5 million children die of hunger a year-and yet we practically do nothing!

[asinann]

The World is cruel, and made for the fittest, it´s not our fault africa is poor and not meant for western colonization, and can´t be made into farmland to grow shit on.
It is however our fault that we interfered with africans in the first place, teaching them over generations the western society, whereupon they forgot how to hunt, how to find water, and how to generally survive in their own country.

We can´t just drop a moneybomb there and say "here, help yourselfs" because some Warlord is gonna use the money and buy some shiney new AKs and Tanks for his Army.

Well that's not completely true. We (by we, I mean Europeans) invaded their lands and stole all their (or most of at least) gold, diamonds, coal, iron etc. So yeah it is our fault that they are poor. Can't say that I care though.

Africa doesn't have good gold production conditions (there's no place that you get any good veins like in California or Alaska.) Coal has always been cheaper and easier to get at closer to home for everyone, so we didn't steal that either. Diamonds by-and-large have been mined by Africans for African dictators (there weren't any good mining techniques until after the Europeans were out.) The only thing that was stolen through most of Africa (everywhere but the nation of South Africa really) were their best physical specimens, and we didn't actually steal most of them, we bought them from other Africans.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

A good analogy is this; Let's assume for a second you have 6-7 dollars. Now let's say there are 10 homeless guys on the street. The meal you want costs 10 bucks. Sure you can't buy it, but you're still hungry and with 7 bucks you can still get an ok meal. Now, with 7 bucks you can buy (at most) 7 of these homeless guys a 1$ burger or something. Helping all of them is absolutely out of the question. You physically can't do it, but you're still not very well off either. You've only got 7 dollars, and giving these guys all your money won't help that. Maybe you'll help one or two, or you'll give them your change after you've gotten your food. You don't give them everything because even though they're a lot worse off than you may be, you're not doing that great either and more importantly, they aren't you.

The reality of the situation is that it's not our problem. When the rest of the world fucks up the US (which I'm assuming you're referring to) shouldn't have to fix it. We're in a recession right now. We can't afford to help 5 million children a year. Actually, those would accumulate over a while. By the third year we would have to keep 15 million children fed, maybe more because a higher population means less food to go around. The sad truth of the matter is that it's much better for us to let them die. And there are a lot of countries and stuff we do help, but even if we do take action it'll never be enough. If we help Niger then people like you will be complaining that we aren't doing enough for Sudan. If we help them then you'll be complaining that we aren't doing enough to help Ethiopia. There's a point where you have to stop.

 

[Cody211282]

I'm going to go with a big "so what", yes it sucks for them that they die, if your religious then they went to a better place, if your not then well it doesn't matter because we all end up dead anyway. It's something that they are going to need to fix themselves, because everytime the west or any other power tries to help nothing gets done.

 

[TornadoADV]

Don't be like that. Us does a lot. They send people to fight wars for oil corporations, they make nuclear weapons and tell others not to, they use media to brainwash us etc. etc. That's a lot of work...

I just don't even know where to begin. Iraq decides who to sell the oil to (China) and the Oil Co. that run the rigs get just enough to cover operation costs, overhead and a bit of profit. As for Nuclear Weapons, the US has been in disarmament mode since SALT, we haven't created a new nuclear weapon since the early 80's. We tell others not to build nukes because as the ONLY country to use them in anger we have the preeminent right to tell others not to repeat our actions for the better of mankind.

As for the Media, it's the Media, it's it's own beast.

 

[Denamic]

I can barely afford food, and I'm not giving up the games that are the motivation for me to work in the first place to feed some people that have nothing to do with me.

It'd be good if gene-modified food got used more.
Then they'd be able to grow their own foods.

 

[Treblaine]

Its estimated that this year around 5 million children, mostly in areas like africa, will die of hunger. and it just shocks me that we in the west can just sit around as if nothing is happening. i mean i no we give some aid or whatever, but its pathetic, like the US doesnt even give .01% of its gdp, yet it can fund military projects etc. like i dont really have much of a point, but like do you not think its a pretty sad enditment on us all that we throw away money like we do in the west while so many people die needlessly?

Hmm, you're right.

How about you lead by example and cancel your connection to the internet... in fact make a vow to never use the internet again and, err, let us know how it goes. Send a postcard or something.

Because (puts on idiot voice):

"It doesn't matter how much people are actually suffering in the world it is ALL ABOUT ME and the guilt I feel for having it better than them. No, the problem isn't that they are in poverty... in my simple mind the problem is their affluence relative TO MEEEEE!"

Seriously now, shouldn't you just be happy that you and those close to you live in stable and affluent countries? Do what you can for others but depriving yourself doesn't save a single life. So keep your internet and donate your time and money to charity, but short of re-colonising Africa that is all we can do to reduce death from poverty.

 

[RicoADF]

Its estimated that this year around 5 million children, mostly in areas like africa, will die of hunger. and it just shocks me that we in the west can just sit around as if nothing is happening. i mean i no we give some aid or whatever, but its pathetic, like the US doesnt even give .01% of its gdp, yet it can fund military projects etc. like i dont really have much of a point, but like do you not think its a pretty sad enditment on us all that we throw away money like we do in the west while so many people die needlessly?

The problem is that you can send aid and it does nothing, lets be honest here the countries like that are stuffed. Unless the UN is going to roll in and take over you wont see any difference, and so atm any aid sent is a waste of resources.

Its not that I think helping is bad, but if we're gonna help we should do it right, in for a penny in for a pound to say. Doing it half assed as we are is wasteful.

 

[Treblaine]

Firstly, there's no point sending money, as it's all gobbled up by the corrupt bureaucrats, government officials and quite often the leader of the country.

Also, they breed like fucking rabbits. They're replacing those losses at an unsustainable rate as it is - if it wasn't for the God Lords gift of AIDS and starvation we'd have much bigger global food problems on our hands.

You can thank the Catholic Church (and other conservative religious charities) for how they discourage proper birth control, preferring to advocate the UTTERLY USELESS rhythm method or some other crap. I don't know, they seem to have the idea that condoms increase promiscuity... you can tell a celibate priest came up with that bollocks.

If you give a population the anti-biotic you MUST also give them The Pill, and other birth control. All humans are pre-set to have many MANY babies for 2 major reasons:
(1) Naturally, most children die before they reach adulthood
(2) Naturally, most mothers don't lie long to have many babies.
(3) if you don't have kids no one will care for you when old/decrepit

So you see why it is natural to have as many kids as quickly as possible, in the natural world a couple would be lucky if just 2 of their possibly 9 kids grow into adulthood.

But if you are determined to prevent every infant death then you MUST in turn and equally allow for family planning and controlling pregnancy. Without proper eduction, pregnancy is not planned... it just happens.

The biggest contributor to reducing pregnancy rate is EDUCATION of females, send them out into the world with no knowledge and fundamentally outclassed by males for any physical work... they are inevitably going to end up as wifey and not have any clue on proper family planning.

 

[FROGGEman2]

You are a variant on number 2.

To answer your question: it's just how humans are. We are innately selfish yet are totally capable of blind kindness. We are stuck in a paradox, never able to commit to one or the other... meaning that when people do lash out and care, it's often random.

 

[SentryGun]

I know this seems harsh but the 5 million people dying in third world countries actually helps the global population. The earth as a whole can only support 15 billion people, as we are pushing 7 billion the global birth to death ratio actually needs to be higher in the death side of things...

 

[T-Bone24]

Giving aid to these countries almost always results in population spikes.
Aid = more people in an overcrowded country = more aid = more of the worlds money.
Stop giving them that aid and it looks like this: More people + not enough aid + threat of starvation = War.

We don't need to give them all our money, we need to stimulate their economies while slowly weening them off aid.

As has been said before: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

 

[bluemistake2]

Its estimated that this year around 5 million children, mostly in areas like africa, will die of hunger. and it just shocks me that we in the west can just sit around as if nothing is happening. i mean i no we give some aid or whatever, but its pathetic, like the US doesnt even give .01% of its gdp, yet it can fund military projects etc. like i dont really have much of a point, but like do you not think its a pretty sad enditment on us all that we throw away money like we do in the west while so many people die needlessly?

now wait a second... are you bono?

 

[gim73]

Here is a cold hard fact. Those five million starving kids in africa will become 20 million in a dozen years. Every generation that continues will be stuck in horrible conditions, overpopulation, corrupt governments and other shitty conditions. Remember Rwanda, where the government encouraged the people to rise up and murder all the minority?

Will feeding starving kids help them at the moment and make us feel warm and fuzzy? probably.

Does it solve their problems?
no

If some warlord offered that kid food and a gun would he happily murder his countrymen?
yep

The problem is NOT starving kids, that is just a result. If you spend all your time trying to fix the results so that you like them, you miss the problem and the result continues to happen.

You can try to solve the AIDS epidemic in africa as well, but it too is a result.

Some things you should not rush in and try to fix. This is a problem that needs to be fixed by the many nations of Africa.

 

[joschen]

I won't care until the world is about 1 billion people. Earth is overpopulated enough.

Genophage!

No but seriously, there are more to this then only starving children. It's just a symptom far greater problem.

The larger part of The heart of darkness Afrika is a major hellhole, whit civil(tribe) wars, genocide and aids raging amongst the population. The governments is corrupt and the leaders are fools poorly educated former warlords.

What these children needs is so much more then just food. They need order, and most of all, a future.

 

[jamesworkshop]

We live in a capitalist world, and the people behave accordingly. This is one of the many reasons I am a socialist.

Capatalism is a great incentive for helping the poorer African nations, the 3rd world is simpley a global market waiting to happen.
All we need to find is a cheap solution just giving aid won't reform the country it needs a more direct action

 

[FROGGEman2]

I know this seems harsh but the 5 million people dying in third world countries actually helps the global population. The earth as a whole can only support 15 billion people, as we are pushing 7 billion the global birth to death ratio actually needs to be higher in the death side of things...

We going to reach 10 billion then stop and decline. Birth rates are getting lower and lower, and in many countries the population is declining. Mainly because the number of average children is getting lower, even to the point of one child per mother.

 

[Wrann]

To quote Falconer, "I shed no tears for strangers."

This is my feeling on things like this and the earthquake in Haiti I just don't care and why should I. Also if you think about it if they didn't die then consider at least Africa's history many would be killed by the ensuing youth armies the local tyrant would use and kill tons more.

 

[Vigilantis]

dirty hippies should leave now

^ This

oh and this:

So what are you doing about it besides posting about it on a gaming site where nothing is accomplished?

Fail thread is fail.

 

[Infernai]

In the words of ask that guy: "If we eat the hungry people, there will no longer be any hungry people".