Here is a tentative summary of the exchange about Haiti above, my side in italics: - People spend more on themselves than they give to others. - No disagreement. - Charity won't reach everyone because people like Rush Limbaugh won't support the out-group. - Here is evidence that people gave substantial charity to the out-group. - That doesn't count because the charity did not completely solve the problems, and because government aid was larger than charity. Is this a fair summary?
No. Me: The world will be a tyrannical and biased place if aid is determined by the charity of individuals. You: There was no tyranny in aid to Haiti. Also, look at all the aid people are giving to Syria, and it's not just the Saudis. Me: Government aid dwarfs private charity in the case of Haiti, therefore your argument is invalid. Also, Syria is an example of aid being withheld for ideological reasons, not where private aid is a success story, except for terrorism, where private aid is showing all the dystopian promise I was pointing out.
Okay, thanks for sharing your perspective. In my reading, concern about neglected out-groups was the primary thrust of your position, but you did not mention it in your summary. If I am so incapable of grasping your meaning (I was baffled by your sentence that included the phrases "Syria isn't getting aid" and "the problems in Syria are getting all sorts of money") then we can surely spend our time more usefully doing other things.