When I am flailing around in despair at how much power other people have to affect my life, one of the worst parts is realizing how little I can do about it. I can…hold up a protest sign? I guess? Or come up with a REALLY SCATHING remark to post on Twitter! Or I suppose I could acquire a skill that would be useful in the fight, then devote my life to an organization working on the situation that is currently upsetting me—though then what about all the OTHER situations that upset me?
So as I say, one of the worst parts is realizing that practically speaking, there is very little I personally can do to change anything. The United States is a republic (“and to the republic for which it stands”), not a democracy, and the individual vote is as important as when M&Ms was choosing a new color and wanted customer input before they (THEY, not the people they asked to vote) made the decision.
And this is where Spite Charity comes in, except in this case I guess I’d call it Comfort Charity, or Feeling Like I CAN Change Things Charity. I may not want to quit my life to work on one cause, but I can send money to the people who are doing that very thing. It may be crap that the work has to be done, but I can donate to a cause that’s doing it. Supporting the people who ARE in a position to change things is an important way to help change things.
Ah, I’ve done this very thing before, and it does feel great. I bet Planned Parenthood will get a few donations (including mine) based on this post today :)
You can also donate in honor of someone, and then that person gets a postcard saying it happened.
So, as a random example, you could say Howdy to the Greenes.
I made A LOT of rage-fueled donations yesterday.
can you look at PP’s website and see how much someone, say the hobby lobby ppl, has donated
? that could be entertaining
My version of this is not shopping at stores that make large donations to the causes I can’t get behind. I haven’t shopped at Hobby Lobby in a year, and you can look up a list of companies to see who backs which political party, cause, etc. Maybe this is already common knowledge, but I definitely didn’t know about it until a few years ago. Not shopping at certain stores has the added benefit of making one feel like a bit of a martyr. “Oh, Hobby Lobby. Your 75% off coupons will not sway me, I am strong and I can do without!”
I find it also makes life easier without all those choices. I don’t have to look at the Hobby Lobby ad because I won’t be caught dead in there, even though they apparently have fantastic printed duck fabrics. Or I don’t even have to look at the BP sign because I will not buy gas from them. And I can feel righteous in the process.
… and if, hypothetically speaking, your state government is gradually dismantling all you hold dear — education, voting rights, those kinds of things, and if, on top of that, they are attacking another thing you value, progressive taxation, and if, hypothetically speaking, this attack results in your paying fewer, not more, taxes, because apparently you are among the better off (and even if it doesn’t always feel that way you know it is true), well then, you can each month give the amount you would have paid in taxes to a cause that horrifies your elected state officials (the ones enacting aforementioned policies). Yes, state legislators/governor: Planned Parenthood *and* the Human Rights Campaign, among others, thank you for allowing me to pay less in taxes so I can give the difference to these valuable causes.
So very true! I can help, even though it won’t be me slamming down a gavel of justice, maybe I can help fund the person doing so. Your tweet last night inspired me to donate to Planned Parenthood.
There’s no more powerful group in the world than consumers – WE hold the world’s purse-strings more than our governments do. The trouble is we are unorganised, and sometimes lose faith in the power of our choices – this $5.00 widget or that $6.00 widget? Or no widget at all? Buy local or online? Buy a second-hand dress or a new one made in awful conditions? Or scrimp and save to have a local tailor make one, or buy from an ethical manufacturer? I love to remind myself of this power I have, even though it can feel insignificant sometimes. Time to make a donation!