Are people who go volunteering abroad doing so for selfish reasons?

TheLastMohican

In a nutshell, yes. Altruism seems to be selflessness personified. But there is emotional feedback. If, instead of 'thank you' you got abuse etc. the well of 'altruism' would quickly dry up. Except in the case of masochists, the feelgood factor of the appreciation that one gets from having done something for the betterment of the poor/community is the driving force.
The guilt that some humans suffer, looking at the less fortunate stems from the insecurity that this could also befall them. The reason that we humans raced to the top of the evolutionary tree is because we are selfish fuckers first and foremost. Lets face it, would you feed a starving family before you look after your own?

You have to cast conventionality aside in dealing with this otherwise the usual mores will stifle your thoughts.

So, altruism is basically selfishness?

Yes. In the mind of the altruist, the reward is one of several factors. Eternal salvation or help to attain same. The feelgood reaction. The way to gain respect. A foot on the ladder in politics. There are a myriad of reasons.

Must go back to work, but please be altruistic in your critique. After all, I am your cousin

stoneill

I think this was already done in the Daily Mail:
"Selfish Irish Cúnts go Abroad."

biko

steddyeddy wrote: »

This girl shouldn't have been volunteering it goes without saying. She wanted something that looked good on a CV and that was it. Anyway apologies rant over!!

At the end of the day she did actually do it, which means somehow those kids got a little more help than before.
People do stuff for all kinds of reasons, more often egocentric than altruistic.
However, **** gets done and results matter.

shane9689

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

Partly selfish, partly not. And people go for different reasons. Acts of kindness make us feel good, so that's the selfish part but many people who volunteer also feel empathy for those who are suffering and genuinely want to help.


I volunteered in the slums of Buenos Aires for 3 months while I was travelling, mainly because i was travelling for 11 months and felt like a useless fooker. I suppose I did it originally for selfish reasons if you were to get down to the fundamentals of it but the children were gorgeous and it'd broke my heart to think they'd no future and I wanted them to have as much fun as possible while they could. I suppose that was the unselfish bit.

This exactly

April O Neill

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

Well if it's not jealousy, then why the over-the-top hatred for them by some posters here?

Very little of that going on, TBH. Disdain, yes. Hatred? Hardly.

And I think people are right to question whether some foreign volunteering does more harm than good to the supposed beneficiaries.

bnt

TheLastMohican wrote: »

In a nutshell, yes. Altruism seems to be selflessness personified.
...

I pretty much agree. I have a hard time believing in pure altruism as a general concept, since there's always some form of reward, even if it's not tangible. That holier-than-thou feeling is a great motivator.

On the topic of voluntarism, well, look at the category of people who do it most commonly: students. It looks good on the CV, doesn't it? I looked in to it when I was a student, but then I found out that they would expect me to pay all the costs involved, so it was a total non-starter. (Mature student = no bank of Mum & Dad to back me up.) You'd think that if I was going to give up weeks or months of my time to fly off to Africa and do manual labour for nothing, they'd at least cover my expenses. :rolleyes:

Aineoil

This topic on boards has made me think so much and I am even fighting with myself about the topic.

There are many reasons why a person chooses to do volunteer work.

Some young people choose volunteer work to make a difference, others choose it so the CV looks good.

I know a retired couple who have set up a school, won't name the place, and I may be bad minded, but I think they love the holier-than-thou feeling about what they are doing. Also free holidays.

Because we live in a very rural part of Ireland we feel we have to donate money to them. The thing is we have no idea what they do with the money.

We support charities, as in we have a direct debit from our current account for the Brothers of Charity and one for cancer research. I sound holier-than- now, but I am far from that. Places need money to exist.

And no, I'm not using this thread as a veiled thread about supporting charities or otherwise. We have our own personal reasons for supporting these charities.

Mods.
I may be off topic, but most charities need volunteers and money to do their work

TimeToShine

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if most volunteers abroad were doing so more for the opportunity of free travel rather than actually to help people, but it does no good begrudging them that because in the end they're taking time out to help people so you have to commend them.

Legs.Eleven

April O Neill wrote: »

Very little of that going on, TBH. Disdain, yes. Hatred? Hardly.

And I think people are right to question whether some foreign volunteering does more harm than good to the supposed beneficiaries.

People are indeed right to question these organisations but save the disdain for those worthy of it i.e. the head honchos of these charities with massive, bloated salaries. Volunteers, for the most part, have their hearts in the right place.

WilyCoyote

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

People are indeed right to question these organisations but save the disdain for those worthy of it i.e. the head honchos of these charities with massive, bloated salaries. Volunteers, for the most part, have their hearts in the right place.

I agree here Legs. And young people do have the right outlook in this sphere. But the head honchos have it minted. Unfortunately, you need these people to run things as the youth do the horse work.

hatrickpatrick

Two thoughts here: Firstly that girl sounds like a twat but it doesn't mean all volunteers are, and secondly, doing something for selfish reasons isn't always such a terrible thing if you do it well. Key point here is that this girl is not doing it well, but another person could be there for the same reasons, just for the CV or whatever, an still do a fantastic job. So I'd question whether selfish motives automatically mean you're not going to be good at what you're doing.

kylith

Volunteering is a good thing. The only aspect of it I have a problem with is that you cannot solve the problems of unemployment and poverty by importing free labour from abroad to, for example, build schools. The communities would be better served by employing local people to do the building rather than for Irish teenagers doing it for free.