Free The Animal

So can anyone tell me when the the notion of charity — to give help — became “giving back?” Do you see the difference; the moral difference? To put it most bluntly: in the former, you’re giving someone your property. In the later, you’re giving back someone their property, carrying with it the implication that you didn’t earn it — commonly known as stealing — and they are the ones entitled to and deserving of it. I watched a big big show last night that raised a lot of money under the moral principle of “giving back,” wherein I suppose that millions were encouraged to feel guilty — perhaps because it has been found more motivational and effective than causing people to feel pity, compassion, good will. I’m not even going get started on the whole insanity of dependence-perpetuating aid to Africa and elsewhere, much of which ends up as cash or product in the hands of the kleptocracy and of their nomenklatura*. What those people really need is freedom to prosper, and they’ll take care of their own problems. Here is, I think, a perfect charity: Kiva.org. And it sports the correct moral principle too: loan them your money,…

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