Not to be a buzzkill...

(posted 8/7/06)

A bulletin is circulating among the boards asking people to repost for the sake of a 23-year-old man with a brain tumor and lung cancer and so forth. He claims that he can't pay his medical bills and that for everyone who reposts said bulletin, the Make-A-Wish Foundation will donate seven cents to his cause. He includes the usual statements about being selfish if you don't do it and whatnot, and even includes his phone number, if you wanna call him and verify it. Quote: "Repost this or you have no soul seriously."

I HATE being told things like that. So, I did a little research.

First of all, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, one of my favorite charities, is an organization which provides ailing children the chance to fulfill a dream, from meeting a favorite celebrity to participating in an activity that might otherwise be impossible. They are a wholly non-profit organization, operating entirely on the donations of the public and the good graces of those who choose to participate.

They are not an organization which is in a financial position to readily donate thousands of dollars through an internet petition. There are many organizations which can donate such amounts, and do, but their work has a different focus. Their goal is not necessarily treating the medical condition itself, but helping the person who suffers from it, and giving them a memory which will aid them in coping with the affliction.

They also, as noted, deal almost exclusively with children, so the notion that Make-A-Wish would be donating such an amount to a 23-year-old man is doubly problematic.

Beyond that, let us reflect upon even the basic idea that the number of times a bulletin is reposted will be tracked, apparently by MySpace, within what would have to be a set-yet-curiously-undefined time limit, then this number would be reported to whatever foundation would actually sponsor such a thing, who then in turn would give whatever appropriate amount would be necessary to the guy for his operations. Seems rather complex a series of events when JUST GIVING HIM THE NECESSARY FUNDS was possible. Why would a worthwhile charity resort to such a jumping-through-hoops publicity stunt?

The simple answer: they wouldn't. I called the Ohio chapter of Make-A-Wish to verify that there was, to the best of their knowledge, no such program organized through MySpace or anywhere else. ("We just don't do things like that," the operator I talked to said.)

My guess, this whole thing is a scam to see how many people they can get to repost it. The folks who repost feel good about themselves, which is as good a reason as any to do such a thing. No harm in that.

The harm comes in guilt-tripping. Insisting to people that whether or not they repost such a thing indicates whether or not they are a good person is straight up bulls#!t. To manipulate another's emotions by claiming such things, when you yourself are quite clearly making this up and are just messing with their heads for no reason, is EVIL. Period.

If you want to do some good, that's wonderful. The Make-A-Wish Foundation website is at http://www.wish.org, and they're all set to accept donations, no matter how big or small. If not Make-A-Wish, there are tons of very worthy charities which could use a helping hand. If you can't for whatever reason, that's cool. You should give because you can and you want to. You shouldn't because you feel you have to, or because someone is trying to shame you into action.
Just my opinion.