Posted by alexandra_k on September 2, 2005, at 6:00:19
In reply to Re: will anyone help? » alexandra_k, posted by crazy teresa on September 2, 2005, at 0:39:18
Okay...
Deep breaths...
We were talking past each other.
What happened was a tragedy. People went from going about their lives to having the city fairly much destroyed around them. Yeah. Its a tradgedy. And when individuals are in distress then you want to help them. At least I do. I think its fair to assume that most people do. You imagine yourself in their shoes and you would do whatever you could to help them.
Please don't think that I have no sympathy for the individuals who have been affected. I have a lot of sympathy for them. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like.
And all that is on the individual level.
But if you want to say that other people have a moral obligation to help then you also need to consider the other horrible situations that presently exist. People still recovering from the Tsunami. People starving. People dying of HIV.
Pretty soon the sheer extent of need becomes overwhelming.
Do people have a moral obligation to help them all?
I don't think I could afford to give so much as one dollar to every individual in the world who genuinely needed it.Most people don't feel the weight of the worlds need on their shoulders. One couldn't live or function under the burden of it all. So what one does... Is narrow the circle of care. People have a greater obligation to help those that are close to them.
And so Americans have a greater obligation to help the Americans who are affected.
Probably a whole heap more than people over on the other side of the world (for example) because I could equally worry about the people in China or Pakistan, or wherever...
Now I really need to take deep breaths...
The trouble with spending money on war is that you kill innocent people. You blow up their houses and their shops and their kids. And you throw so much resources into that...
And then something happens.
And given how most of the world felt about the war (ie that it should not have happened) I dare say there won't be terribly much sympathy should America ask those poorer countries for aid.Because had America listened to the rest of the world...
Their troops would still be home
Many many lives would have been saved
And there wouldn't be such a problem dealing with the situation now.And that is at the country level.
Back to the personal level...
I'm sure that the majority of people (no matter where they are) sympathise with the individuals who are affected. A great deal. And would like to help alleviate those individuals suffering if they could.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:548858
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20050728/msgs/549897.html