Our Moral Blindspot

I think some people expect me to judge them if they get upset at the “first world problems” we all deal with on a day to day basis. But I don’t, nor will I ever. Part of the human experience is having good days and bad days, joyful moments and frustrating ones. Perhaps I’m a little more relaxed in challenging situations than I used to be but so what? We’re all just learning and working to be better people every day and that’s all we can ask of ourselves.

That being said, I have been bothered viewing Americans’ perception of America’s problems in a global context (our political climate notwithstanding). I have found that too many tend to dramatize and exaggerate the plight of a group or even our society as a whole. While Ghana hardly exposed me to the most challenging conditions people are facing in this day in age, it gave me a glimpse into the world outside our western bubble and the reality is humbling.

I recently stumbled upon a video of Arnold Schwarzenegger during his run for Governor of California. He gets egged by a heckler and instead of getting distressed and using it to instill doubt and fear among his supporters or to paint all of his opponents as enemies, he reminded people that sometimes getting egged is the price we pay for our freedoms. “I love this country and you have to take the whole package when you love something,” he said. In my opinion, too many Americans have lost sight of the bigger picture. Despite our flaws and despite our differences, we are still a strong country with a vibrant culture made up of valuable people, the majority of whom care deeply about others and try to be fair and honest as best they can even if they disagree how that should be done. I met a French woman on a plane recently who moved to New Jersey two years ago. She talked energetically about her shock when so many Americans asked her why on earth she’d move to the US. I didn’t find this story surprising given my own anecdotal experiences, but I was still disheartened.

The United States history has been a highlight reel of social movements aimed to protect minorities in this country. It hasn’t always moved fast enough and has often been hypocritical in nature, but slowly we’ve made progress. However, I wonder if we don’t have a moral blindspot that precludes us from protecting minorities abroad much greater in population and need than our own. In fact, even the term “minority” in this context is a misnomer because they are far greater in number than we are. So while I understand when someone is having a bad day because they had to sit in traffic all morning, I have a harder time understanding someone who feels so passionately about social injustices in the US while using their iPhone bought from Wal-Mart wearing Nike clothing, all of which have long histories of questionable ethical global practices much worse than what we are facing in the United States.

I’m not suggesting we all deserve to rot in hell for our shortcomings. It’s extremely difficult to be purely ethical and the reality is that making compromises is an inevitable consequence of living in this day in age. You simply can’t escape oppression of some kind and function in today’s society at a high level. The writers of the show "The Good Place" (SPOILER ALERT COMING!) realize this fact and they place that view center stage during season 3. No one has gotten into "The Good Place" after they die because it is too difficult to be purely good all the time these days. Almost every action has some other negative consequence.

I’m also not suggesting we stop fighting against inequality in the United States because “it’s not as bad as in other countries.” My appeal here is simply that we start devoting more energy to assisting the people who are in the most need of our resources. I do believe that American’s care deeply about others but I wonder if our collective energy to fight these injustices could be better focused on international communities.

Most Americans agree, even if they don’t know it.

http://worldpublicopinion.net/american-public-vastly-overestimates-amount-of-u-s-foreign-aid/

As the article states,

Asked to estimate how much of the federal budget goes to foreign aid the median estimate is 25 percent. Asked how much they thought would be an “appropriate” percentage the median response is 10 percent.

In fact just 1 percent of the federal budget goes to foreign aid. Even if one only includes the discretionary part of the federal budget, foreign aid represents only 2.6 percent.

This means that American's believe we should cut foreign aid spending but only because they are under the impression we spend ten times the amount of money in this area than we actually do. If they controlled the federal budget, we would spend four times the current expenditure number. Regardless of the cause of this somewhat paradoxical reality, we should be comforted knowing that a substantial number of Americans do believe foreign aid is a good thing.

That being said, my general appeal isn’t even that we devote more government funds towards foreign aid and development, although I do believe it’s in the United States’ best interest to maintain a healthy level of investment in this area. I’m actually appealing to something much larger. We, as a society, need to turn our collective attention towards the people most in need of our assistance. The people who were born on the wrong piece of land and live in dire situations for which they are neither the cause nor the culprit. Together, we need to consciously recognize the power we have to influence the world and begin to make personal sacrifices for those that most need our support.

Current international affairs should be a required High School course. Individually we should start to give more “clicks” to international news stories online so that various media companies have more incentive to cover these stories well and lead with them in the nightly news. Our selection of tourism destinations should be more diverse and target under served markets that are culturally interesting, safe and rewarding. Our next social movement should focus on the international populations we’re failing either through poor foreign policy or general apathy.

All of this ultimately leads to an important question I’ve been asked a number of times and for which I admittedly don’t have a great answer: What can I do to help?

I’ve written elsewhere about the challenges and risks of simply giving money to people in developing countries. But I do think targeted money could still be useful. Kiva.org, an organization that gives microloans to people in developing countries, is an especially good example. I’d also suggest checking out the Peace Corps donate page, since all of that money will be managed by a volunteer who has been trained to mitigate the potential consequences. If you feel strongly that you want to contribute in this way, consider making a pledge to donate a certain portion of your income to these types of causes. I think most people can live off 90% of their earned income every year by making smart financial decisions.

Pledge or no pledge, I would encourage you against blind donations to unknown organizations or entities. This can be analogous to giving money to panhandlers as an effort to solve homelessness. It would likely only exacerbate the problem for some short-term relief. Instead, you’d want to find a local organization who has a more comprehensive plan to combat homelessness long-term and donate directly to them. This is true of international aid work as well, although many of the organizations that seem good on paper will still have various unintended consequences from their work. The Tom’s Shoes example comes to mind. This shouldn’t deter us from contributing but instead remind us to be diligent in how we go about it. Givewell.org is excellent place to start your research.

If you want to do more than just give money, there are ways to promote cross cultural exchange and understanding. If you’re a teacher, start a pen pal program with a school in a country the kids may not otherwise be exposed to. If you work in the media, find ways to bring attention to international causes. If you’re in the medical field, consider dedicating some of your time towards organizations working abroad like Operation Smile. And for the love of God, please vote for candidates who view smart development work and strategic diplomatic relationships as vital to the long-term success of the United States and the world.

Finally, I’m working on a project to assist my community and the surrounding areas that will need support from my friends and family back home so there will be an opportunity for people to get involved. I hope to have more information about this in the next couple of months and I’ll post here again when I work out the details!