Joshua+W’s+Final+AmEx+2013+Speech

=Title of Speech= Money

=Text of Speech= Do you guys remember Hurricane Katrina? And how there seemed to be a national movement to just donate as much money as possible to whoever and their dog appeared to need it? Yeah, why did we do that? Why did we all text that number to give $10 away to the “victims” of Katrina? Logically, the victims chose to remain in the city. Logically the government could accumulate a mass of resources more than capable of handling any problem with the destroyed city of New Orleans. Yet, millions of dollars flooded into the Red Cross, just as images of the broken city stormed onto our news stations. The same goes for the earthquake in Haiti, why did American society suddenly care about some 3rd world country rocked by an earthquake that comparably didn’t kill that many people. In reality, I’m fairly confident that only a couple of you at the most could point out Haiti on a map. Or what about the more recent “Kony” movement; we all know how that ended up.

But I think our monetary donation habits are more telling of how we as a society really are; more than our music, our politics, our jobs, our lives, and we as a society have grown accustomed to it. We, the average American, are blissfully apathetic to the world around us. We don’t care that nerve gas was just used on Syrian civilians, or that a factory in Bangladesh collapsed killing several hundred people. Syria doesn’t really have oil, and as long as the people of Bangladesh willfully accept that they are the poor, oppressed underclass of the world, destined to make shoes for eternity because they were the last to industrialize, we don’t have a problem. When we are forced to confront something terrible, like viewing pictures of sad looking, mutilated dogs while listening to that one song “In the Arms of Angels”, we prefer to look away, or turn the channel, anything to become the demons of apathy. Only it seems, is when giving money the “cool thing to do” actually effective.

But alas, the American psyche has to maintain a blissful ego in that we are “The Saviors of the World.” Thus we hypocritically waste our money on seemingly innate events. When donations stopped going into Invisible Children, did militant children rates in Africa suddenly stop being an issue? Were child soldiers suddenly a thing of the past? Or did American society just stop caring? Looking among the people of this room, I remember which of you bought the T-shirts, the stickers, and the buttons; and I’m not confident you bought those things out of the genuine desire to put an end to the most misleading day care service in the world, but more so out of a sociological need to pursue a path of self-righteousness.

From a utilitarian standpoint, what would have helped more people, what would have done more good? Would emptying our pocket change into a relief fund to help at most a few thousand child soldiers be better than donating just as much for the million children who die EVERY YEAR from malaria? How can we claim to be a positive force of change in the world when we actively try to ignore current issues in the United States and in the world that actually matter, while promoting those that simply don’t? The fact of the matter is that the government, which has always been popular to blame for everything, is a direct reflection of the society that supposedly controls it. A bumbling, inept government is ultimately run by a bumbling, inept majority. I think needlessly giving cash to people who arguably don’t need it compared to others is rather indicative to how much the “information age” and all-knowing global awareness has really taken affect.

The change I’d thus like to see for America is the shifting away from the bandwagon-like mentality that drives not only our pocket books, but also our own personal and nationalistic egos. So next time a fad charity or cause comes up, beckoning and painting a target on itself for you to throw your money at, consider that your funds can probably be used to generate a lot more good in the world than ineffective relief towards the latest wild tornado that happened somewhere in Oklahoma. Thank You.

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