Problem: Haiti is hit by a 7.0 earthquake in 2010.
Problem: Japan is hit by a devastating tsunami in 2013.
The Solution: Clicking the "Like" button on Facebook to spread awareness of the issue, or donating $10 to the Red Cross that will more or less trickle down to the actual problem in the disaster-struck regions.
This is one of the largest dilemmas that we face today. The eruption of mass media and communication has left us no excuse for not being aware of worldwide issues. This is true. Nevertheless, the way that many Americans and privileged countries respond to such known issues has a very minimal positive impact on the problems that the world faces today, such as starvation, sex-trafficing, mindless torture, animal abuse, child-soldiers, global pollution, must I go on? Our core class has already discussed this matter during the Africa unit about getting a selfish gratification out of donating to a charity or sharing a story about a world problem, without really shedding any light on the long-term solution for the conflict at hand. I saw these two pictures on my Tumblr dashboard, and it got me thinking: We're not really helping, are we?
I guess the best way to approach such worldwide issues is to become more knowledgeable about the source of the problem before blindly donating to a large-scale charity,and putting other's interests before ours is the best way to go.
This is so sad but so true! Just looking at the pictures makes me extremely sad... We did discuss something like this in class, it's almost like the "White Savior" ideal.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact of researching more about the charities that we are donating to.