The Peter Singer Solution to World Poverty - Article Example

He argues that such respectable people in fact have hidden craven urges for the material world and want to posses trinkets even when the life of innocent people have to be bartered. In the initial paragraphs of the article, he argues that people who are better off than their poor brethren should forego luxuries such as dining out, going on vacations, wearing new clothes every now and then and buying material items. The money saved from these wasted expenses can be used to support poor and starving children who have remain hungry by actions other than their own.

After the initial arguments are done with, Singer again counter argues that it would not be realistic for Americans to forego all the luxuries for which they have worked so hard and it would not be practical to expect them to give up 70% of their income. However, if all Americans set aside 10% of their income for meaningful charity, then the situation of the poor in the world will certainly improve. Singer has explained the question of moral dilemma that people face when forced to choose between material benefits and the chance to help and save others.

He gives the example of Dora, the main character in the Brazilian movie 'Central Station'. Dora makes her living by writing letters for the illiterate and one day she gets a chance to earn 1000 USD. She has to escort a young boy to an address where some foreigners will adopt the child. She does the needful and uses the money to buy a TV and other trinkets. Later she is told by her neighbor in whom she has confided her story that the boy will be killed and his organs harvested. A guilt stricken Dora then takes extreme efforts to rescue the child.

In this case, Dora was directly responsible for pushing the child to a possible gruesome death and hence it was morally important that she repent and take efforts to recue the boy. In another example, Bob has a Bugatti car that he loves very much and on which he has spent his life’s savings. One day he parks his car on a railway siding and goes for a walk when he sees a child on the tracks in front of an approaching train. Bob had the chance to throw a siding switch and move the train on another track thus saving the child.

However, this train would have smashed his car. Therefore, Bob does nothing and the child dies. These two examples form the basis of the articles and his ethical arguments. A critical review of the article indicates that Singer is very persuasive in his arguments for ethical and moral behavior. He has used the method of moral dilemma to force Dora to act and she did strive to save the child. She did so because the child was put into danger because of her own actions. On the other hand, Bob had not done anything to force or entice the child to play on the railway tracks.

In fact, if he had not come to the railway tracks and had gone to another place for a walk, he would not be even aware of the incident. In this case, moral dilemma could not force Bob to act since he valued his car more than the life of an unknown child. This moral dilemma and forcing the Bob’s of the world to turn into the Dora’s of the world is the solution to poverty that Singer suggests. According to the logic in his article, most Americans are not responsible for the hunger and poverty of the world.

By maintaining this aloof and uncaring attitude, the Bob’