… its a website run by the US Government. Why does it have such large downtimes in this day and age?

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    higher charitable contributions

    What counts as a ‘charitable contribution?’ Is giving to your evangelical megachurch counted? Is giving to Donald Trump’s campaign counted?

    That’s not a very good metric without context.

    • Marruk@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Not to mention that it’s questionable whether the average Republican gives more than the average Democrat, or if it is just a case of a small population of extremely wealthy individuals donating large amounts for reasons of tax benefits (in addition to the political motivations you mentioned).

      Then there’s also this from one of the authors of the study: ‘It also wasn’t obvious “whether donors were being purely generous or whether they would also benefit from their donation. This relationship is called consumption philanthropy, in which people give to a religious organization or a school from which they will derive a benefit in the form of, say, a better religious education program or a new gymnasium.” Giving to a food bank or a homeless shelter has a very different outcome than does giving to a private school.’ (https://nonprofitquarterly.org/republicans-give-more-to-charity-than-democrats-but-theres-a-bigger-story-here/)

      “Without context” is one of the favorite argument methods of conservatives. It’s not that they disagree about the context. They don’t understand the concept of context nor its relevance.

      • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The highest taking nonprofit in my county is the extraordinarily conservative mormon cult. They don’t have a lot of folk out here. They take in over five hundred grand a week in my town alone. Not a cent of those donations stay in my town. It all goes to this fund. The liberal folk in my town donate to stuff like the homeless shelter, the hospital, the fire department, stuff like that. Context IS important!