Not-quite fandom stuff

[ratherastory]

Y'know, I think it's awesome that Random Acts is trying to raise a ton of money for Haiti. God knows, that country needs all the help it can get in order to rebuild after last year's earthquake.

It's just... I am seriously uncomfortable at the idea of fans "raising" $5000 in order to go with Misha et al. to Haiti in order to have a more "personal connection" to what they're doing, or whatever. I just can't help but feel that that aspect of this fundraiser is entirely made of fail. The idea of a group of tourists (feel free to disagree with my nomenclature, but to me that's what they are) going over to witness how grateful the natives are for their munificence just sets my teeth on edge.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. After all, the money is going where it's supposed to, so it can't be all bad. It's just pushing several of my squick buttons.

Comments

[bellatemple]

I admittedly spent about 30 seconds looking at it, then thinking "well, if I'm going to go to Haiti and help rebuild, I have other avenues to approach it from." (Which is certainly not going to be everybody's experience -- a family friend with a very successful solar panelling company is sponsoring the rebuilding of a town on the Dominican Republic border, and my father and I have both said we'd be willing to go and help out, too, if he needs unskilled labor that can lift things and follow directions.)

But the bits and pieces I've heard about it since have had me making faces. As with a lot of what Misha and Random Acts does, I can see the spirit of it, and I approve of the spirit, but the execution seems a bit misguided.