Charities Make Things Worse
Why I don’t give, and you shouldn’t either
Charity as Humbug
In one of the early scenes of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is visited in his office by two “portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold”, who attempt to persuade him to contribute to a fund they are raising “to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth.” They are doing it at Christmas “because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices.” Scrooge responds by listing the (limited and unpleasant) options open to the destitute at the time, pointing out that he himself does not celebrate the season, and indicating that he pays his share (in taxes) to support the official programmes and is unwilling to pay more. Those who are poor, he says, must make use of what is provided. After some more argument, designed to make the portly gentlemen appear philanthropic and Scrooge brutal, he dismisses them with the statement that “It’s enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people’s.”
This morning, while shopping in Tescos’, I was approached by a well-dressed woman, pushing a trolley loaded with high-end groceries, in the tinned food aisle, where I was picking up chopped tomatoes for a lasagna.
