Charitable giving.

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31 Aug 2007, 5:37 pm

I was curious what people on the autism spectrum take is on charitable giving? Anecdotal reports suggest many aspies can not empathise with others to the point they intellectualize charity as really the act of a person buying something. And in many cases they see absolutely no tangible value in that "buying". They might view a charitable person as a fake or a NT.

iamnotaparakeet
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31 Aug 2007, 5:42 pm

Taking care of those poor and in need is something that should happen. I don't think the government should give tax deductions for it, but what part of Charity are you referring to?

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31 Aug 2007, 5:52 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Taking care of those poor and in need is something that should happen. I don't think the government should give tax deductions for it, but what part of Charity are you referring to?

Really any voluntary giving of any sort. The story in the Bible of
the "Good Samaritan" is the famous example copied in Western literature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan

Quote:

But the lawyer then asks Jesus to tell him who his neighbor is. Jesus responds with a parable about a man who was attacked and robbed and left to die by the side of a road. Later, a priest saw the stricken figure and avoided him, presumably in order to maintain ritual purity. [2] Similarly, a Levite saw the man and ignored him as well. Then a Samaritan passed by, and, despite the mutual antipathy between Samaritans and the Jewish population, he immediately rendered assistance by giving him first aid and taking him to an inn to recover while promising to cover the expenses. He pays the innkeeper two denarii, silver coins equal to an entire day's wages for an average laborer. [3]

At the conclusion of the story, Jesus asks the lawyer, of the three passers-by, who was the stricken man's neighbour? The lawyer, apparently unwilling to say, "The Samaritan," responds, "The one who helped him." Jesus responds with "Go and do the same." So a "neighbor" is anyone who needs your love and help. Jesus has turned the attention away from the question "To whom do I owe an obligation?" and to the question, "To whom do I feel compassion?"[1] Jesus is pointing out the nature, or subject, of love, not the object of it.

iamnotaparakeet
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31 Aug 2007, 6:03 pm

I think it is best to help people in the background so they don't feel indebted to who is giving, but in emergency situations like in the parable Jesus said above you must help any way possible. If there is a need, it shouldn't be left to some mysterious third party. When someone is in need never just say, "I hope you'll be okay" get off your but and do something. I believe James talks about faith without works and he was referring to people saying, "God bless you" when they pass by someone in need, instead of providing that need if they are so able. In 2 Corinthians it talks about those who give that have little are more blessed in heaven than those with much who only give a small fraction of their own.

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31 Aug 2007, 6:13 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

I think it is best to help people in the background so they don't feel indebted to who is giving

Good point I assume that the "Good Samaritan" may have never saw the Jew he helped again. But that helping in the background would be viewed by some people with low empathy as utterly pointless.
Meaning the stereotypical aspie might have answered Jesus's parable wrong. They might have been overly pedantic and thought the priest obeying some ritual purity law was the correct answer. Because they saw obeying the law as having value since it meant making God happy. Who might bless them or allow them into Heaven.

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31 Aug 2007, 6:20 pm

TheMachine1 wrote:

That's a good question, I also wondered a little about this, and how few aspies actually view this, as I know not all of them are the same, but I think this might be related to symphaty more than empathy.

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iamnotaparakeet
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31 Aug 2007, 6:24 pm

TheMachine1 wrote:

They might have been overly pedantic and thought the priest obeying some ritual purity law was the correct answer. Because they saw obeying the law as having value since it meant making God happy.

No, God love people more than rituals. Morality > Ritual

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31 Aug 2007, 6:24 pm

TheMachine1 wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

I think it is best to help people in the background so they don't feel indebted to who is giving

lol
I suppose some poeple might say that sounds so aspie.

Now I also wonder if that could be more related to HFA than AS, or would be the same?

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31 Aug 2007, 6:24 pm

I don't believe in it, but not for lack of empathy. I believe that unless it benefits me in some way to help the poor, I should not. Living in a state of humble self-sacrifice destroyed my life and made me miserable. The best decision I ever made was to start putting myself before others.

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31 Aug 2007, 6:33 pm

greenblue wrote:

but I think this might be related to sympathy more than empathy.

Studies on empathy suggest sympathy is directly related. For example in the case of a doctor who is in physical pain himself. He is for more likely to over prescribe pain medications to a patients in pain. But he is likely to do the reverse if he is not in pain(under prescribing pain medication). A doctor on the autism spectrum regardless if they were in pain or not might just prescribe the medication in a pedantic way according to some written or imagined protocols. Which in most cases would be the correct procedure. Though that same aspie doctor might let a person who could not pay for treatment died a painfull death without a second thought.

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31 Aug 2007, 6:40 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

TheMachine1 wrote:

They might have been overly pedantic and thought the priest obeying some ritual purity law was the correct answer. Because they saw obeying the law as having value since it meant making God happy.

No, God love people more than rituals. Morality > Ritual

My take is there are people who are basically "nice" and there are people who can follow rules.

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31 Aug 2007, 7:30 pm

And then there are people who just don't care too, it's not as simple as boolean logic. We're dealing with people you know? Kinda like the whole logic vs emotion issue that Star Trek addresses with Vulcans and Data. I could relate to Data better before he had the emotion chip, anyone else the same?

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31 Aug 2007, 7:51 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

And then there are people who just don't care too,

In the case of aspies some reject all rules and are anarchists. I would expect most of them to be even less empathetic than the pedantic rule follower aspies.

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31 Aug 2007, 7:52 pm

I give to charity to make myself feel better. And because I don't want to see the leatherback turtle extinct.

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31 Aug 2007, 8:00 pm

I give to charity when I'm feeling generous. Which is quite often. I don't have any money to give though.

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iamnotaparakeet
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31 Aug 2007, 8:01 pm

"I give to charity to make myself feel better. And because I don't want to see the leatherback turtle extinct."

That is honorable, and I love animals, but in my view people come first.

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