503). He believes this type of poverty is the major cause of poverty in the world presently. Singer (2002) also defined "absolute affluence" as having more income than necessary to provide adequate food, shelter, and clothing. In today's world, health care and education is added into these terms of poverty and affluence. With the basic terms layed out, Singer can now develop his argument on what is considered morally right with respect to giving aid, and he moves full force into an issue that seems so black and white in his eyes.
Singer questions that are we all murderers because allowing people to die is essentially killing someone point-blank. There is a difference, however, between spending money on certain luxuries (allowing someone to die) instead of donating it to charities. The first difference is a matter of motivation. A terrorist finds direct gratification in seeing people die because he wants those people dead in order to help his country. I buy Oreos because I like the taste of them, not because I want to kill the people who made them. Second, Singer (2002) states "it is not difficult to act in accordance with a rule against killing people: it is, on the other hand, very difficult to obey a rule that commands us to save all the lives we can" (pg. 505). Third, there is a greater certainty of outcomes when not giving aid. (Singer 2002) If I hold a knife to someone's neck and thrust it in, there is a great certainty that that person will be killed or seriously injured, however, I might not know exactly where my money is going when I donate to the Salvation Army. The fourth difference has to do with the identity of the people affected by the action. If someone is shot, there has been a definite person shot, but on the other hand, it is impossible to point to a random person and say they could have been saved by a donation. (Singer 2002) The fifth and final difference is that the hunger of the world is not a single, specific individual's doing, and therefore, that individual is not responsible for the hunger.