how come progressive elites who support socialism increasingly seem to be economic elites as well. Its almost as though they’ve devised a way of benefiting from any resultant economic re-distribution. Its worth pointing out that there is stacks of evidence that the richest continue to get richer while the poorest get poorer, all while progressivism moves forward by leaps and bounds
Dude, as a fellow home brewer who used to live like you: please just take your Goodwill shit to a tailor to make it fit right. I brew, reload, & used to live just like this. Life is too short to have shitty, non-solid wood furniture that will die with you or wear shitty clothes. Money spent on decent threads at Nordstroms pay for themselves. You sound like you are not even living life. Take a trip too, jesus cristo.
Only someone who doesn’t understand being poor would tell someone poor to have their clothes tailored and to “take a trip”. You think he’s just wasting his money and doesn’t know how to save. Read what he said. All he’s been doing is trying to save! You can’t spend money to invest in things that “pay for themselves”, if your pockets and bank account are empty!
I have 42 cents in my possesion and 5 cents in my bank account. That’s after paying bills for only necessities (utilities, etc) and spending $60 to eat for a month.
Now why don’t you take me to that tailor that I can afford and tell me where I can go on that trip, all for 47 cents!
And yes, this is every month. And don’t tell me to get a better job. If I could, then I would! Or can I start my own business and buy the required licenses and supplies for 47 cents?
Guy I responded to isn’t in the same boat as you. There is a huge difference between being a penny pinching miser and a flat out broke fuck like you.
Hahahahaha! 🙂
Read my reply above, I offer the same advice and the same access to the recruiter.
EIC was done by Democrats in 75 , They had the House.
How do you make your own beer ? Man, you ROCK !
Do you hunt for food? Noticed you load your own ammo.
From reading your comment you seem quite intelligent and I have to wonder do you choose to have this lifestyle like are you a minimalist.
I am guessing that is not your choice and you desire more. I have two suggestions.
1. There is a book called “What Color Is My Parachute” which can guide you into what you might be passionate about and good at for a career change.
2. I am assuming you must have some PUA game as it seems like most one here do. If so you are already qualified to do sales. Lets face it getting a girl to have sex with you is nothing more than a sales job. Especially if it is a SNL/ONS/P&D whatever you want to call it. There are many companies that will pay $15 -$25 to answer inbound sales calls place orders and try to do up sales. I have a friend who is a recruiter that could help you with just that, maybe even get you a work from home job. To hone your skills I have a friend who shares by any of the sales books by Jordan Belfort aka the Wolf of Wall Street.
Good Luck hope this helps, let me know if you want to connect with my recruiter friend.
Yep…a couple of good points. I’ve paid plenty (and still do) in taxes every year so I’m already “supporting” many others in benefits. I don’t feel one bit of remorse when I have to say “no, I don’t have it” – see the government, they have it.
Same with close friends and family members (helping out or rides). It’s only those that I know who would reciprocate the actions – not someone I just met looking for something for free.
I always say “I gave at the IRS”
“Charity starts at home”. Never really understood where this adage was coming from until realizing how out of control the gov is…another that makes much sense now, due to the overly sensitive sjw set: “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”
I refuse to donate to a charity that pays salaries. You’ve got a good cause, right? A local cause? Then people should be volunteering for free.
I don’t bother justifying myself to anyone, much less a whiny SJW. I either donate or I don’t and if they get whiny, pfft, not my problem.
I donate to certain sites. That for me is enough. I don’t care about some girl in Pakistan that is married off at the age of two go some bearded pervert. I don’t care that the poor African girl has to walk thirty miles for a bucket of water (here’s some advice, move closer to the fucking water.) I don’t care about the slums in India. I don’t care about Ebola, and why should I. I tell the charity workers to their face when they bang on my door asking me to help save the Bengali lion fish or whatever fucking animal is the flavour of month, telling me about the serious danger of extinction because human encroachment. I tell them that I’m in danger of extinction and people are destroying my natural habitat but nobody’s collecting for me and us. Fuck them an their self righteousness.
To this, I’ll add: these can’t all be prioities, or none of them are priorities.
If I were living in a more or less homogeneous society, like in Iceland for instance, then I would be fine giving my time and money to help out others, because I’d know that the other members of society by and large shared my values and beliefs. In the insane forced diversity thunderdome of 21st century America, I’m much less inclined to help out strangers because it’s much harder to trust them. Chateau Heartiste likes to use the phrase “diversity + proximity = war.” I think diversity also = a more self-interested and untrusting society.
The antithesis of this concept, that is, helping people with no perceived benefit to oneself, is the foundation for being a white knight, or worse, a mangina.
Good point except that the White Knights operate on a bit of deception or subterfuge there in such manner that they want the very thing they are railing against and are secretly harboring a sense of entitlement for it.
Every White Knight, as they lead the SJW charge, is “feeling” in their heads that the great borg collective of women is racking up points for them.
Remember how when you piss off a feminist one of their canned replies (before “we’re done here” or “wow just wow”) is “good luck getting laid thinking like that”. That’s a manifestation of their collective sense of power, that not only do they operate on some notion that they are all some kind of mesh-networked borg collective (piss one off, they all hate you), but with an additional measure of mind control. “No woman will have sex with you because of how you think”.
The White Knight is operating on that manifestation, but thinking they are going the other way, that the borg collective of women will like them for how they think and open the legs for them (eventually).
One has to be mentally ill to be the feminist and mentally ill to be the White Knight. But that’s no secret that we are dealing with people who are not running on all cylinders.
But if you want to find the worst hatred for women, it’s deep within the dark recesses of the White Knight mind. Because those browning points are never racked up, and those legs never open up. All the hashtags and pastel-wearing in the world does not help them. And most of those White Knights are being eaten alive from the inside by it but have buried the how and why so deep they don’t know why and they hate themselves even more.
True… and we’re all in trouble when one of those freaks snap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_points
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”….Politically /societally niceness and being “good ” is just a velvet glove covering a mailed fist of self interest and greed.
1) When I turned 21 we went to a strip of 10 popular bars in a midwest city. the bums.. call them homeless.. would literally line up in a group of 20-50 asking for hand outs. At first I felt sorry for them until a few got a little aggressive about it. So to put on display what I felt about it, I stopped our group and ordered this guy to hop on 1 foot, rub his belly, pat his head and kick the other foot for 20 seconds. He did, and he earned my dollar. Entertainment for money. When someone from our group muttered some shit about him being a bum, I walked him back and made him apologize, and applaud his performance, because after all, he worked for his money.
2) Another time at a Taco Bell drive thru, again in my 20s, some dude in regular street clothes walked out from behind the sign right after I ordered at the speaker. I was driving a 1-yr old Ford Truck at the time. My window was down, and I was a little surprised, not sure what he was gonna do when he asked:”Awe man can you help a brotha with some change, a few dollas or something?” I opened my ash tray and give him what I could scoop out with 1 handful.. Probably $1-2 in change. This mother fucker pockets the money and says:”Awe come on man, I know you be ballin driving a nice shiny truck like that, I need more than that.” I said:”I gave you what I had be greatful you fuck.” Then he started with racial slurs against whitey sayin how low I was, etc. etc.
After that, I NEVER gave another penny to anyone on the street.
A beggar comes up to me and asks for money, I ask what do you need it for? “food” okay i will buy you a sandwich “oh but i want the money to buy my own food” tell me what you want i’ll get it “can I just have the money” No….9 times out of ten they are asking for money for a drug habit , i’m happy to help the needy but my hard earned dollar isn’t going to somebodies heroin habit. Also ever notice how long these bums will occupy a location, imagine if they used all that wasted loitering time to go and find a job, instead of 8 hrs standing around begging, it should be 8 hrs looking for work. In America even these bums can find a job somewhere.
That’s the best form of charity… something direct that solves the immediate problem, be it buying of food, help with the rent paid straight to the landlord, or paying a phone bill directly or whatever one is inclined to do.
Giving money directly to the person who asks for it almost rarely if ever solves the problem they are facing.
I had a guy ask me for money for food on my way into a McD. I brought him out a cheeseburger, which he thanked me for, and apologized for having to beg for food.
Of course, the other 99,999 times, it’s been some asshole who wanted drug money. *shrugs*
You know, those who are actually grateful for whatever you can do are the reason why I haven’t completely written off people who appear to be in need (which is why I still give, but it’s rare, as said in my initial post).
I do remember another, more recent time, I was coming home from a friend’s house and decided to stop by a Royal Farms (convenience store, for those who are unaware). I ordered a sandwich, which was completely messed up, having only half of the fixings I wanted on it. I paid for it, left, and in the parking lot, was met with a girl in her twenties with slightly tattered clothes and a long jacket. At first, I thought she was some drunk or druggie, but she was just someone who needed something to eat. She asked me for money for food. I didn’t have anything, but what I did have was half of my sandwich, which I gave to her. She felt guilty, saying that she couldn’t take it, but I assured her that it was fine and insisted. She fought back the tears and thanked me, taking a few bites. I drove off…and got a better sandwich when I got closer to home.
It’s a shame that gratitude among anyone is so Goddamn rare nowadays. I was fortunate to experience it that night.
Chances are in many cases they want money AND food, but their weakness to their habit makes drugs the priority, and preference.
It is that reason that we give that good feeling knowing we helped someone in need. The rare occasion of gratitude makes the other fraudulent times seem worth it.
Thing is I have watched bums on a busy corner get $1 at least 50% of the time I am at a light. If you say that they have 30 lights an hour and they get a $1 on half of them that is $15 an hour. Not bad to just beg. I guess I am too prideful I have a hard time asking for extra tickets from complete strangers to buy a ticket for a concert I want to attend.
That is insane. Your stories actually remind me of all the times I’ve been hit up for money, and there have been many. To a degree, I’m still one of the “altruistic nearly until the point of pain” types, but I managed to reign that in over the years.
I remember one particular instance a few years ago. I was going to a repair shop to get one of my gaming systems (Heh, I should probably post this on Reaxxion) fixed. I was in the middle of the transaction, when this one little shitbag teenager walked up and started talking to me. He made a laughable attempt at small talk, referencing my system, how expensive it must have been (which should have been a red flag, but hey, that’s my fault for not picking up on it), and other bits of verbal nonsense. To be fair, I was dumb enough to actually engage in conversation with this kid, but what he asked next was nothing less than appaling.
“Yo, you got some bus fare, yo?”
To which I courteously replied, “Sorry, man. I don’t have anything on me.”
“C’mon, man, you ain’t got $3.50?”
You little sack of fucking shit, I thought.
QUICK NOTE: I live in Maryland, more specifically the Baltimore area. Not sure what the national average is for public transporation fees, but one way fare on any transportation medium here is $1.30. $3.50 gets you full day pass on anything. Moving on…
At this point, I was disgusted. I got in the kid’s face, stared him dead in the eyes and said, “I SAID I don’t have anything. Excuse me.” After that, I walked past him, shaking my head the whole way back to my car.
Now? If I ever give to some random asshole on the street, it’s incredibly rare. Other times, I’ll ignore them or tell them to get lost.
Yes because insulting you is the best way to convince you to give him more LOL.
Yep. But guys with brains don’t usually wind up begging at the Taco Bell drive-thru, either.
I once gave some money to a homeless girl who approached me in the parking lot. She looked like she hadn’t showered or eaten for days, and said she was trying to collect money for a hotel room. I gave her a few bucks and started to get into my car and looked over to watch her approach the car parked right in front of me and buy drugs from some dude with the money I just gave her.
I was so shocked, I sat there for a few minutes before driving off. Since then, I haven’t given a dime to a homeless person. At worst, they are frauds and charlatans, and at best, you are simply perpetuating their misery by feeding their addictions.
I was walking in Philadelphia years ago with change jingling in my pockets. (Could have been keys by just the sound of it.) A homeless bum stops me and says “Damn you jigglin loud man. You money bags? Can I get some?” I reached into my pocket and got a fistful of change, I showed it to the bum. Then I tossed it into the street with the heavy traffic. I said “Work for it, like I have to, you fuck.”
You should have farted and asked to him to smell it and decifer what you ate for dinner the night before for that change.
Tossing change into the street is just plain mean.
You’d call that a salad toss I believe 🙂
I’m a Philly resident myself and frequent Center City often. I get hit up pretty frequently by panhandlers and I give a good bit some change. I’m pretty poor, working through a bunch of poorly made life decisions. I don’t have a lot to give, but I realize that I’m only a couple more bad decisions away from being them. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do believe in karma. But the main reason that I give is for religious reasons. You don’t know which one is Jesus in disguise…….
So that sounds like a great life lesson that only cost you $2.00. Most people have to lose most of what they have to learn a lesson that profound. You got it on the cheap!
I think the best donation I ever gave to someone was hope. I was in NYC, either in or near Time Square, and this 20-something blond was in grimy lookin clothes, tweaking, just shaking from probably meth, coke, a bit or of heroin or speed balls. Looks like she hadn’t slept in days. You could actually tell, despite her skin looking jaundiced and crawling from drugs, she was likely pretty hot in the past few years.
Made me think she might have been a model or something that got hooked on hard drugs. No sign, not asking for handouts, just sitting there right in front of everyone as people had to carve around her to get by. Me and 2 buddies were walking by I said “wait!” I walked up to her, kneeled down, put my hands on each of her shoulders and said looking her square in the eyes:”hey, we want you here…you don’t have to be a part of this, all this around you, but you’re supposed to be somewhere, here among us,” and stood up and walked away.
These are all good stories. Not having a car and riding transit a lot puts me in contact with a lot of people most others are shielded from. My personal experience: 20% of beggars, when given a handout, are ungrateful and will immediately squander what you give them on something they don’t need. They consider themselves entitled to your money.
The other 80% are so mentally ill, drug addicted, or batshit crazy that giving them anything simply enables whatever vice keeps them on the street.
My liberal bleeding heart died a long time ago. There’s usually a very good reason people are homeless in America, and it’s not because they’re “down on their luck looking for a job”.
yup I have had a similar experience, i’ll buy an over priced water from someone on a corner or someone who washes my dirty windshield but they have to be doing some kind of WORK.
Just ask them for money. Or get two hobos together and tell them to fight and winner gets the change.
Bum Fights were all the rage for a while. The Social Justice Weenies were up in arms, but I thought it was rather humorous, as long as nobody was seriously hurt. Hell, it was actual real work for the both of them, they had a purpose and when finished, a reward. It was a more real version of what the rest of us do in real life, except we’re all too pussy to openly hit others for our daily bread.
I hate that now I can’t even buy groceries or get a cup of coffee without the cashier asking if I’d like to donate a dollar to some cause
I always love getting told to donate to feed the starving Africans… so they can fuck like rabbits and produce even more starving Africans than before.
Voluntary charity should be the cornerstone of a free society. A safety net for those truly in need, not forced charity to feed a massive bureaucracy. Also should be local and not federal.
Shouldn’t be money either, my grandfather told me the first forms of welfare wasn’t money but actual food, people who were in need would go to these centers and were given beans flower and brown sugar, money just causes scams and furthers drug habits ect, i Know a woman who has children from multiple fathers who are not in the picture and with the money from the state she receives for those kids she was able to buy her own home, yes buy a Home. There should be charity, but we need to be smart about it.
My favorite thing to say to these people: “no.” And a curt, dismissive “no” at that.
My favorite rationale when asked why: “because I said so.”
Just like with children, you do not have to justify why you do not want to give. They have to justify the ask. With an ask comes two possibilities, yes or no. If they can’t deal with no, fuck them. I’m not losing any sleep over their hurt feelings, or the starving globally warming transvestite PETA political disaster petition bullshit they are busking for.
I challenge anyone to show me ONE document where somebody in this country actually died from starvation since FDR’s New Deal was implemented to stop The Depression. I’m not talking about starving themselves to be martyrs for some bullshit cause, I mean straight-up couldn’t scrounge up any food for any amount of time until death. You won’t!
There will always be a church, a charity, a non-profit or a special-interest group to feed you in this country. In many other places eating is a daily battle itself!
Take it even further. Show me one person who legitimately starved to death in a place that wasn’t a corrupt war torn shithole.
Now realize that any money you give for those folks has to first filter it’s way through said corrupt war torn shithole. How much do you think actually makes it to any of these people?
Ill sponsor kids in Africa, as soon as people in Africa are sponsoring kids in Detroit.
I resent the manipulation. When I’m reading the sportspage, I don’t need to look at those kids with fucked up harelips. Operation Smile can meet Operation Suck My Dick…..
Very few charities get the money to where it needs to go. Most of your donation goes to the administrative costs of running it. I do not donate regularly to any charity-I pay plenty in taxes(living in Illinois makes it worse) for services I’ll never use. Consider myself paid in full.
One caveat is the Wounded Warrior charity-that one seems legit and very worthwhile. Those guys deserve some help for their service. They’re not useless beggars just looking for a free ride.
Anytime a homeless person asks me for money I ask them why don’t they give me some money.
No shit.
Thousands of people everyday give them change out of their pockets so they’re just racking up tax free dollars while i’m constantly being tax-fucked in the ass to fund first world future citizens coming in from tropical regions and backwaters by the hordes.
When they look at me confused, if they don’t understand where i’m coming from I tell them to get outta my fucking way you bum.
One thing I do to test them is to offer them a job with temporary shelter. If they refuse the job for money then they’re either a con artist or not serious about getting out of homelessness. If they take the job offer then I am far more inclined to actually give them money because they’re either legit or actually trying to work out of their circumstances.
Basic Objectivist ethics. Self-interest is a moral virtue as it enhances the life of the individual. It is ok to do nice things for friends (for “free”) but Objectivism holds that altruism, living self-sacificially, is immoral.
How much of your donation do you think goes to the six-figure salary of the president and how much goes to the actual cause you wish to support?
For anyone who does give to charity, http://www.charitynavigator.org/ is a great resource for finding out which charities are legit and which just money pits.
Merely someone asking you to donate does not burden you to respond. What if some one texts you every 2 minutes for a donation? Are you burdened each time?
Charity should be accomplished at a time and place of your own choosing. Not just because another makes an inquiry.
Charity work should be done from the generous and kindness from the heart. It seems a bit fucked up when the CEOs of the big charity groups are making millions in salaries.
do a little research; some of the biggest scammers in human history work at so- called “non profits”. PETA, for example, using the lion’s share of their operating budget on publicity stunts- why not use that money to lobby gov, change the laws?
Oh, because, if they did, in time they potentially wouldnt need to exist anymore. Mission accomplished. We cant have that, right? And their corp “officers” make a shit ton in salary..
It is important give back though which this article misses. Giving makes for a well rounded man and balances your karma. I’m still crawling out of school debt so I give my time to causes, not my money.
Maybe the Kony 2012 should do a film/video on Boko Haram 2015..
It’s sales just like anything else and I can’t hate someone for hustling as best they can bit no one likes to be ambushed or guilted. But I won’t be taken in and played for a sucker because it IS as hustle, a con. I don’t think any of the people who really need the charity actually see that much of hard cash donated in any significant way eaten up by high executive salaries and admin costs advertising and PR.
1) Understand the difference between being nice and helping. A lot of people want you to do shit for them or other people, but they don’t really need it. (They either don’t need what they’re asking for, or they do need it but could do/get it themselves).
2) Vet charities and think locally. There are a lot of churches and secular, community-level charities that do good works like feeding the homeless.
I should consult lesswrong about Effective Altruism. Interesting stuff, like how people sneer at the guy running the nonproft making money for his work, even though those nonprofits tend to be better at serving the needy.
It bugs the hell out of me whenever, say, this 250ib hag and her tattooed-up, facially-pierced, boyfriend come up to my register with a pile of candy and soda and then ask me if my store accepts Food Stamps.
I tell them no and then, in a sour mood, they shove the “food” off to the side, and then produce an explicably fat wad of cash, and demand several different packs of cigarettes, and also buy a few beers.
If their child happens to be holding something, like a candy bar they told him earlier he could have, they angrily order him to put it back while proceeding to purchase their little, expensive, luxuries.
.
.
I am just a humble clerk, but because I have no wife, let alone children, I have been deemed unworthy to keep all my money by the IRS. The only bright-side to that, is that now I can complain on behalf of taxpayers.
Welfare is a privilege. My answer is put a few places that sell processed cheese and meat, milk, water and ramen for variety, and the other household necessities, i.e. toilet paper *the rough stuff*, soap, deoderant etc. and thats it. Why should someone on welfare be able to buy a steak, candy or coke with my Money…
You wanna really get under their skin tell them “I do not approve of you spending my Money that way when you are in line with them”
Be ready for a fight…hahaha
Back before the government became the biggest charity of them all, charities actually served a purpose.
Why would anyone donate to a charity now? Everything is given out by the government. If not, Bill Gates and his $60B charity foundation or all of these multibillion dollar assholes who make more in 5 mins than I’ll make all year and still try to shame me into thinking I don’t do enough can pick up the tab.
Occasionally, I will do something for an individual who I think is deserving, but that’s it. I always say no at checkout lines when asked if I’d like to donate $1 to whatever crap they’re pushing, and I throw out every piece of snail mail soliciting money. If I do get a telemarketer I just hang up.
I don’t feel guilty about it either. Lower my tax burden to where it should be (about 8%), quit giving every freeloader (citizen, immigrant, or illegal) a free ride on my dime, and I’ll consider donating again. Til then talk to the federal government or call the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
I only give to animal charities. People?Fuck people.
I gladly carry the attitude that all charities can get fucked, you all should look up how they work and what percentage actually reaches the “victims.” Shallow people donate to them at easy places like the cash register, so they can feel good about themselves with little effort The way I pay back to society is helping out broke down fucks on the side of the road, because I have been there and know that about 800 motherfuckers will drive by you in the rain when your fuel pump goes out and you’re walking the highway. It stunned me to see this first hand, but that’s how society is. A month ago I stopped with my tow rope and popped a Jaguar out of the ditch with my truck, so for 2014 I’m good. I’ve picked up shitheads who even got out of jail an hour earlier and needed a ride, didn’t bother me at all cause I had a .45 in the waist band anyways hahaha. You could overheat and simply need water for your radiator on side of the road, bet on 1000 people driving right on by without thought.
Charity should be voluntary. For example I of my own volition sat down with a homeless man who was made that way by divorce. Right now I am trying to get him a house or room that others are willing to rent out.
I’ll give the Girl Scout cookies example… I mean, at least, rather than asking for a handout, they’re selling you cookies. Delicious, mass-produced, sugary goodness… On that note, single mom MILFs with girl scout daughters are great sources of easy sex.
You can be nice without being “good”. But you can’t be good without being nice.
If you are going to help someone do so directly and in a way where you can measure the results. If you sit down and talk to homeless people you’ll find that many of them are comfortable, and like exactly where they are at. And they stick out their hand and people fork over money to encourage their carefree lifestyle. In Brazil where there are no tourists you don’t see people begging, the Brazillians won’t give them money. Amazing how that works.
I am organically a genuinely nice person who has done good just for the sake of it; it took me years of unfortunate lessons to realise others don’t view things the same way. I am glad a took an economics major. I’ve returned to the cold, hard, rational analysis of all interactions in such manner and have never been happier. One thing to note – it frightens people in a way when they realise you are not susceptible to emotional bullshit and ‘salesmanship’. In particular, it scares women.
“My kid is selling Girl Scout cookies, would you like to buy some?”
Not a great example. What do I get out of that? Cookies addictive as crack.
Seriously though, my city has recently been flooded with homeless. Where did these guys come from? Has Vancouver finally kicked their asses out of the downtown core? I was walking in the mall the other day when a hobo was walking around inside demanding cash from shoppers. That’s unusually bold.
The first thing that came to my mind when reading this is the wounded warrior project. I remember I had to look into it for school one time and from what I found out they are a shit organization. They literally pick a handful of disabled vets and send them on vacations and do all this other stuff for them and then publicize the fuck out of it to get good PR and donations and then turn around and shit on the people that actually need their help. I completely agree about the tax haven part, one of the first things you see on their site is that your donations can count as tax deductions. Plus, why the fuck is their president getting comped 300,000 dollars??
Always feel a sorry for the less fortunate, and believe we have an obligation to help out the truly needy, but too many people are trying to take you out there. I was approached outside a friend’s business once by a black guy who needed $13 to make rent or his family, and baby daughter were to be evicted. He was very convincing. I had only about $10 in my billfold and went to borrow the rest inside. Everyone enjoyed my naïve trust in my fellow man. This guy gave the same story every day to anybody who walked by. They gave me the rest and I took it out to him at their insistence–too funny to pass up for them.
In Lowe’s parking lot recently walking to my truck, this scruffy guy literally runs up to me with some sort of card in his hand, saying he was a disabled vet and he needed just a little bit for a bus ticket to Birmingham. So, don’t disabled veterans get some sort of check and what happened to it? And his disability must have been all mental; because he could run faster than I could.
So how does a middle aged guy get so far down the ladder that he has to beg for change? I now ask them directly what sort of choices they made in life to end up panhandling. If tomorrow I could never again work in my profession, I would show up at the job site and tell the foreman I may not know how to build houses, run wire, etc., but I will show up every day and I am a fast learner. Drugs. That’s how most of them get there..
Worse yet, if you donate even once, your name, address, and telephone number will go on a list. That list will be sold many times. Getting off the list generally requires either a name change with relocation or a major felony.
The only “safe” charity, both morally and practically, is toward persons you know personally whose troubles are no fault of their own. Even then, never give money. Offer necessary goods — e.g., food or clothing — or to help. He who lacks money is nearly always in that state because he doesn’t know how to handle money, or lacks financial discipline. Use the United States Federal Government as a perfect example of what happens when such an individual is unconditionally handed cash, and shudder.
Ahh, chuggers! http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chugger
Just remember – the collector gets 1/3 to 1/2 of every dollar. They are not collecting for the poor staving kiddies. They are collecting for themselves.
I purchase Thin Mints and throw a few boxes in the freezer. They last a lot longer that way and are a good treat after a quality bang with some milk.
The encouragement of non-selfishness is in my opinion the highest calling of any civilization. I don’t think it can be argued that the less selfishly people act, the better everyone’s lives will be. Would you rather live in a country where if you left your wallet on your seat at the pub, someone would turn it in and you could pick it up the next day when you had realized it was lost, or a country where almost anyone would just smile, say ”my lucky day” and pocket all the cash?
That said, once you no longer live in a place where unselfishness is the norm, it is indeed stupid to go on being the one sucker with a sense of decency. Know though that this doesn’t make it any less of a step back. People weren’t stupid for writing poetry before the zombie apocalypse, rather than focusing on survival. You’re stupid if you’re writing poetry after the zombie apocalypse, there isn’t time for that anymore. The environment has changed and now you need to put all your effort into staying alive, but we’ll all still be looking forward to the day when we have time for such things again.
I am sure we have all been duped before which makes us skeptical about giving, however their is a certain Joy that comes from giving to others less fortunate than you. I can certainly say that when I was on mission trips and helping kids or feeding the homeless that was certainly as good of a feeling I have ever felt.
That said I do not think you truly can get that feeling from just forking over some money for a cause or giving it to a stranger.
SO I AGREE JUST SAY NO TO GIVING AWAY YOUR MONEY!
The answer donate your time!!!
I for one have an application in to get training to start volunteering with the Make A Wish Foundation. Also my cousin and I are going to go witness to kids in a 3rd world country while feeding them and taking care of them for about a week.
I look forward to reading the comments because I am definitely curious as to the response to this article.
I am sure we all have had an instance or many instances of giving money to someone only to see it misused. For this reason I agree to stay tight with your money.
However if you stop there you keep yourself from the Joy of giving. Being completely honest I can’t think of many times that I have felt better than when i was on a mission trip feeding truly needy people or helping out and teaching and loving on Children.
So my narrative is “JUST SAY NO” when it comes to giving out your money.
and “JUST SAY YES” when it comes to giving of your time. It is more valuable anyway.
I personally have just put in an application to be wish granter with “Make A Wish Foundation” and I am saving to go on a 2 week mission trip to a 3rd world country next year.
After reading some of the stories I was reminded of my most blatant experience. I was eating at a Whataburger late night inside. Being the friendly guy I am I started talking to 3 people *1 guy 2 girls all b/t 18-20* who were inside and sparingly sharing one small fry. Long story short it was 20 degrees outside quite windy and these 3 were hitch hiking from the East Coast to California. Feeling very sorry for them I bought them some food, gave them a ride and put them up in a hotel. I knew someone who could and would easily hire the guy to do some construction. I told him I would ring their room at 7 am and even give him a ride to the first day of work.
I called at 7 am and got no answer. An hour I had housekeeping check on them after several calls and no answer. Sure enough they were not there.
I tried to offer them both a hand out and a hand up they easily took the hand out but not the hand up. The thing that really gets me is all three of them easily had $500 + of ink on them.
I still choose to help some people out but I do get more and more jaded.