Guilt Factor

The other night one of the folks I follow on that echo box called Twitter tweeted the following:

“Know what will make one stop feeling sorry for themselves? Reading about Haiti.”

So I replied:

“not if u r homeless or unemployed & living on handouts struggling to live it wont”

When I woke up I had the following responses back:

“there are children starving &hurt, injured trapped in crumbled bldgs w/no hope 4 rescue, there is always someone worse off.”

“they have no WATER, even, in many places. any homeless person in the US can get themselves a glass of water.”

“Update from Haiti: "People with broken limbs were so numb they don't cry"”

Oh my blood is boiling over this.

But before I dive off the deep end and upset people. Let me state for the record that Haiti is a massive disaster and the price in human life that has been paid, the suffering that is going on with the survivors, is truly beyond words. (On a side note once more the international community are demonstrating that they are not capable of organising a piss up at a brewery let alone get desperately needed aid to the survivors.)

Right now on to upsetting folks…

If your sitting at home deciding “do I pay the bills this week or eat?”, maybe the debt collectors are knocking at your door, or your biggest decision of the day is which doorway or alleyway do I sleep in tonight, do you really need some self righteous git telling you to stop feeling sorry for yourself because there are worse off out there?

In case you are wondering and weighing up the pros and cons of the argument, let me give you a big hint. The answer is NO.

I’m not saying that folks in the circumstances described are heartless or shouldn’t care, they will be shocked, horrified by the images coming out of Haiti. They will also feel empathy for the survivors and their struggle to live through the aftermath.

The last thing we need are sanctimonious twats sitting in their smug comfortable towers, looking down on the less fortunate and preaching to them.

There was only one reason for that initial tweet. It wasn’t to inform people of the horrors that have happened, or of the struggle to exist by the survivors. No it was a plain and simple attempt to make folks feel guilty. As were the follow up tweets,which were meant to make me feel guilty for even voicing dissent against the first tweet they did.

I hate these guilt trips that they try to play on people. I really do. Luckily for me I am an insensitive bastard that is already suffering for past crimes against humanity in a previous life (feck does this mean in my next life I’m going to suffer even more? Will I not learn? Looks not.)

If all you have to add to the discussion is playing the guilt factor like this, then I have something to say to you. Shut the feck up and listen to the conversation between the adults, and try and learn something.

I’d like to close on a positive note, and say how much I admire those that are raising money to help those in Haiti. Whether it is by passing on info on how to donate and where, to those that are doing sponsored events.