first off, my thoughts and prayers go out to those who were affected by the earthquake and tsunami. as someone once put it "even if you do not believe in religion or god(s), it's still ok to pray, hope and wish."
secondly, while browsing the official wow forums i came across this post. personally i feel that the idea, regardless if it the poster was serious about it or not, is in poor taste.
some may feel that it's an appropriate way to help the victims and their friends/families (and 'hey, why not receive a companion pet while at it too, right?'), but this is a vastly different situation than say to a donation to the make a wish foundation by blizzard from the profits generated by the PetStore.
unlike the make a wish foundation who's purpose and intent is to help children with a terminal illness to live their hopes and dreams in a light-hearted fashion, the disaster in japan has more serious and somber undertones. fundraisers for japan deserve a solemn approach out of respect for their dire and immediate need.
that isn't to say the make a wish foundation isn't serious about easing the pain and suffering of children, or that the situation the kids face is something to brush off or laugh about. it's just that the two situations really don't compare.
those willing and wishing to aid those affected should instead direct their attention to organizations like the red cross and other similar non-governmental organizations. for a major disaster situation like this, if you are seeking to help, do so with the purest intentions of helping. not for the sake or even secondary intent of receiving something from it (such as a non-combat pet). unlike donating money to see a child's dream be lived out, this isn't a whimsical and cherry occurrence. the lives of thousands are at stake.
just my two cents.
Perks N Peeves by Quintessence is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
The one thing I have to add is: yes, you shouldn't give money to get a pet, but then there are many who just don't think of giving money, but they'd buy a pet. Maybe in this case it's not so important what is *right* as to get money to Japan, even if it's given from the "wrong" mindset.
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On the other hand, it would likely get money out of people who might not donate at all, and additional money out of people who have. The end result would be more donations, with probably relatively little effort on Blizzard's part. (Obviously an artist and an animator would have to be involved, but I wouldn't be surprised if they always had some pet store ideas in some stage of completion anyway.)
ReplyDelete@Anonymous & Ringo Flinthammer: that's definitely a good point. any help is better than no help at all, even if it means going about achieving it in a distasteful way.
ReplyDeleteto me it's still unethical. people shouldn't have to be bribed or guilted into donating for a cause such as a fundraiser for disaster victims.
it would also depend on how blizzard handles the donations. if it's only half of the proceeds from any potential PetStore item being donated to the red cross or other similar organization, then it would REALLY be in poor taste. if they did come out with something from the blizzard store specifically for a fundraiser for japan aid, i'd like to see 100% of the profits be donated at the very least.
Im skeptical as always, but what makes you think Quint that ALL the money goes where it should be through Red Cross etc...?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: if non-profit, non-governmental organizations such as the red cross aren't providing the aid to disaster victims as they claim to be, then something is VERY wrong. i'm pretty sure it's illegal if the money isn't being directed to where they claim it's going.
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