Hurricane Harvey is a Time to Put Politics Aside… Just for a Moment

Political animosity in the US is probably at an all-time high. This isn’t news.

Sadly, what is newsworthy is the fact that people are not only politicizing the hurricane, but discouraging helping the victims of it for political reasons. A University of Tampa professor called it “karma.” Ann Coulter took an opportunity to make an inflammatory statement not-quite linking the hurricane to Houston’s lesbian mayor, which is something one would normally expect from the Westboro Baptist Church.

A once-highly-followed Twitter account called @CharitableHuman has deleted its account after discouraging providing aid to “any red state.”

If you want to be sad, you can search for many more instances of people discouraging others from donating to help because of political reasons.

This is a sign of a lot of built-up animosity, but (opinion warning) we believe that people can be better. This disaster is a time to put politics aside and help our fellow Americans. Indifference to, schadenfreude for, or glee towards the suffering of others is never good and certainly doesn’t make you better than your political opponents.

Harvey has hurt Americans of every stripe–political, racial, gender, whatever. Let’s step up and be Americans, and help out those who need it.

If You Want to Help, Here are Good Resources

Charity Navigator has a scoring system based largely on transparency and how much of your money makes it to the ground level. Business Insider lists 5 charities that score very well. We hope you consider donating to them.