John P Barlow is unwell, help? | Hacker News Reader

John P Barlow is unwell, help?

johnperrybarlow-wellnesstrust.com

44 pointsjayadevan11 comments

Whether you give or don't give - ask yourself how you can help create a society where this sort of charity is unnecessary. John is privileged with semi celebrity - think of all those in his position who are anonymous.

Society has basically two choices: charity, or have the state confiscate by force. I prefer charity. ;-)

You would as you probably aren't dependent on charity.

One reason people aren't charitable anymore is because the government has muscled itself into that role.

It also doesn't help matters when it shuts down people's soup kitchens for bureaucratic "violations", threatening them with prosecution, and makes laws banning "public food sharing".

Yep, because 19th century London/New York was a paradise for the poor.

It's all pretty good in the slums of Delhi right now I guess.

I'd have more respect for the "We shouldn't collect taxes some of which help poor people" if people objecting just straight out said "I don't want to help poor people".

Part of living in a society is that it is a society, I grew up in the UK, my parents paid taxes, those taxes went towards an orderly society, good policing, reasonable education provision, health care provision and a social safety net for personal disasters (injured, ill, someone dying etc).

Relying solely on peoples charity would be terrible, people are fickle, look at the ALS challenge, it raised a lot of money (a good thing) but I bet they don't raise anywhere near as much the following year.

How do you plan any kind of useful service from year to year when you have no idea what your budget will be.

Also if you want good services and don't want to pay more tax lean on your politicians to support policies that tighten the tax code for medium/large orgaisations (basically if they can afford to hire a full time tax accountant they should be watched more closely).

I respect your position. Thank you for taking the time to elaborate.

great point. any dollar you want to donate could make a much bigger difference in the life of a much younger human being in a much younger part of the planet.

Consider making the same donation to Watsi[1].

Your gift will go where you know it will do something meaningful (not that Barlow's health isn't meaningful, but the impact for a child vs. an older adult is vastly higher).

[1] https://watsi.org/

Agree, it's not either-or is it?

From the second page:

  Your donations go directly into the John Perry Barlow 
  Wellness Trust and will be applied to the following 
  expenses:

  - Concierge physicians – the complexity of his condition
    demands a level of attentiveness that traditional primary 
    care doctors are unable to provide
    
  - <...>
    
  - ... & dedicated medical advocacy in the hospital – with 
    extremely compromised mobility and unpredictable shifts 
    in health status, it is vital that he has the consistent 
    support of skilled caregivers

Just gave. John has given so much to all of us, good to give a bit back to him.

More information:

https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/2016/10/sort/time...

http://boingboing.net/2016/10/11/to-do-in-san-francisco-a-co...

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