Give money to Haiti, not Japan.

[myk]

Originally Posted by adriennebanker

I can actually see the logic in OP's post but I'm actually more concerned whether my donations really reach those who are in need. Whether you give to Japan or Haiti, are you sure that your donations are really used for their intended purpose? Just wondering...

That's always the number one thing on my mind when it comes to donating for any good cause. Every charity is an organization, and every organization has employees up at the top that need to be paid. And then there's advertising. Advertising firms, actors, etc. They all need to get paid. An organization's first priority is perpetuating itself, and I'm quite sure that's where most of the money goes.

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by MMM

Quite the contrary. Ronin has decided this is personal, not me. That being said, I dont like new members getting frightened away by thread titles such as this one. Ronin, look how many posts of yours I have responded to in the last month, and you will see how real the "vendetta" I have against you is. I am just sorry to see Nippom turned off by it.

lol.. I know it's personal for you.

I mean you essentially just accused me of being a troll for starting this thread when you know how this thread was started. You played a part in it's coming to be.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Ronin4hire

lol.. I know it's personal for you.

I mean you essentially just accused me of being a troll for starting this thread when you know how this thread was started. You played a part in it's coming to be.

You don't know me or anything about me.

The only reason I piped in is because I didn't want Nippom to be so frustrated that he left the boards. That is all.

Now this is me disengaging from you again, as I don't feel like being accused of trolling and stalking yet again.

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by MMM

You don't know me or anything about me.

The only reason I piped in is because I didn't want Nippom to be so frustrated that he left the boards. That is all.

Now this is me disengaging from you again, as I don't feel like being accused of trolling and stalking yet again.

Ditto with me.

If that was the only reason you piped in then you probably should've left out the part where you accused me of trolling when in fact you know the facts about how this thread came into fruition.

Next time you decide to passively aggressively take a dig don't be surprised if you get accused of trolling. (I never accused you of stalking)

[Ronin4hire]

1- There are next to no Japanese on this site.
2- I have Japanese friends. Close ones too. And while I don't know all of their opinions on such a matter, I know that a couple agree with me.
3- I have nothing to be embarrased about... I wasn't trolling.. I asked a legitimate question and made what I thought to be a rational point.
4- I never made any insulting remarks to Japanese... the only insulting remarks I made here were directed to particular people who I felt deserved them.

Finally if you understood Japanese culture like you say you do.. you would understand that emotion is seen as somewhat of a weakness. Your objection to what I wrote has everything to do with your emotional disposition and what you PERCIEVE I said (I repeat I never insulted Japanese people) and nothing to do with a logical and rationale counter argument.

[dogsbody70]

I would not worry Nippom, Ronin likes to be controversial. I doubt if many others agreed with his post-- so do not let it worry you.

[RobinMask]

I'm going to be honest and say I can't be bothered to go through pages and pages - since the last time I checked this thread - to see what's been said, so sorry in advance if I repeat anything . . .

I have to ask why the huge outcry against what Ronin said? Logicaly he has a point. I won't say if I agree or disagree, I think that's irrelevant at this stage, but I do think it's unfair for one guy to get so much hassle when he asks a legitimate question. In the press the Japanese seem to empthasise to quite a degree just how okay they are and how they will be fine, it seems to me that it's the Western press that paints them as bein helpless . . . what happened is an awful, awful tragedy, but if the country that has been affected doesn't ask for help then surely it's better to divert that help to other nations who do require/ask for it? I remember at the start of all this that the US had ships and people ready to help the moment Japan asked, and they delayed asking for quite some time . . .

Aside from that the country is far richer than other nations, such as Haiti, who - as far as I'm aware - are still effected even now, a year or more later, by what happened there. I think the people in Japan need all the help and support they can get, but the question is can Japan help itself and do we need to intervene? I think it's a worthy debate to ask whether our time/resources are being distributed fairly and whether we couldn't be helping someone more by sending our money elsewhere.

[dogsbody70]

ahwell to each his own but I personally disagreed with Ronin.

Not a very nice thing to post on the actual Japan Forum and I personally sent some money.

Seeing the devastation, what human heart can turn away?

My friend has lost some good friends--

Have some compassion please.


I also donated to Haiti long ago-- its up to individuals to decide where they make donations.

Maybe Japan was rich but thats what they say about our own country-- yet many individuals are struggling to survive.

[RickOShay]

Originally Posted by RobinMask

I'm going to be honest and say I can't be bothered to go through pages and pages - since the last time I checked this thread - to see what's been said, so sorry in advance if I repeat anything . . .

I have to ask why the huge outcry against what Ronin said? Logicaly he has a point. I won't say if I agree or disagree, I think that's irrelevant at this stage, but I do think it's unfair for one guy to get so much hassle when he asks a legitimate question. In the press the Japanese seem to empthasise to quite a degree just how okay they are and how they will be fine, it seems to me that it's the Western press that paints them as bein helpless . . . what happened is an awful, awful tragedy, but if the country that has been affected doesn't ask for help then surely it's better to divert that help to other nations who do require/ask for it? I remember at the start of all this that the US had ships and people ready to help the moment Japan asked, and they delayed asking for quite some time . . .

Aside from that the country is far richer than other nations, such as Haiti, who - as far as I'm aware - are still effected even now, a year or more later, by what happened there. I think the people in Japan need all the help and support they can get, but the question is can Japan help itself and do we need to intervene? I think it's a worthy debate to ask whether our time/resources are being distributed fairly and whether we couldn't be helping someone more by sending our money elsewhere.

I agree with Robin. Ronin while many times controversial and provoking, has a valid point. Japan is far richer than Haiti, and is much more capable of helping itself. I live in Japan, and I have yet to talk to a Japanese person since this tragedy who has some sort of "poor us" attitude. While I am sure Japan appreciates all the support it has gotten, as a nation I do not think the Japanese people have thought for a minute that they, in time, could not overcome this tragedy by themselves. Resources are finite, and Haiti is clearly the more desperate nation here. I think that is all Ronin was trying to say.

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by Nippom

The originator of this thread seeks charitable support for a manifestly uncharitable position which amounts to kicking Japan while she is down.

It would be better to say, 'Give money to Haiti also', not 'Give to Haiti but not Japan'.
To say 'not to Japan', in a forum titled www.japanforum.com, is 'in your face' uncharitable.
To justify such an insupportable position by claiming that a nation which has suffered quake, fire, tsunami, and nuclear disaster of historic proportions which moved much of Japan laterally by 2 or more meters, and shifted the axis of the poles, is 'rich', is also uncharitable.
To justify such an insupportable position even further by claiming 'there are next to no Japanese on this site' -'if' true (not saying it is)- begs the question; 'Why?'
This in turn points quite logically and straightforwardly to the obvious answer, 'Because there are people at this forum indulging (i.e. catering to baser emotions) in making uncharitable remarks about the Japanese, such as using 'major' disaster as a form of psychological leverage to gain additional impact or mileage for their cheap shots'.

He also needs to clarify what he means about 'emotion is seen as somewhat of a weakness' (in Japan), as to whether he is referring to 'not showing any emotion' at all, or even merely to 'feel it' (resulting in inhuman automatons), or perhaps to 'show emotion inappropriately according to Japanese norms'.

Actually, the trend of his posts for this entire thread points to an obsession with provoking others into showing a lack of politeness.
Which in turn begs the question; Why?
One might conjecture -although nothing can be stated for certain- that this can be turned around, and in the turning reveals the silhouette of someone who tried to impress Japanese society with his natural gifts, and could not understand why the Japanese were not only not appreciative, but were turned off.
That's because it is the custom in Japan to downplay compliments, and not to do so is viewed as gauche and the sign of an overweening ego-tripper.
Not that such a perception is true, merely that it is a Japanese cultural norm in much of society.
The proper response to a compliment is to downplay or deny it.
One conjectures further that the more he ran into this, the more he tried to contradict it by trying to impress the Japanese he met even more.
This would result in a 'vicious circle' of his ever downwards-spiraling reputation, as he continued to miss the point of the game.
After all, he has stated over and over in this thread that he sees no reason to change his ways or to accommodate others; why should he have done so for the Japanese?
Which brings us to the very title and point of this thread; that he refuses to accommodate the Japanese.
If -'if', mind you, but by no means for certain- this conjecture is supported by the trend of this thread, then what we may ascertain here is that he persisted in 'doing it his way' and the Japanese around him persisted in 'being Japanese' and not appreciating it and -key issue here- acting like he is socially out of step (according to their norms) -which is not the same thing as 'emotionally out of control' but could possibly be perceived as such by him- around and around, down and down, and eventually resulting in social burn-out with Japanese society in general.
So what do we see now, but someone endlessly provoking everyone around him at a Japanese forum -this is not www.haitiforum.com- into acting like they are the ones who are out of step, who do not have emotional self-control, and always summing up each post with the self-gratifying remark that he's fine, he's not emotional, he 'does not care' what others think.

I didn't even understand half of that. Is English your native language?

The parts I did understand just show that you're crazy.

Bottom line is as Robin and Rick have put it. There have been some rational counter points made sure.... but most of this thread is people getting irrationally upset.