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A comment on Studying the demise of historic civilisations. Parent comment

Re:Studying the demise of historic civilisations by taurath on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @01:39AM (#19308554)
Personal sacrifice has really fallen by the wayside especially with the already wealthy. Altruism is probably not the solution though. The most charitable people are those who can empathize with the poor, and that seems to be in real short supply.
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Re:Studying the demise of historic civilisations by wallace_f on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @01:54AM (#19308607)
If you've ever been poor or on the receiving end of cult of personality of bullying you really quickly realize in how short supply altruism is in the world.
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Re:Studying the demise of historic civilisations by pizzazzaro on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @02:34AM (#19308819)
The problem here? The only people who share with the poor are those who can relate. And that happens to be... the poor.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129068...

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Re:Studying the demise of historic civilisations by kbenson on Tuesday March 05, 2019 @01:55AM (#19308613)
> The most charitable people are those who can empathize with the poor

I wonder. The most charitable, or most people that are charitable? According to this[1] (which references a paywalled report), middle-class Americans account for nearly two-thirds of charitable giving. That doesn't necessarily mean the rest is from upper class giving, but I think it's a fairly safe assumption (especially given some of the other points in the article). And if the rich are giving, it might be less of an empathy, and more of a sympathy (or even guilt).

Then again, perhaps you meant the most charitable as in giving the largest percentage of their income. Or maybe of their disposable income, in which case, maybe the poor would actually be the most charitable in some areas.

In any case, I think charitable giving is actually a fairly complex topic that might not be accurately summed up as easily as your comment implies.

1: https://www.philanthropy.com/article/America-s-Generosity-Di...

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