Singer Hits a Foul Note

The argument that Peter Singer makes is not terribly complex, and is easy for many to understand: society must become less materialistic in order to solve poverty. He also demonstrates the hypocritical nature of the public through his example with Bob the Bugatti owner and the film "Central Station", showing how if the person were to ignore the dying child the public would look at them as a monster. He shows that although when ignoring charity one does not see the child die, they still should be looked at the same way because they are not helping someone in need.

But his argument stops being effective at this point. He then mentions how Americans need to reconsider their spending, and anything that is a luxury donate what would be spent on that to charity. But how is that realistic? We live in a society that would likely have some members rampage over a ten dollar tax raise that goes to helping the homeless. To put it bluntly, Singer's argument is invalid and ultimately naive. To think that people will stop being materialistic is unrealistic. I like charity as much as the next person, but I know I would find it very difficult to avoid any luxuries and instead donate to a cause. And I know that I am not alone in saying this. So while Singer makes a point that would be sensible if human greed was not in play, his argument is ultimately useless when it comes to applying it to society.