To think there are better things to donate €100m to than rebuilding Notre Dame?

[Bearbehind]

I know no one has to donate anything but 2 French billionaires have reportedly donated €100m and €200m respectively towards rebuilding Notre Dame.

The Catholic Church is not exactly short of money.

It just doesn’t really sit right with me spending all that money on a building when it could be used for so many other things

but no reason to piss on someone else's chips.
Seems to be one of the main raison d'etre of MN these days though.

I considered this too, but Paris is a tourist hub and the city is know for its history and architecture. I think it’s about more than just a building. It’s so amazing that such grand architecture and detail have survived this long. I think the city of Dresden is a great example of architecture being beautifully restored rebuilt after ruin in the war. People don’t go to Paris for the beaches 😉and it’s an iconic city, if they didn’t preserve it and restore, rebuild, it would lose that. There’s the tourist economy factor that would lose and that means less money for infrastructure that matters. There’s also the culture of the city and it’s beauty - I got married there and it was so surreal. Stuff like that makes visitors and locals happy and that’s a part of living too - history, arts, culture. It is mind boggling how fast these people were willing to cough up the big bucks. I think there’s probably some prestige in having their donations and names attached to a Parisian landmark. Would definitely help you get your foot in the door in the business/political world. The world is a shady place, I agree. If there were Mums running the show in politics we’d have billionaires bribing us with warm meals for every child.

I would like to see Notre Dame saved, but I do think the Catholic Church and private donations should pay for it. There's certainly enough money in private hands, to a very unfair degree in many, many cases, and more then capable of funding it.

I'm waiting to see Macron's "go fund me " page on FB.

However I do think it's a worthy cause. It's an exquisite and unique piece of history, and part of what makes Paris, Paris. Symbolically and historically, as well as theologically, it is enormously important.

Plus - just because there are "worthier" causes doesn't mean that people will donate to them, does it?

Many thousands of people will give the price of a coffee towards Notre Dame who wouldn't think buying a coffee for a homeless person. This may be wrong thinking, but that's what happens. People give to what they want to support - "worry" or not.

Their money, their choice. As long as money is earned legally and spent legally, what business is it of anyone else's how people spend it?

No idea why this is so contentious, a beautiful building burns down and very rich people donate to rebuild it. You have to have quite a niche mindset to object to that.

That would work as an argument if these people weren't constantly lobbying for laws that suit their own ends.

It’s really good that these gazillionaires have both donated. It’s heartbreaking when historical buildings aren’t maintained or go unrepaired after they’ve been damaged. There are hundreds of places of historical importance in Syria, Libya, Iraq that have been totally obliterated by war. It’s a tragedy. These buildings and the artefacts they house are part of a country’s heritage, history, tradition and identity. They have a different role to play than hospitals or schools but they are still hugely important and should be looked after. The more money coming from private donations the less that the state and other countries will need to stump up.

I expect the billionaires are giving all of the fucks that this doesn't sit right with you OP. And you could've at least taken 10 seconds to google who it actually belongs to before you started the thread!

ODFOD.

Virtue signalling misses target by miles

When we stop caring about history, beauty, aesthetics and culture, then we might as well stop caring about civilisation altogether.

Their money, their choices

I will be donating. History is important.

When we stop caring about history, beauty, aesthetics and culture, then we might as well stop caring about civilisation altogether. I don't think that's the issue.

Au contraire, it's the multibillionaires virtue signalling with their public statements about tax-deductible charitable donations. Nothing stopping them handing the cash over behind the scenes.

This isn't an either/or wrt virtue signalling. OP and the billionaires can both be doing it!

I could understand OPs point more easily if we had confirmation that this money would otherwise have gone on something more worthwhile. We don't, do we? Indeed, if the French state as owners were footing the whole bill, and they clearly are going to try and repair it rather than leave it, the money might have to be diverted from elsewhere.

Donations from immensely wealthy individuals is exactly how the cathedral was built in the first place. And whether it was purely 'for the glory of God' or being known as 'the man who built the greatest cathedral' was no clearer 800 years ago.

good for people who donate, we need to preserve historical buildings.

But the billionaires arent virtue signalling are they?

Theyre actually doing something about it to the tune of hundreds of millions.

Yes, much of which they'll get back in the form of tax breaks they've lobbied for, while basking in the praise from the world's media.

I see what you mean OP. While individuals are certainly welcome to donate to whatever cause they wish, and personally I will be happy to see notre dame rebuilt if that's what ends up happening, some of the calls for cash have been a bit silly.

Here in Australia we've had the recent ex prime minister and the opposition leader on Twitter saying Australia should set up a fund to help, both from the government and individual Australians donating tax free. Now again, I don't mind what people donate to. But neither of them have ever suggested such a fund to help with Australia's many current environmental disasters. I don't think their priorities are in order.

Notre Dame is not owned by the Catholic Church.

Well I just donated too so meh.

Yeah Op, he could have donated it to me instead. I'm a worthy cause