Charity begins with me overseas

One of the people in my darthweasel project, a nationwide online grouping of people from disparate parts of the country, pointed out it is the March of Dimes month. Now, every month celebrates SOMETHING and lets face it...some of the months are downright stupid. Seriously, celery month? It's green, its crunchy, and its healthy. Therefore it deserves hatred, not a celebration. Throw spinach in there with that.
MOD month is a good thing though. Most of the kids helped by that did little or nothing to deserve being struck with their disease. The same holds true for many other diseases that catch people. Breast cancer...what, she deserved because she is a woman? That is nonsensical. Same with prostate cancer...although how she got it is beyond me.
The point is, why do groups like the MOD, the American Diabetes Association, etc. have to do these fundraisers? Does no one care? Or is the money being sucked into other things.
Take lung cancer. It is a horrible, devastating, painful disease. Smokers get it far more often than non-smokers. Since so many people smoke and our government subsidizes the tobacco growers, we dedicate a lot of money to lung cancer research. That money does not exist in a vacuum. For lung cancer research to increase something else must decrease.
The other alternative is to raise taxes. Strangely, every time the taxes increase the bureaucracy gets jealous. Like some hideous, gelatinous, mutant blob it absorbs itself and reemerges larger and more inefficient than ever and we find the increased taxes pay for less research. How does that happen?
Here is a simple truth. Many people are less interested in finding a cure than in having their research funded.
In case you missed it, I will say it again.
Here is a simple truth. Many people are less interested in finding a cure than in having their research funded.
Why does that matter?
Because if you want your research funded you have to follow the rules. you can't play a hunch and check the statistics on celery consumption in AIDS sufferers. If you did the farmers funding the research would cease funding. Absurd example? Hopefully...but the underlying truth is still there.
Research is directed by the philanthropists, not the scientists. Furthermore, in returning to an old and familiar rant, the research process is harmed by the nature of our scholastic system.
Scientists compete instead of comparing. The quantum mechanics researches might be able to help the people investigating quasars and vice versa...if they weren't keeping their work and results secret from one another!
Study the leaps and bounds of science when it was advancing at breakneck speed. The same person would make discoveries in biology, architecture, mathematics, and astronomy. Who today understands 2 of those? Nobody because everything is specialized.
So perhaps the best way to help sufferers is to continue the symbolism. After all, is there any doubt that me going to Hawaii to run a marathon helps a diabetic? Of course not, don't be ridiculous...or am I too late?