No doubt you all have heard about the devastation which has occurred in and around Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
This earthquake has already been ranked as the 5th deadliest natural disaster in history, and that's barely 2 days after the fact. Cell phone signals are weak or completely non-existent. Power is scarce. Even the Haitian president doesn't have a place to sleep tonight because his palace was destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people are feared dead.
If there is a time for people to pull out their wallets and donate whatever money they can, it is now. Countries are sending help as they can, but *your* help is needed. Go ahead, pull out your wallets right now and donate whatever money you can to Peter's Haitian Earthquake Relief Fund. I will personally ensure that 1 cent of every dollar gets sent to Haiti to aide in relief.
Thank you in advance for your very gracious donation. It is deeply appreciated. God bless you.
Sincerely,
Peter J. Madoff
President and founder of Peter's Haitian Earthquake Relief Fund.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That was *clearly*/*obviously* a joke! Believe it or not, I have gotten a spam email a bit similiar to what I posted. For some reason people think I'm making fun of the tragedy? I think it's pretty obvious I'm not; I'm *clearly* making fun of the people who try to make money off of these kinds of tragedies.
I'm sorry if you don't get my sense of humor. That's not my fault.
Sincerely,
Peter
The teenager who convinced his dad to start a special offering at our church to collect money to donate to the Red Cross.
8 comments:
LOL in the face of tragedy?
I'm sure you're going to get A LOT of flack on this one, buddy.
first, its hardly "clearly/obviously" a joke if more than one person didnt find it funny AND you have to make a paragraph to clear it up.
Second of all, regardless of who you're making fun of, you're using a tragedy thats killed and still is killing hundreds and thousands of people as the focus of the joke.
You before have said you didnt find jokes about 9/11 funny, yet 9/11 had about 3,000 casualties...this is going to be over 100,000. I dont particularly find either event something to make jokes about.
And ok, you're making fun of the people who run scams, but i still think its maybe a little too soon to bring it up. In fact, i think anytime is too soon.
And you don't have to put what you've done for the red cross, the point of my problem with this is that a tragedy like this is not a joking matter.
Maybe if it hit closer to where you lived you wouldn't think making a joke was such a hot idea.
leave him alone drew. it's over
so, its absolutely horrible if i make a joke about 9/11 ... but when u decide to make a joke about an earthquake which killed many many more, its ok? .... your logic doesnt really make sense.
hey pete, not taking into consideration what drew said, i must admit that when i read the first half of your blog, i actually cringe a little. aussies are popular for having notorious, offensive sense of humour, but i think there is a time to draw a line between making jokes and using the setting of a tragedy as a joke, even though u didn't mean to make the tragedy a joke but rather the scam. But I think you get that point. :) Just very personally, I would add some links to how readers can help, such as where they can donate and all that. I think its a time when we all should be compassionate and do what we can to help. Without wanting to sound like a tool (or what others call dickhead), I am just going to put that suggestion out there. :) I think we need to be careful when we make jokes, such as avoiding others misfortunes, fall-backs, weaknesses or individuality.
:) But that's just my 2cents though.
Also, another good charity to donate to is Doctors Without Borders. They were already in country when the earthquake took place, so they were most ready to respond. Seeing as all the hospitals in Port-au-Prince collapsed, they are a very critical charity.
I think Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt donated 1 million dollars to them this morning.
The point is valid, Peter. Scammers are all over the Net and manning the telephones. By all means we should give, but we need be damned sure we are sending our money to established bona fide charities, like the International Red Cross, or, as Jason recommends, Doctors Without Borders, known internationally as medecins sans frontieres. After the Indonesian tsunami Bush dispatched an amphibious group centered around a helicopter carrier. This was terribly effective. If Obama would direct the Atlantic Fleet to deploy their forces it would be a godsend for this pitiful country. Regular cargo ships can't unload because the ports and transport facilities are totally destroyed. I believe there is a real danger of cholera. And in Haiti there is always the danger of a breakdown of law and order.
The pictures of the little kids will break your heart.
Post a Comment