Katrina chaos and fundraising

[Bob S.]

I have wondered about how much the chaos that was post Katrina New Orleans helped in terms of raising money and other forms of help.

If our governments hadn't dropped the ball, do you think NBC's first fundraising "concert" would have been scheduled so soon? They would have probably waited for the second, multi-network and cable telethon.

Jerry Lewis probably would have still donated part of his Labor Day telethon donations to the efforts.

Do you think the amount of donations and how quickly they came in had somewhat to do with the chaos and helpless images that we saw on our TV screens? Do you think those pictures affected some other countries to give more than they would have?

Bob S.

[Bob S.]

I have wondered about how much the chaos that was post Katrina New Orleans helped in terms of raising money and other forms of help.

If our governments hadn't dropped the ball, do you think NBC's first fundraising "concert" would have been scheduled so soon? They would have probably waited for the second, multi-network and cable telethon.

Jerry Lewis probably would have still donated part of his Labor Day telethon donations to the efforts.

Do you think the amount of donations and how quickly they came in had somewhat to do with the chaos and helpless images that we saw on our TV screens? Do you think those pictures affected some other countries to give more than they would have?

Bob S.

[usuallylurk]

Well, Americans are very quick to help their own. They're NOT so quick to help others.

During the famine / crises in places like Ethiopia, I think you'll probably remember that the bulk of the aid came from Europe.

Most certainly, Americans paid a good chunk of the relief through "foreign aid" (tax dollars) but it seems that they will only volunteer aid if it's their own.

During the G-8 conference, there was a series of concerts around the world called "Live 8" - primarily with a theme of "Justice for Africa".

I don't know if it was a business decision OR a twisted-arm decision, but "Live 8" media and television coverage was extremely scanty in the United States, even though Philadelphia was one of the venues.

I heard that snippets of the event were shown on MTV, but that was it. And this isn't the first time overseas major relief efforts were given just a cursory look-see.