Netflix and Disaster Relief

It is perhaps unfair to blame my non-responsiveness to the needs of Haitians after the most recent natural disaster on Netflix. But the fact that I have access to Netflix has much to do with my lack of enthusiasm  to contribute to Doctors without Borders or some similar group that is providing disaster relief.

As I have neither cable nor a satellite dish on my roof, I no longer have access to television news. I get my near nightly entertainment/mind numbing from watching Netflix or occasionally Ted talks. Of course I am aware that a hurricane passed over that troubled isle and what little infrastructure had been built since the earthquake in 2001 has been destroyed. I am aware of these facts because every morning I scan CBC, the Globe and Mail, CTV and  the Al-jazeera English web-sites on my tablet. But unlike a television newscast, if I don't want to read an article I can just scroll past it. I must confess I do so quite often especially when it is clear that there is no new information. Unlike watching a newscast where they can endlessly show the same thirty second video of flooding, downed trees, houses without roofs (or walls) or some person hunched over crying for their loses to the point where those images are embedded upon my brain, I can ignore it all just with a flick of my finger. I don't have to watch the efforts of relief workers or to listen to commentators discussing the need for financial aid for those relief workers. I don't have a telephone number flashing at the bottom of my television screen to nag me or add to my guilt of being a member of the elite living in a charmed land. So I have done nothing.

It is not that I can't afford to send some money, nor am I upset that it appears as if much of the money that was contributed to fix the last Haiti disaster appears to have been at best, poorly spent. I just have not been motivated to donate money. A poor excuse but none-the-less it is true. I feel no particular attachment to the people of Haiti and because I have not seen their faces shaped by despair and yet another disaster, it is easy to stay disconnected from them.

While there is no way to confirm it, I wonder if donations for the various disaster relief funds have decreased proportionally to number of people who have disconnected themselves from cable and satellite services. I surely can't be the only one who is inclined to give less because he is not being reminded as frequently as he use to be. Or have the donation levels remained about the same because some of the social media sites have become the modern equivalent of the 10:00 evening news? Or have those donation rates remained the same because those who are inclined to give do so without the endless nagging?

In the meantime, I guess I had better get on line and donate some money. I am a member of the elite and I do live in a blessed country. Folks like me need to share what wealth (no matter how little) we have with those who have even less.