SansBlogue: Another ethical dilemma

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Bryan in the comments neatly sidesteps my ethical dilemma in the post below Moral decision?. Our cat he says can be regarded as a "member of the family".

I don't want to address the complex issues of whether canines, felines etc... are more or less "members of the family" than brothers and sisters in Christ - both are only so in metaphorical (or spiritual) senses ;)

Karen villagers, mostly women and children, take refuge from the fighting inside the Thai border.

Photo from The National
Courtesy Free Burma Rangers

So here's a new dilemma, also caused by our move. The new house has no TV aerial, but has a Sky dish (for pay TV but which will capture also free to air digital TV). Should I:

spend $200 for a Freeview set top box which will allow us to get free to air TV from the Sky dish
spend $150 to get an aerial fitted
send the money to Partners for the 4,000 villagers camping in the monsoon rains?

Incidentally if you want to donate for the 4,000 villagers chased from their homes here are links (donations are usually tax deductable in most of these countries):

Canadians wishing to obtain a receipt for tax purposes should make donations at the Partners Canada website. www.partnersworld.ca

Americans wishing to obtain a receipt for tax purposes should make donations at the Partners USA website. www.partnersworld.org

Norwegians can find the information needed to make donations in Norway at: www.partnersnorge.no

Australians can find the information needed to make donations in Australia at: www.partnersworld.org.au

UK Residents can find the information needed to make donations in the UK at: www.partnersworld.org.uk

Labels: burma, cat, ethics, refugee

¶ 4:46 PM

[to Del.icio.us]

tim, for the record, i've got excellent freeview reception on rabbit ears. yes it's true. so, if you were going to spend on freeview, buy your next tv with a tuner already installed. i know it's a side issue and almost makes a mockery of what you are really getting at, but sometimes we buy what we think is necessary when it is indeed not.

By Stu McGregor, at June 16, 2009 6:51 PM