Posted by
JDComments on Monday, December 18, 2006 12:30:27 PM
This
article from American Thinker reports how money given for tsunami relief actually wound up being used to enforce Muslim laws, including the lashing of women for violations of Sharia law.
The point is that as moral and uplifting as it is to give charity, there are instances where it is counterproductive if not downright antithetical to our interests and values. Subsidizing a militant Muslim government as in this case is an obvious instance of this paradox, but it is hardly alone. Supplying food to North Korea is something that has never made sense to me, as it props up a government which is threatening to spread nuclear weapons throughout the world.
Yes, it is horrible to see those people suffer, but are we doing them or us any favors by helping to maintain an authoritarian regime that oppresses them while endangering us? Regardless of what some say, I believe a people should be held responsible for their governments, whether they voted them into office like Hamas, or they just accept them docilely like in North Korea.
If the population arose in revolt even Kim Jong Il would have to take notice, as did the Ukrainian leaders during the "orange" revolution. Yes, it will be difficult to get citizens who have lived under a dictatorship to express their outrage, but starvation is one of those motivators that might just work. We won't know until we stop providing food which is used to pacify the people and keep them servile.
The point is that charity should not be a knee jerk response which ignores the government that is receiving it because it is for the "people". As hard as it is for Liberals to understand, the rulers always wind up benefitting from any kind of aid, and it is usually to our's and their people's detriment. Like our military policies which seek to prevent short term disruptions and damage and instead cause long term havoc, our charity is often shortsighted and results in consequences which can be more harmful than those which we sought to ameliorate. It's time to be more responsible, even if in the world's eyes we seem callous.