Yes. The Salvation Army oppresses people. You sir are a tool. Whoever thinks along those lines is an idiot. No couth anymore. Not enough respect. Most certainly not enough love or good will for your fellow man.

#35 - chill out

@16 - Because helping people has to be obnoxious.

What are you on about? We all know all the things salvation army does but that doesn't mean ringing bells aren't annoying. They're not related. You could have a car alarm that when it goes off magically killed cancer cells - brilliant! But it doesn't make the car alarm itself any less damn annoying.

So is traffic, dumb people, and ignorance. They all have one thing in common they are not productive to anyone, while a little bell isn't a big deal to support something good. Just my opinion, not trying to dismiss or belittle your input, but if people put a little more pride in helping people instead of bitching about how "annoying" the bells are, the world would be a much more merry place. The part about a car alarm killing cancer cells and claiming, oh it's annoying is disgusting. You probably haven't had people die horrible, painful deaths from cancer, otherwise you'd be playing that damn car alarm every day to be thankful.

You're missing the point. There are less annoying ways to bring attention to a good cause. It's not necessary, and if anything, it's diminishing the value of what they're trying to accomplish by turning people off to the idea of donating. People don't like annoying things. Instead of claiming they're disgusting and trying to change natural human behavior, why not work around it instead? There are plenty of studies every year on human behavior that could benefit these organizations, but instead they stick with the iconic obnoxious bell.

I highly doubt that I am Missing the point. Have you ever been starving, received clothes and toys you can't afford for your kids at Christmas because Walmart shut down a mom and pop shop? Highly doubt it. They're noise and try to talk to people because you aren't donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to help these people. I've never been talked to rude, disrespected, or otherwise put out of my way by them ask me if I could throw some damn change that will probably end up in the sofa. If you could go about it other ways then by all means, do it. If not show some respect for people who dedicate their time to help people who are struggling. I like hearing the bells, because unlike most people around la . They will say hi to you and are doing good in the community. I didn't claim they were disgusting I said that is disgusting.

What they're accomplishing is irrelevant to the point. The two issues are entirely separate, you seem to have trouble separating your fondness for the cause with the logic and rationale of people finding the bell obnoxious. It's the same concept (albeit much less extreme) as testing vaccines on animals. People protest that all the time, even though it helps protect the ill.

Let's agree to view this different. I see what you're getting at, however the relevance of the cause should surpass a minor inconvenience. Not claiming you are wrong or right, just providing my perspective. It's not that I have fondness towards the affiliation, I just believe in helping people when I can. I know I would appreciate it if I was on the other end, and those bells would sound quite blissful.

Hey I don't want to belittle you, but let me call your opinion "bitching" but don't worry! No belittling here!

To be honest, I wasn't really suggesting they find a different way to fundraise...I was just stating that, for better or worse, constant ringing is annoying. I know it's only a small minority that will get the day long blast of it though so I'm sure the good outweighs the bad in this scenario. It just really sucks to be OP.

50, if I was walking and someone started ringing and bell in my face, I'd get as far away from them as possible. All the bell ringing does is tell you that they are there, but it's not a nice sound and I wouldn't find myself talking to them other than to complain about the bell ringing.

If you've ever worked retail, you'd know that "christmas cheer" is a myth. That's the time of year people scream at retail employees over stupid issues because *THEIR* holiday has to be PERFECT. I'm glad I now work somewhere where the holidays are not acknowledged beyond closures for nights we won't be busy.

I've worked at toys r us over Christmas the year the Wii was launched and I've also been in charge of caffeinating the angry masses as they spend money they don't have to buy presents for people who don't need stuff. So trust me, I thoroughly understand the crazy bug that infects people this time of year and the unfortunate abuse that follows. That being said...just because Christmas spirit is not always visible in customers doesn't mean that it's a myth. I've seen plenty of people who act as Santa for no reason other than it's a good thing to do. My comment about Christmas spirit was directed towards the people who apparently have nothing better to do than to verbally shit all over people for no reason other than internet anonymity ensures they won't get punched in the face.

Good for you to help. +1 and then some. It seems a lot of people here have never been part of the slums or needed help from affiliations that care to aid mankind.