I'm really getting tired of this

[Kion]

I've seen it a lot on this forum, another forum I go to, youtube and pretty much all over the place talking about Japan. "What a horrible tragety, I pray that everyone in Japan is safe". This sentiment just really pisses me off. First of all people are not safe and second of all your prayers don't really do anything. It doesn't make you a good person to see something like this and say, "wow, those poor people" and then just walk a way it just makes you an asshole.

I think it would actually be better if people were in different, if you don't care then yu don't need to. Look at the news and say, "oh, sucks for them", or "who gives a damn", and I would be fine with that because your being honest. But don't give some bleeding heart words like you give a shit and then do nothing, that's just dishonest. If you want to say stuff like that and be a good person then donate to the red cross or something.

Right now I'm living in tokyo and I don't really want or need anyone's pitty because frankly i don't need it. But I know there are a bunch of people close by in Sendai who don't give a shit about your pity either, but could geniunly use some help. If you were one of the victims of the earthquake, which would you want, someone's good intentions? or water? I think i take it kind of personally because up until now I'd be the self righteous jerk that woudl normally say that and being in the other position I can see how much of an idioit i was.

But the point is, if you really think Japan is a horrible tragegy then you have more power than you know to do something about it. you can goto the red cross (http://www.redcross.org/) and donate $10, or buy one of lady gaga's pray for Japan bracelets. But offering empty sentimates doesn't do any good and it doesn't make you a good person.

[Randomness]

There's probably a rant to make about cause bracelets (since you know some people at least are doing for the appearance of caring), but at least those do get money to charities.

[Angelic Fae]

@Kion I was starting to think I was the only person who thought like that, I mean yeah I'm selfish as hell and yeah sux to be them and no I don't really care all that much. Mabye I'm just heartless, but idleing around pretending to care is despicable.
It hurts more when ppl give commiserations than it does when you give them the truth. so If you care stop patronising them and actually do something about it!

[BIG OLAF]

I already donated to the Red Cross. Don't be such a dick to people just because they feel bad for Japan. I agree that some people just say they care, but a lot of them actually do. Some people may not to be able to afford to buy a bracelet, or donate to the Red Cross, but they wish they could.

Would you rather the entire world ignores it like it didn't even happen? That would be even worse.

[ForceOfBrokenGlass]

I donated to the Red cross, just like with Haiti, and Louisiana. Not India though, That one must have slipped my mind. Anyhow, I do agree, sympathetic words and prayers without action are hollow and unnecessary.

[amtalx]

I'll give you not one, but TWO protips:

1. Calm the f*ck down.
2. Don't be such a self-righteous asshole.

[Tash Alistair]

umm... i feel bad, i do, but there isnt anything i can DIRECTLY do at the moment. when this all went down, i was at my wits end worrying about my friend who was supposed to go "out" to be with her friends grandparents or something. im very relieved in the fact that she contacted me 2 days later to tell me she was alright, and still safe and sound near her school. the reason i feel so bad about this is because i understand that if i multiplied my fears by a thousand, it still wouldn't be anything close to what those people are actually facing right now over there. i know that is self centered, to use the my fear of losing my friends as any sort of comparison to people who are worried over losing family, and i understand this, but that does not mean i dont care about the people as a whole. human beings are dead. that, in my book IS a tragedy. and personally, i dont think you need to spend ten bucks, or buy a wristband to earn the right to say "my god... i hope they are okay"

[Angelic Fae]

let me paint a little scenario thats a little more relateable.
say ur parents are all killed in a freak accident and one day someone asks about them and you say "they're dead" the person will then say "aww you poor thing. I'm so sorry:cry:" if uve been in this situation then ull know what I mean when I say it hurts more when they show pity. I know its an automatic reaction so these patronising lines when ppl get hurt but saying sorry for something u didn't do over and over again doesn't help at all.

It may seem like ur taking the moral high ground but take a look from their point of view. If you care good for you just don't brag about it all day geez. oh and Tash you don't "buy" the right to say sorry. If someone donates or buys some tacky braclet just to pride themselves off it something has gone seriously wrong, that's not what charity is about!

[Nitro Vordex]

If they had volunteers to go over there and help, I would have signed up, shit. Do you know how much it sucks for anyone who's not in the country that they can't help at all? People are dying and starving, and can't even get fresh water, and all we can do is sit here and twiddle our thumbs. Buying a bracelet isn't going to get those people fresh water. If I could physically go over there and do what I can for those people, I would.

[Tash Alistair]

let me paint a little scenario thats a little more relateable.
say ur parents are all killed in a freak accident and one day someone asks about them and you say "they're dead" the person will then say "aww you poor thing. I'm so sorry:cry:" if uve been in this situation then ull know what I mean when I say it hurts more when they show pity. I know its an automatic reaction so these patronising lines when ppl get hurt but saying sorry for something u didn't do over and over again doesn't help at all.

It may seem like ur taking the moral high ground but take a look from their point of view. If you care good for you just don't brag about it all day geez. oh and Tash you don't "buy" the right to say sorry. If someone donates or buys some tacky braclet just to pride themselves off it something has gone seriously wrong, that's not what charity is about!

i was just using examples. i didn't LITERALLY mean donating or buying a bracelet gives you any ACTUAL right to say anything. as for my parents, i dont HAVE any. they actually orphaned me off when i was like, 8 or 9. when people ask about my parent, i just tell them the truth. but when they say they are sorry, it doesn't hurt, or anything, but i appreciate it. after all, id rather them not be like... oh...sucks to be you. or nothing at all. im donating blood, etc whatever i can shy of going over to japan with water pumps and shovels. i think we all need to stop playing whos is bigger here, and let people do their own thing, its not hurting anyone to have hope.

[Kion]

I guess it's fine to express your concern about Japan. But it would be nice to see kindness with out pity. It's fine to say, "I hope everything turns out okay, and I pray for their safety"... and then give a quarter or something to a charity so at least you'll have contributed some what to the cause of helping them. Even if you don't have a lot of money for $5 is enough to pass on lunch one day and help out in a big way.

And as for volunteering. Right now that's not even a possibility. It's too dangerous right now and especially with tsunami's you get a lot of different things, oils, chemicals, cars, chickens all washed up and left stagnant. Right now it's military only and it's probably going to be that way for a while. I think they're just focussed on getting everyone moved out of there.

[Zarode]

Funny, because in my eyes, YOU are being the insensitive prick here.

Would you like your house to burn down, and have people come up and say, "YEAH WELL BETTER YOU THEN ME, CHUMP." and hand you a five dollar bill?

Prayers and kind words bring hope and spread kindness in times of need. You just sound like part of the problem lately.

I'm sure if my town gets battered by another hurricane, you wouldn't bat an eye on that.

[AlexCraig]

If they had volunteers to go over there and help, I would have signed up, shit. Do you know how much it sucks for anyone who's not in the country that they can't help at all? People are dying and starving, and can't even get fresh water, and all we can do is sit here and twiddle our thumbs. Buying a bracelet isn't going to get those people fresh water. If I could physically go over there and do what I can for those people, I would.

This to the greatest degree. If I could help in any larger way, I would. If I had the money, resources, and ability to help the people in need, I would. But I lack the money, resources, and ability. So all I CAN do is hope for them to come out from this as best as possible. It is not patronizing to show sympathy to those who have been hurt. It's called being human.

[Kion]

Would you like your house to burn down, and have people come up and say, "YEAH WELL BETTER YOU THEN ME, CHUMP." and hand you a five dollar bill?

Pretty much. At least you get something out of it. Would you rather have someone say "you poor thing" and then walked away? And giving to charity is part of being a smaller part in a larger whole.

[Wayu]

I'm headed to Japan this summer. Hopefully I'll be able to help out in the efforts.

-Wayu

[BIG OLAF]

I'm headed to Japan this summer. Hopefully I'll be able to help out in the efforts.

-Wayu

I was just telling my mom today that if charities start to offer flights for volunteers to go overseas to Japan to help out, I'd definitely go.

[Wayu]

Hm. Maybe I'll see you then.

-Wayu

[Angelic Fae]

Funny, because in my eyes, YOU are being the insensitive prick here.

Would you like your house to burn down, and have people come up and say, "YEAH WELL BETTER YOU THEN ME, CHUMP." and hand you a five dollar bill?

ill play along with this one. So my house burns down and some guy says "lol @ ur luck bich" and then hands me some cash I'd feel confused but damn id be happy cause the way a charity works its not just one five dollar bill, it's millions. well now my house is rebuilt and my metaphorical dignity is in tact. now if all I got were "kind words" id still be the street...lotta good those words did eh I'm homeless and have no dignity or pride to mention.
all in all both sides are being insensitive here. you for not acctually thinking about the ppl and us for not really caring.

hurray everyone's a loser!
p.s Tash I never said anything was wrong with hope read it properly I was criticising the constant patronising these ppl get and no I wouldn't say anything cruel to their face if some1's parents had died id be like "me too but self pity sux, ok moving on! hows things metaphorical person?" (you get the message)

[Wayu]

About the cross-fire that's going on about words and action being offensive or not...

All I can say is that while doing small deeds or saying pitying words can be viewed as bad some times, other times not doing anything or saying anything at all is far more dangerous. You decide for yourself what time it is.

Japan needs all the help it can get. That's all I need to know to make up my mind to haul ass over there and help out.

-Wayu

[Kion]

I'm surprised I haven't seen any charity donation boxes in Tokyo yet. I'm amazed that the international community sprung into action and yet the response here is relatively slow. I'm pretty sure Kansai is making a huge effort, I think everyone is kind of shell shocked in Kantou with the continued problems that have been happening.
Once I do see a donation box I am definitely making a contribution. As for volunteering I'll have to see how things turn out. With the radiation and dead bodies from the tsunami; they're definitely not letting non-military personnel near the area.

[Hatrix]

Do you think all these people that need help give two shits that your butt-hurt about people feeling sorry for them Kion? It goes both ways so you really have nothing to bitch about do you?

[Kion]

It took me a bit but I think I translated your post from troll to english. So my rant is on the same level as people expressing pity because talk is cheap and either way it doesn't affect the situation.

The logic that i was trying to express that got rolled into a rant was if you feel sorry for the people in Japan then i would encourage people to take some kind of action to back up their words.

I think that applies to a general sense because there are tons of people who say things like "i want to learn *insert language*" and then never do it. Lots of people are all talk and in these kinds of situations a lot of people are depending on help and even little contributions are going to help. So it's not as much that I'm condemning people for expressing concern about Japan (though i think it makes then insincere), but want to encourage people to go the extra step.

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

Here:

http://www.aksysgames.com/2011/03/16/japan-benefit-sale/

Gamer dudes can buy some spiky haired hero games or that mousepad & pillowcase thing- don't buy that and help at the same time.

My dilemma lies in that army Guardian Heroes sorta one, but the terribad name and overcomplicated yet doesn't add up to a good game development, looks nice though triplicate game copycat "Laevatein Tactics."

Prob go with the pool and River City Soccer myself.

-

Similar promotions should out there just the same way.

gootecks Air teaches Ryu video set hit my email don't learn Ryu, stop it but its up to you if you trust that guy to donate to charity like he says he will. direct donations to Red Cross or etc. could help more directly, speed up the process.

[Sord]

Eh, I get where the OP is coming from. Pretty standard rant about armchair activists, just chose a hot-button topic. I admit most armchair activists are annoying, always crying or bemoaning something but doing nothing about it. Of course the funny part is (as has already been pointed out here) people who complain about armchair activism usually can't do much about it other than not doing it themselves, which in a way makes them a sort of armchair activist since they aren't doing anything to actually stop it.

It would be funny to go slug a few though if negative repercussions wouldn't arise from it.

Friend of mine sent me this article about why not to donate money to Japan, not entirely sure how much I agree with it (honestly I could see it go one way or the other under given circumstances.) It's an interesting read anyhow.

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/03/14/dont-donate-money-to-japan/

[Kion]

That article brings up several good points (which I wish he would expand on), but it does also say:

That said, it’s entirely possible that organizations like the Red Cross or Save the Children will find themselves with important and useful roles to play in Japan. It’s also certain that they have important and useful roles to play elsewhere. So do give money to them — and give generously! And give money to other NGOs, too, like Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which don’t jump on natural disasters and use them as opportunistic marketing devices. Just make sure it’s unrestricted.

I'm really interested to see how Japan handles this crisis. Japan is ready for earthquakes, has a long history of them and doesn't have the politics of other regions that have gotten hit with major disasters. If any good does come out of this, it would be nice to see a model for future occurrences (aside from the nuclear reactor, they're showing everyone what not to do).

[Sayara]

if you guys don't get the rant
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/075/1/d/to_support_japan_by_phobs-d3brmyl.png
here is an image version.

[Sord]

That got a chuckle out of me. The Japanese guy just looks so pissed.

[Hatrix]

A musical message from my favorite Key player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x13B5gwVg8Y&feature=feedu