Singer's Essay
2. Analysis: What are the most effective aspects of Singer's Argument?
The most effective aspects of Singer's argument is that Americans are very selfish and only thinks of themselves. In order words he is trying to say that Americans are indirectly killing kids by spending money on things that are not necessary to living a health life. In his first essay he says that Americans spend one third of their income on things that are no more necessary(vacations, new shoes, getting out, new car, buying more than one houses, travel, ect..) to them than Dora's new TV was to her. This makes his argument effective because it uses facts that can be provided. We tend to spend money on things that are not really important to others or things that we really don't need but because we have the money we tend to spend it , forgetting about less privileged kids who are dying all over the world. In some way I do agree with his argument because until now I never thought that spending 150-200 dollars on shoes would mean there is no differences between me and a murder. He also uses this to support his argument " For one thing, to be able to consign a child to death when he is standing right in front of you takes a chilling kind of heartlessness;" this is a good example of why Americans feel that they are not directly killing a child because they are not standing right in front of a child and shooting, stabbing, beating them to death, ect.. when they die. Would you believe for one second that a man would save a car instead of a child, a human soul? Well it's possible in Mr.Singers second essay a man name Bob saves his car instead of a little child on a rail way with an abundant train coming. Many people might go right ahead and start to denounce Bob and Dora not knowing if there were to be put in the same situation as them they would most likely have done exactly what they both did or even worse not saying anything can top letting a child die just to save a car that's is a life time investment to you. Unger agrees that Bob's conduct is gravely wrong, but many people will agree with this statement because what Bob really did was very dreadful and deplorable. Many Americans fail to see that their personal life style it's self is very menacing and can even be graded on the same level as Bob letting that child get crushed by the train. After the child gets crush the authors lets us know that for "years to come, Bob enjoys owning his Bugatti and the financial security it represents". This shows that Bob is either insensitive or just maybe he forgot about what had happened with the little child. Of course this is my perspective , so you say why would this matter? If we got many people to think like me then maybe there would be less kids dying. Then again I'm not a saint. I fall in the same category as every other american who spends hundreds of dollars on shoes, clothes, movies, dances, and dinner. I mean we are not totally bad because we save things too. Like I donated some money to the animal shelter the other day so why is it that Mr. Singer is making it seem as though we don't donate. This kind of intellect is what kills Americans, we rather save our pets than save a human life that's irreplaceable. " By his calculation, $200 in donations would help a sickly 2-year-old transform into a healthy 6-year-old —offering safe passage through childhood's most dangerous years". We see this everyday yet we are unable to move $200 a year to save a child and we yet think we are not indirectly killing a child. Then again we didn't have that child so it can't possible be our responsibility to take care of the child. When Americans stop thinking like that they will do more than save lives of kids. Over all Mr.Singers argument is very logic in the sense that Americans spending more money on them selves and forgetting about other parts of world.