to think that Eddie Izzard is

[Singlenotsingle]

just another rich person trying to persuade poor people to give their hard earned money to other poor people? I've just seen him on one of these tv ads guilt tripping people into donating to a worthy cause. Whilst I can understand and sympathise with the people who need money, I can't help but think it would be better if the said Eddie Izzard put his hand in his own pocket first. rather than flouncing around in full make up and nail varnish trying to be a politician

I know - I'm totally U, aren't I?

I was a fan until he gave an interview and stated that he had undressed in a female toilet in front of teenage girls who chased him out; he seemed to think he was the victim!

In which case he's a pathetic excuse for a decent person. There is no way that anybody, male, female, trans or otherwise should be doing that.

FFS - AIBU to think this celebrity and his charity stance is wrong?"

in MN Land turns into "AIBU to turn this thread into yet another trans thread?"
Da fuq has it got to do with the price of fish?!
Been here years, but this place is slowly becoming more and more poisonous.

I also wouldn't be surprised if his charity feats were rooted in narcissistic self promotion actually

That is EXACTLY the feeling I got when I happened upon the BBC documentary. It was nothing more than self abuse. It was insane. There was no need to go to the extreme lengths he did. So what drove him to it?

I used to adore Eddie in the late 90s, I really did. But I really went off him around that time because it was so apparent that this wasn’t just about raising money for charity. There was something about the whole thing that made me really uncomfortable in a way I couldn’t articulate.

Latching onto the trans bandwagon was the final nail in the coffin for me.

While it is true that the UN dues do not fund UNICEF it would likely exist without private donations. A great deal of its funding comes from Governments, other NGOs and corporate donations.

www.unicefusa.org/about/faq

There is a very grey area between "charities" and Government when a substantial percentage of the funding, mandate and regulation is in fact coming from Government. Kids Company was a prime example of what can go wrong with this. I would prefer the Government to spend my taxes direct rather than absolving themselves of their responsibilities via "charities" and government sponsored fundraising campaigns.

GlitterStick. The actions of the man in the thread title are under discussion. If that upsets you, you might wish to not to look ?

WeBuilt, Unicef isn't the United Nations, it was created by the UN in 1946 to help protect children after World War 2. Nowadays the basic tenets are those set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. If they didn't fundraise, they wouldn't exist, and there would be thousands more children dying every year.

@SaturdayNext - Thank you very much for clarifying that - I didn't know that it was now a separate entity.

I still think that, having started it and obviously valuing its work, the UN would be in a position to give them almost unlimited funds if it wanted to, but it does make a big difference if they're no longer linked (other than the legacy name).

a male lesbian Stop the world, I want to get off.

Yes but @Tornfromtheinside for me to give up my one car would seriously impact my life. If I had several, it wouldn’t make a difference. And I’m not on TV telling people to “give us your fucking money”.

The actions of the man in the thread title are under discussion. If that upsets you, you might wish to not to look

It is poisonous. Drip drip of it every day, even in innocuous looking threads like this.

I am very uneasy about our society’s unquestioning acceptance that our huge charity industry is a sign of what a caring society we are.

Personally I feel ashamed that the majority in our society would rather keep taxes low, and shift the responsibility for looking after those left behind in our I’m all right jack ethos over the last 40years onto the handouts of charity. The homeless, the disabled, the sick, the low paid.....they brought it on themselves didn’t they, so we’ll leave it to those with a conscience to throw a few quid their way. We can even make it a fun, personally rewarding experience with a few marathons or parachute jumps thrown in.

No - a decent society is one where we don’t let these things happen in the first place, through a fair and realistic tax system and put in place some control over the huge and growing gap between the highest and lowest paid. Why do we even allow our successful citizens to avoid millions in taxes by moving their money and assets abroad while chasing up a few thousand ponds in benefit fraud?

So while I do give to certain charities I do despair that those throwing themselves enthusiastically into charity stunts, rich or poor, famous or the ordinary man in the street, are more often than not also those voting, time after time, for low taxation at any cost so that they are a few hundred quid a year better off, not seeing the irony that it’s often tax cuts and austerity that are throwing more and more people into relying on charities.

temperancefugit

Couldn’t agree more

@howabout

Very good points - I'm 100% inclined to agree.

I'm uncomfortable with the notion of huge national/international charities for humans that are or have been closely linked to governments and world-leading organisations. Water Aid is one that springs to mind - I'm not decrying the work that they do, but the amounts of money they appear to need - with their goal of clean water for everybody by 2030 - are very small in terms of global government wealth.

Why faff around with charities for such basic human needs - do we really need space exploration and what appear to be little more than willy-waving weapons programmes more than the poorest people in the world need access to clean water?

It also gets me when governments offer to match whatever is donated. On the surface, this sounds admirable, but (to me) it's effectively a way of saying "We have unlimited funds anyway, but we won't release them until ordinary folk bake cakes and children have charity non-uniform days". Fund-matching is what you do to motivate/discipline people (children mainly) to save money for a large luxury item/purpose that will benefit them anyway - it's not a game to play with starving people's lives.

Everybody knows that the big charities have big admin costs and can seem like a gravy-train for certain well-connected people - why go to all that huge effort of setting up and running a charity when you just have the money there and then to simply hand over? I still don't understand how GOSH carries out so much NHS work (whether it's technically 'owned' by the NHS or not), but is also forced to ask for further donations on top of that. What's the point of it all?

Then, even when the charities do get to work, they can sometimes cause a lot of harm in the communities as well as/instead of helping. Comic Relief didn't buy the mosquito nets from local net-makers - they shipped them in from afar to give away and instantly destroyed the livelihoods of the locals who supported their families by making and selling nets.

It's reported that the money Live Aid raised pretty much went to the wealthy countries and central bankers to pay off the debts of the poor countries - debts that they never could have paid anyway - leaving the starving children still starving. Even when actual money does reach the intended country, it seems to stay with the rich (often despotic) rulers rather than going to the people who need it. Mercedes get a huge order in, but the babies still go hungry.

@temperancefugit

Perfectly put.

GlitterStick

People are expressing their views in a civilised manner. If you can't stand to see that happen, you may wish to look away ?

People are expressing their views in a civilised manner. If you can't stand to see that happen, you may wish to look away ?

Is there an echo in here?
Sure you just said that.

Quite temperance. See also Bono and his tireless charity work, matched by his tax avoidance

Having just read the extract from the link above, I know who I feel sorry for and it's not the teenage girls who were bullies.

Sorry, what? You read a story about a bloke being in the women's toilets and being called out by some teenagers and decided that the teenagers were in the wrong? That girls setting boundaries about who they want in their spaces are 'bullies'?

How very misogynist of you.

temperancefugit I think you'll find that taxes are at a record high and still rising, now higher than they have been at any time since 1970.

The Tories abandoned anything remotely like 'austerity' many years ago.

Oh here is Glitterstick again to tell us all how poisonous we all are. Nasty evil witches we are. How dare we have an opinion about narcissistic males who invade our spaces and present themselves as heroes at the same time. How very dare we.

Not quite . Maybe it's all that "poison" you're being subjected to ?

No I don’t mind him encouraging people to donate to good causes. I do object to him bullying teenage girls and delighting in shaming them out of their own private spaces.

How dare we have an opinion about narcissistic males who invade our spaces and present themselves as heroes at the same time. How very dare we

It was a thread about charity work, any excuse to turn it into a thread about orrible transpeople though, eh.

Oh here is Glitterstick again to tell us all how poisonous we all are

only just come on this thread, and haven't really been posting on the others, guess that doesn't fit your narrative though does it?

It was a thread about charity work, any excuse to turn it into a thread about orrible transpeople though, eh.

Its a thread about Eddie Izzard, people are going to bring up his misogyny

I don't remember food banks in the 70s and 80s ratchet. Actually I have only been aware of them since the most recent Tory government has been in power. Wonder why that is?

No, it’s a thread about Eddie Izzard. His public persona is why he is being used in the campaign. All of it is up for discussion.

Oh and I’ve seen plenty from you on the feminist boards repeating the same tired crap at us. If you think it’s so poisonous on MN then don’t read the threads!