At the start of the 2020 pandemic, calls for more charity and to help others were voiced aloud around the world. Musicians organized online fundraise concerts to support health workers, former students took to the streets to give free meals to everybody. For those who lost their income as a result of the world lockdowns at the time, free food was the cure for hunger. It is human nature that moves easily and feels pity for the pain of others when they themselves need to cope with a more or less the same situation. There are not a few people among us who, in the middle of money problems, cannot remain cold as they see other people's suffering through social media. They project the burdens from Mondays to Sundays into the minds and reflect the ache to all those who have similar circumstances.
“Among its other benefits, giving
liberates the soul of the giver,” Maya Anglou said. Mathematically presumed,
the donor will obviously incur losses as he/she gives things which were their
personal belongings. So how could there be any relief if they voluntarily give
up their property? Are we hoping that our donations to others will come back in
a different way? Was it an unconditional donation? In my opinion, the answers
are in a way homework to do.
Luckily for you, if you feel like a person who still have something to provide to
others in need. If not, most people will turn to social media to express their
sympathy and our friends online may
never notice if it really comes from the depths of our hearts. Or, this is
merely our attempt to project our misfortunes to someone else. In spite of the
impending controversies of our day, social media is still worthy of being a space
to channel freedom of expression and to call for help.
Reflecting on Russia-Ukraine conflict, Ukraine President Voldymyr Zelensky once managed
his Telegram (which ironically belongs to Russian IT millionaire Pavel Durov)
channel to draw sympathies and to raise weaponry support by European, North
American, and even Asian countries. As the outbreak of Russia’s special
military operation started on February 24th, 2022, some countries have shipped
old stockpiles of weaponry from the Soviet era, such as S-300 missile system
donated by Slovakia and Mil MI-17 helicopters from the United States as part of
Ukraine’s $33 billion support package. The Russian military has stated that its
only objective is to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, avoiding civilians
casualties. All this heavy support, in turn, will wind up in smoke while the
Russian troops destroy them. A report reads, the West massive weapon supplies
which escape the demolition will go to the black market later on, considering
Ukraine is also well-known as one of the largest weaponry black market in Europe
Off-target aid
A few years ago, small groups of people were walking around my city's traffic
lights asking for donations from passersby on the streets. A national flag
belongs to a country with decades of seemingly endless conflicts carried with
them. A friend of mine asked me how we could ensure that the donations we have
made would end up in that country. News flash – charity or donation fraud turns
to be a common phenomenon in the United States of which FBI decided to open special
communication lines for the victims of this scheme. Reuters described some
donators’ common mistakes, such as donate less than $25 and being “too
generous.” When the donators gave small money, this might pushed charity fraudsters
to ask for more, Reuters said. It reminds us to the Mr. Zelensky's emotional plea
for help Telegram post which has led some people to believe protraction of
Russians hostilities.
Those who are not in the full capacity to donate money or goods tend to choose expressing their concern on social media channels, hoping to raise people’s solidarity and influence them to make real donations. Again, Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine has justified most of people to think that the assailant is a brutal aggressor, not deserve to be part of global community regardless the surround of the situation. The friction between the weak and the strong has become stories of eternal fictional inspirations, repeatedly displayed en masse as doctrine against its trivial viscosity. As Russia paralyzed a large number of Ukrainian military infrastructures, we don’t need to wait too long to see how the majority of netizens worldwide would react, particularly NATO and European Union countries.
Condemnation of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin, its military forces, and Russian civilians flooded all over social media channels since then. Moreover, people’s platform Facebook has previously allowed hate speech against Russians before suspended the policy not long after. Nevertheless, it’s more humane for everyone to respond current situation in Ukraine emotionally. A study has revealed that users who turn to the internet for entertainment, communication, and information searching purposes are likely showing more aggressive behavior, hostility, and psychologically able to overcome context information influence. Meaning, a gamer may get easily moved and spread Russophobia upon seeing a short tweet on Twitter about mass grave of genocide victims of Russian troops without examining further the information plausibility.
"We don't have to be rich to do charity," says a carpenter who once worked for our family a few years back. Of course, everyone can start a charity. Continued discouragement due to lack of money can contribute to a weak mindset, self-sabotage, a sense of lack and a loss of power to overcome obstacles. Charity, no matter how small it is, can uplift one’s spirit to walk on their daily routines.
Even so, amid higher inflation ever and the rising of living cost, charity serves to be a challenge for those who takes it as a must or simply care for others. Some people try to reassess the helpfulness of their charity, whether they are instilling laziness instead. What about the risk of charity fraud that was referred to earlier?
The identical reasoning should prevail as you feel an emotional push and look for giving your support for a cause, phenomenon, or any matter in the spotlight of trend. Charity or donation should have been given out to any individual, group, or any party, we recognize and understand precisely its background, activity, vision, and their effort to deal with the hardship. Remember, the stage has changed. Our comments and likes on social media represent our “donations” to discourse, opinion, idea, or concepts that may eventually unfold a glimpse of ourselves and what’s hidden inside our soul. An active user has the appeal to charm dark web bandits’ eyes that seek to recruit unique individuals reinforcing their reign.
My support for Russia, mostly begun as a fad and curiosity to learn about its history, ideology, political view, policies, as well as its people nature, since the college days until the present time. I don’t always agree with all of these. However, United States and its allies’ ambition toward a unipolar world needs some criticism for the sake of global equality principle. As of now, Russia (and the countries that backed it up) is the only high-powered one to disarrange the West on their way to accomplish gols.
