… but did not have the time to…
I would like to have blogged about this thought provoking excerpt from Russell Banks’ The Darling on the difference between empathy and sympathy.
“What was ethically and even practically wrong with having empathy towards the other? For a long time, I answered, Nothing. Nothing at all. It’s good politics. I see a blind man about to cross a street and think, He can’t see the whizzing traffic, he needs me to see it for him, to take his arm and escort him over to …

David McCandless puts a billion dollar back into context

Rating 3.00 out of 5

The french AIDES agency is at it again! Thanks to Elizabeth at Wisdom of Whores for spotting it.

Rating 3.00 out of 5

The MAC AIDS Funds (MAF) new campaign to raise awareness and funding for HIV-AIDS research brings together two glam artists, Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper. This women’s initiative aimed at strengthening the service network and resources available to women living with and at risk of contracting HIV.
The two artists will promote the sale of limited editions of lipsticks created to support the work of the funds.
Unlike Starbuck armchair’s activism, where less than 10% of what you spend on expensive lattes goes to support HIV/AIDS programmes, M-A-C decided that every cent …

In a recent posting at Aid Watch, William Easterly makes the very good point that we could help the poor more if we were to bypass dubious charitable scheme like Product Red. William Easterly points out that if you really want to support altruistic causes, you should do it directly rather than paying the business man and tipping the poor.

The question Easterly does not answer is why don’t we send our bucks or quids straight to the Global Fund instead of spending them at Starbucks?
Guilt, the one we feel knowing …