Marus Rushford - AIBU?

[Pr1mr0se]

it's admirable that he feels he can raise the topic of school meals and poverty and the campaign seems to be growing wings with the food alliance HOWEVER AIBU to think that given that he is an extremely wealthy footballer with many footballer contacts in similar positions that they should be putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak too?

@HoneysuckIejasmine

It is not the responsibility of wealthy individuals to pay for food programmes for children, it is the responsibility of the government.

100% this.

You are totally unreasonable.

He is an admirable role model, highlighting the failure of our government to care for us most vulnerable over the past 10 years.

He is an inspiration.

I think it’s very very likely he does donate. Many wealthy people from poorer backgrounds do. It doesn’t remotely negate the need for the welfare state to actually be a safety net for people, especially children. He is right to stand up for it.

YABU. Him giving money would only be a sticking plaster, the government needs to do something about the appalling levels of child poverty. And no-one knows what charitable donations he makes, he could be funding food banks all over the UK for all we know.

I bloody hate football and generally disapprove of pro footballers as so many of them are flash cunts with bad attitudes, but I bloody love Marcus Rashford. He's articulate and passionate and comes across as so genuine and thoughtful.

He should go into politics when he retires from sport imo.

He’s a young man with a lot of money and a high profile, he doesn’t have to try and help other people, he could just bugger off to Greece and get arrested then make up some cock and bull story to try and excuse it.
I think what he’s done is fantastic and deserves nothing but praise.
I listened to a piece on him on the radio and he sounds like a thoroughly good person, he’s been involved in a charity helping to feed children from poorer families well before this campaign. His ex teachers have nothing but praise for him - apparently on his Y6 Residential he got up an hour before everyone else to get his football practice in!
Why would anyone try and pull him down and criticise what he’s done?

@sst1234

His PR machine has stumbled upon something that helps his career outside football. They probably went down the list of topical/political subjects and thought this looks like something that could raise his profile. To think anything else is just plain naive. So non of course his now going to put his money where his mouth his. Let’s not give him a sainthood yet.

Gosh you are bloody cynical aren't you!?!

I know plenty of people with different levels of wealth who help disadvantaged children, and some have been doing it for decades. Unfortunately without someone using their fame and influence to bring it to the government's attention that the problem is due to their badly thought out policies these people will be chipping away for as long as they live.

His PR machine has stumbled upon something that helps his career outside football.
Marcus Rashford grew up in poverty. He knows what it’s like. You think that his family planned that so years later he could use it for PR.
He could easily sit back and enjoy his status and his wealth. Good on him for making a difference.

It is not the respobsibility of the government to provide food for children. Dont get ne wrong I'm no fan of the gov but we need to move away from thinking this thinking. People are responsible for themselves and their children. A benefut system needs to be in place that is workable. Its tough but its not meant to be easy whilst we'd all go on benefits.

I think MR is a very caring and is ysing hus position to highlight this issue. However I think there needs to be a different way. Going to work needs to pay more for a start and people need to stop having so many children.

He grew up on free school meals. He knows first hand what child poverty is like.

If he didn't have free school meals he wouldn't have been able to train to become the footballer he now is.

I take it from your op that you have donated a sizeable percentage of your income? Right?

I don't think you understand the purpose of government or of progressive taxation OP.

No, I don't want to live in a society in which the poor have no safety net and are reliant upon the good will of wealthy philanthropists, their chosen interests and organisational powers. I am delighted that we left that Victorian model and all it's desperate, horrible poverty behind, with the formation of the post-WWII welfare state.

I also think you offer an excellent illustration of the inability or unwillingness of many people to comprehend the true scale of government budgets. They are many, many degrees of magnitude beyond the wealth of individual people, certainly in this country.

Your attempt to personalise the budgetary aspect of this campaign, rather than recognising a distinction between the campaign and its results, suggests a certain spirit of pettiness and envy, or more charitably, a lack of understanding of what campaigning is and what govenrment is for.

How about asking Boris Johnson and Jacob Ress-Mogg to stump up some of their money.

But instead of whinging about this being the Government's responsibility - remember that they were voted in, so think about who you vote for next time.

Yes I was wondering how much the OP had donated, child hunger is clearly a major concern of theirs.

@brakethree

It is not the respobsibility of the government to provide food for children. Dont get ne wrong I'm no fan of the gov but we need to move away from thinking this thinking. People are responsible for themselves and their children. A benefut system needs to be in place that is workable. Its tough but its not meant to be easy whilst we'd all go on benefits.

I think MR is a very caring and is ysing hus position to highlight this issue. However I think there needs to be a different way. Going to work needs to pay more for a start and people need to stop having so many children.

Actually it is the responsibility of the government in this country to ensure their citizens have the basics for living which includes enough food for growing children.

This is because this is the social contract the citizens of this country have agreed with our government for decades.

Yes the government has tried to change this in the last 10 years with their benefit changes but now people are finding out due to this recession why allowing the changes to go through unchallenged was a bad idea.

So you can't spell his name right, you have no idea how much money he has given and to whom, but you can criticise him for not picking up the slack and doing what the government should be doing?

Chances are he has donated some money as it’s something he feels strongly about, but hasn’t blabbed about it to the press. As for those who say it’s a PR stunt to raise his profile, he’s already a top player, why would he need to do that? Good on him. It’s great to see a footballer using his privileged position for some good.

I get where you’re coming from but that’s not his responsibility; it’s the governments responsibility and they need to do something about the causes of it all. Footballers giving money would just be a sticking plaster

OP you are being unreasonable in that you are trying to twist a good deed and example that he he given and you cannot even get his name right.

I don't think this is the case here but sometimes people spell other peoples names incorrectly to try and indicate that they are of no consequence.

I do get a sniffywhiff of arrogance coming off the OP.

Fair play to MARCUS and the OP has now idea of what MARCUS does or doesn't give to his family and charity unless they are his accountant.

AIBU to think that given that he is an extremely wealthy footballer with many footballer contacts in similar positions that they should be putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak too?

AIBU to think that there shouldn't be children going hungry in one of the world's richest countries, run by millionaires, with an ever widening gap between the rich and the poor?

Why on earth would anyone think it's the job of footballers to sort out poverty? That's what government are supposed to do, yet the majority of the country doesn't seem to give a shit and keeps electing millionaires who then cream off yet money for themselves and their mates leaving less for the rest of us... hence NHS charities, food banks, etc.

They must really laugh at us plebs.

It only takes a small amount of research to know that Marcus Rashford and many, many other footballers give millions to charitable causes. Cristiano Ronaldo has donated huge amounts of time and money to disadvantaged kids. Remember George Michael? All the good he did behind the scenes? Don't judge until you have the facts.

@Daisydoesnt

And how do you know he hasn’t donated his own money, if that’s what you are implying OP?

The fact is that even if he has made a donation, over the long term influencing government policy (which he’s already managed to do once) and creating a consortium of supermarkets and others to support the campaign will be of significant long term benefit, much more so than just writing a cheque.

In fact writing a cheque would be the really easy thing to do - takes him seconds to do, not long to earn, no effort at all. What he’s chosen to do is hard, time consuming, and has involved putting himself out there on what was a pretty unfashionable topic.

I find him an incredibly admirable young man, I can’t imagine why you are having a pop at him

I can!

It is not the responsibility of wealthy individuals to pay for food programmes for children, it is the responsibility of the government.

this!!!

if you start with such a system, where do you draw the line? What would in your eye the also the responsibility of wealthy members of the society and should not be provided by the state???

Good for him.
His pressure on the gov is way more important than just signing a cheque.
He's put himself in the firing line and I hope the press don't try and destroy him.
He's a hero in my eyes.

As for Gates & Beatty not publicising their wealth/donations

Try getting his name right. It's Marcus Rashford. He lived a life of poverty when he was young. He has done amazingly well getting the government to do something.

'Marcus Rashford' doesn't autocorrect on my device to 'Marus Rushford' or indeed anything, which might make one wonder if the misspelling was done out of casual contempt.