# Why do some people hate the Red Cross? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442 "2005-08-31T16:14:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/41 "2005-10-20T07:10:17Z")
Among certain fringe elements of society, another reason to hate the Red Cross is the belief that the organization is one of many tentacles of the Illuminati/Zionist bankers/Trilateral Commission monster of World Government. As [this article](http://www.savethemales.ca/000426.html) states (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > Col. House continues: The “peaceful return of the American colonies” can only be brought about with “the consent of the dominant group of the controlling clans.” > > Col. House relates how these classes are being taught to accept “British” leadership. He details how the universities and press are staffed by “British-born” or Canadians. > > “ **Through the Red Cross** , the Scout movement, the YMCA, the church, and other humane, religious, and quasi religious organizations, we have created an atmosphere of international effort which strengthens the idea of unity of the English speaking world.” > > The Overseas Clubs, service clubs, and war charities “enable us to pervade all sections and classes of the country.” Colonel Edward Mandell House is identified elsewhere in the article as “the Rothschild agent who secretly directed U.S. affairs during the Woodrow Wilson administration.” ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/42 "2005-10-20T10:50:12Z")
I gave the RC $1000 ‘for Katrina.’ I know it may go elsewhere, but I figure that it will help someone somewhere. I like the RC. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/43 "2005-10-20T17:24:01Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Actually, it isn’t really free. You have to pray with them, or at least listen to them pray over you while you get the coffee. Even if it’s just them saying “God bless you” as they give you the coffee. > > As a religious organization, the Salvation Army is trying to ‘save’ people, so the ‘free’ coffee is it’s come-on to get people to listen to it’s evangalism or to sit around and maybe read some of the literature they have around. Rather like the ‘free vacation’ you can get, if you are willing to attend a sales pitch at a vacation condo development. > > Thus you are paying with your time and attention, even if you don’t have to shell out actual cash. So it really is not completely free. TANSTAAFL! This has never been my experience. The SA is a religious organization and they don’t hide that fact. However I have been involved in several disasters and I have never seen them push religion on anybody. If they try to convert anyone it’s through their devotion and self sacrifice. I have never heard anyone pray over me or even say “God bless you” when handing out coffee. I’m sure if I asked them about their beliefs they would tell me but I am not interested. I was greatfull for the help and I donate when I can. Things may be different at the homeless shelters they run but I saw no praying or recruiting at disasters. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/44 "2005-10-20T18:00:03Z")
Well I read this thread, popped off to another site, and don’t you today’s cover story is a [short negative history of the Red Cross](http://www.counterpunch.com/allen10202005.html) So we can toss in a perception (or reality, I don’t pretend to know) of bait-and-switch fundraising and charges of racism. For me the really amazing thing about the article is that it points out the substantial connections between the federal government and the organization, which I had no idea about. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/45 "2005-10-20T19:13:21Z")
Am I the first one to mention the credits the Red Cross movement, led by the International Committee of the Red Cross, deserves for its role in the development of humanitarian and international law? It played a crucial role in the Geneva Conventions and helped people all around the world long before most of the other charities, as valuable as their efforts are, came into existence. The link about its “scandalous history” doesn’t seem to be too trustworthy. Take this quote: > [@](#): > > The Red Cross was founded in 1881 by Clara Barton, who became famous during the Civil War for organizing the distribution of food and medical supplies to Union Army soldiers. That’s just plain wrong. It was founded in 1863 by Swiss citizen Henri Dunant. The American section was founded in 1881 by Ms Barton, but you should not mix this up. The Red Cross/Red Crescent/Red Lion system is a particularly complex one. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/46 "2005-10-20T20:26:56Z")
It’s interesting how many people have reported dislike for the Red Cross for something that happed in WWII. My grandfather, veteran of WWII, also hated the Red Cross and would never donate to them, although I’m uncertain as to what the exact reason was - perhaps my mother or grandmother knows. I’d ask Papa, but he died in 1983. Curiously, my father also pretty much despises the Red Cross. He’s no veteran, but he is a doctor. I’ll have to ask him why. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/47 "2005-10-21T01:03:16Z")
In general- there are always those who hate & depise whichever person/company/organization is at the top or close to it. I give you Disney, Starbucks & the USA for examples. (Please don’t hijack this thread with whatever you hate about either. If you must- start another thread). Whever you’re big- you also tend to have problem with effeciency. Then there’s the fact that someone somewhere is going to make a blunder- and that one blunder will cost you more good will than a 1000 good deeds. ---
**Author:** ![cat39645](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@cat39645](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cat39645)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/48 "2005-10-21T04:07:16Z")
I hate the Red Cross because they call me whenever they want more blood from me. They call A LOT until I answer the phone which I will not because I don’t need someone reminding me I need to give blood. I give it when I want to. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/49 "2005-10-21T11:49:31Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Among certain fringe elements of society, another reason to hate the Red Cross is the belief that the organization is one of many tentacles of the Illuminati/Zionist bankers/Trilateral Commission monster of World Government. As [this article](http://www.savethemales.ca/000426.html) states (bolding mine): > > Colonel Edward Mandell House is identified elsewhere in the article as “the Rothschild agent who secretly directed U.S. affairs during the Woodrow Wilson administration.” That’s so far out in left field it’s pathetically trying to hitch a lift back to the stadium. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Canyon\_Advocate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Canyon\_Advocate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canyon_Advocate)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/50 "2010-12-25T01:27:51Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > An update on the Red Cross from today’s NY Times: > > [Red Cross](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/19/national/nationalspecial/19cross.html) > > It doesn’t look like they learned much from their 9/11 fiasco. They are still a top-heavy, inefficient organization that seeks out as much money as possible while avoiding accountability. Orange County, Ca. floods, December 2010… same stuff. Instead of helping, they have meetings with compliant locals behind locked doors. Instead of getting out and seeing what needs to be done they recruit volunteers to do damage assessments. Instead of relying on that info, they ask people to come to their office to ask for help. when I called to explain that a lot of my neighbors were stranded in their homes by debris in the road because they wasted our community leaders time in useless meetings, they got mad at me about being emotional. (I had spend 6 hours doing damage assessments, using their bureaucratic forms while they sat on their rear ends.) I know more about how much sleep Tom missed because of this disaster then he knows about me and I’m the flood victim. He didn’t ONCE ask me how I was, how was my house, if I sustained any damage or how my neighbors are. But they sure will be there if someone starts handing out disaster funds. Oh, and their main phone number has one number to push for help and 6 numbers to push depending on what kind of help you can offer them, blood, money, volunteer, etc. and the number to get help… that mailbox was full. Want to know how to give money in case of a disaster? Go there and hand cash to some poor slob with a shovel in her hand and sweat on her face or find a church that is organizing volunteers and join up, but don’t don’t don’t waste your money giving it to the Red Cross. ---
**Author:** ![Canyon\_Advocate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Canyon\_Advocate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canyon_Advocate)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/51 "2010-12-25T01:35:31Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > In general- there are always those who hate & depise whichever person/company/organization is at the top or close to it. > > I give you Disney, Starbucks & the USA for examples. (Please don’t hijack this thread with whatever you hate about either. If you must- start another thread). > > Whever you’re big- you also tend to have problem with effeciency. Then there’s the fact that someone somewhere is going to make a blunder- and that one blunder will cost you more good will than a 1000 good deeds. Sorry, I think you are being an apologist. Yes, all large organizations have problems, but I have never see one organization so consistently let down those in need in times of disaster. They are big enough to recognize when the make the same mistakes repeatedly, yet they refuse to learn from them, but they don’t stop claiming to be an emergency service provider. They are NOT. They are half way decent emergency response trainers, and decent first aid trainers, but DO NOT waste you time seeking help from them during a disaster. And DO NOT waste your money donating to their disaster services. I have had dealings with them around the country since midwest floods in 1977. ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/52 "2010-12-25T01:59:36Z")
Another reason to hate the read cross: they want to eat your brains. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/53 "2010-12-25T02:33:02Z")
The red in “Red Cross” is from the blood oozing from the zombies’ pores. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/54 "2010-12-25T05:56:12Z")
In defense of the Red Cross I knew US Coast Guard personnel who were involved in the Flight 800 tragedy in 1996. They had nothing but praise for the Red Cross for coming in and feeding some 2,000 rescue workers for a month. The base (Group Moriches) had no mess facilities…just a kitchen stove and microwave for the overnight radioman and OOD. A special word of hate to the media members who continually tried to get photographs of passenger’s body parts as they were brought ashore. Just what do you vermin need photographs of that for? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/55 "2010-12-25T07:14:17Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > This is a big problem with almost all charitable organizations. When ever I donate anything I try and avoid giving out my phone number. Blood donations hoever hald a lot more regulation associated with them I am beleive you are re I don’t like them because of the way they silenced **gazpacho**. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/56 "2010-12-25T07:22:31Z")
> [@Canyon\_Advocate](#): > > Orange County, Ca. floods, December 2010… same stuff. Instead of helping, they have meetings with compliant locals behind locked doors. Instead of getting out and seeing what needs to be done they recruit volunteers to do damage assessments. Instead of relying on that info, they ask people to come to their office to ask for help. when I called to explain that a lot of my neighbors were stranded in their homes by debris in the road because they wasted our community leaders time in useless meetings, they got mad at me about being emotional. (I had spend 6 hours doing damage assessments, using their bureaucratic forms while they sat on their rear ends.) I know more about how much sleep Tom missed because of this disaster then he knows about me and I’m the flood victim. He didn’t ONCE ask me how I was, how was my house, if I sustained any damage or how my neighbors are. But they sure will be there if someone starts handing out disaster funds. Oh, and their main phone number has one number to push for help and 6 numbers to push depending on what kind of help you can offer them, blood, money, volunteer, etc. and the number to get help… that mailbox was full. Want to know how to give money in case of a disaster? Go there and hand cash to some poor slob with a shovel in her hand and sweat on her face or find a church that is organizing volunteers and join up, but don’t don’t don’t waste your money giving it to the Red Cross. When donating money keep two words in mind, “efficient” and “effective”. The Red Cross is not efficient and is only moderately effective compared to other disaster relief organizations. For instance, Catholic Relief Services and Doctors Without Borders can utilize your donation effectively in multitudes of what the Red Cross will do. (They are not the only ones but I use them as very prominent examples.) When it comes to charitable giving there are so many causes out there that I have a “one strike and you’re out” policy. The Red Cross gets nothing from me due to their sordid history of mismanagement. I will never contribute a dime to the United Way due to the scandalous stuff that went on in their [dis]organization. (An aged CEO carrying on with a 17 year old girlfriend on the UW expense account). When there is a disaster and it is suggested to donate to the Red Cross I grit my teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Angel\_of\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/57 "2010-12-25T16:01:18Z")
> [@Eggerhaus](#): > > Speaking as a critical care RN, the Red Cross here _charges_ our hospital for any blood we request. The local community blood center gives us the blood for free when we request it. > > Caveat: When donating blood, go through your local community blood center, _not the Red Cross_ ! Came here to mention this. I wish we had a CBC. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/58 "2010-12-25T17:04:42Z")
> [@Ardrine](#): > > Another issue which I don’t think has been mentioned here is criticism of the Red Cross [for failing to publicise what it knew of the Holocaust.](http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1997/vp971008/10080475.htm) Your link did not work for me, but that had been my Dad’s reason (WW2 vet). He was, through the war itself, very aware that the Red Cross [knew](http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/redcross.html) about the camps and the mistreatment of POWs and that they participated in the silence over them. It took [until 1996](http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/19/us/red-cross-admits-knowing-of-the-holocaust-during-the-war.html) for them to even admit that they had stayed quiet when they could have spoken. From the first link: > [@](#): > > The Red Cross did much good work, but it often failed POWs as miserably as it did the inmates of concentration camps. The organization’s options were limited by the Nazis, but the idea that it therefore had no moral responsibility to speak out on behalf of the latter because it threatened the good work it was able to do for POWs is, in retrospect, obscene. … > > … The Red Cross knew about the Nazi atrocities as early as August 1942. In February 1945, the President of the Red Cross wrote to a U.S. official: “Concerning the Jewish problem in Germany we are in close and continual contact with the German authorities.” The fact that the head of the Red Cross would use the Nazi phraseology – “the Jewish problem” – may also be an indication of the organization’s attitude that Jews were more of a problem than a people who were being annihilated. > > The Red Cross also knew about crimes against POWs, but did little to publicize them. One might have thought the U.S. government would have an interest in fomenting anger toward the Germans, and would have broadcast stories of mistreatment of soldiers, but officials took the opposite tack. Virtually all the information made public about POWs emphasized their welfare. For example, a December 17, 1944, Washington Post headline was reassuring: “Nazis Play Fair in Prison Camps, Families Told.” This news came from the director of POW relief of the ICRC. He told the Post the Germans “have endeavored to accord the same standards of treatment to American and British prisoners that were set up in the Geneva Convention.” > > The ICRC maintained that there was no inequality of treatment of Jewish prisoners, for example, though the organization did acknowledge that Jewish POWs were sometimes segregated. The ICRC visited Stalag VII-A on January 27, 1945, for example, and reported that 110 American Jewish POWs had been segregated but said they were not otherwise mistreated. The Red Cross accepted the Nazi contention that such actions were permissible under Article 9 of the Geneva Convention, which provides that belligerents shall not house prisoners of different races or nationalities together. > > A representative of the International Red Cross who visited Stalag IX-B briefly mentioned that the Germans selected American POWs they thought were Jews and put them in a separate barracks. The report said “no other discrimination was made against them.” In fact, perhaps as many as 120 Jews – along with about 330 non-Jews – were sent to a slave labor camp associated with Buchenwald. That camp, Berga, had the highest fatality rate of any camp where American POWs were held during the war (20 percent). > > The American Red Cross, meanwhile, adopted the attitude that it should not do anything to upset families; therefore, its Prisoner of War Bulletin was filled with glowing reports of POW camps, letters from cheerful prisoners and photos of happy Americans. But those who returned home came back with a different account of life in a POW camp. Yes, it was long time ago. But for both many Jews and vets of that era that perceived complicity with the Nazis would never be forgiven. Yeah, my Dad also wouldn’t by a German car either. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442/59 "2010-12-25T17:08:57Z")
This thread is really more suitable for In My Humble Opinion or Great Debates than General Questions, but since it’s so old I’m going to close it rather than move it. Anyone who wants to discuss the Red Cross should open a new thread in one of the other forums and link to this one. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-hate-the-red-cross/319442.md?page=2)