Do you feel bad about "the starving kids in Africa" ?

[chadachada123]

Bad? Yeah, of course. Then I realize that a LOT of these kids are going to grow up and have multiple children THEMSELVES that they can't feed, making them as irresponsibly retarded as their parents, making me disappointed at best.

All of our money that's donated should go towards sustainability there, like giving them the ability to grow their own food. It sucks but...giving food/medicine straight to the kids isn't going to solve anything, and will only prolong their starvation.

(The preceding may have had generalizations, and if you only act fallacious in regards to my generalizations, I will laugh at you).

Edit: It's also weird thinking about the AIDS/HIV stuff, because the Catholic church is actively spreading a fuckton of misinformation about it, making the problem far worse. On top of that, there are still insane rumors going around, like that having sex with a virgin can cure HIV. The only solution for this shit is straight-up quarantining, but given the ethical ramifications, I'd say that they're pretty much just screwed.

 

[DazBurger]

Nah... My country have given me an excuse not to bother. A huge amount of Danish taxes goes to poor countries.

 

[Kinarth]

I do feel sorry for the starving people in Africa but yeah, for the last month my food budget has consisted of £20 so I think I have my own problems to deal with before I start with the charity.

 

[Captain Pirate]

Yes, because they are human beings the same as we all are, and have the same right to have a good, long, healthy life as I do.
I donate a bit of money here and there, and with an increased income I'll get soon from a far better job I'll donate more.
I plan to do more charity work for them as long as I live.

 

[Toilet]

Do you care about the starving kids in Africa?

Nope, I have been completely desensitized to it. Also I think the adverts on TV are greatly exaggerated, I do believe there is famine and suffering but I don't believe "One child dies every two minutes due to dirty water."

Do you actually do anything about it?

Im not a fan of my £1 going to a grinning African Warlord with a necklace made of human finger bones.

 

[Xenowolf]

No, if aid helped development, then shouldn't Africa be better-off after all these decades of aid? And after all, with all the corruption, it's doubtful that you would help anyone other than greedy government officials.

No, I'm completely desensitized to it.

It isn't my fault they have it rough and when we do send them aid their governments often spend it on weapons to fuel wars or just spend it on themselves while people continue to starve and die from disease.

Yes things are tough for them but me caring won't do shit.

I had one of those die-hard "think of the childrens!" types of girls in my high school who would always be talking about how much she wanted to go to Africa, and how we should all donate a dollar a day to feed a kid in Africa.

And let me guess, she thought that Africa was a country?

 

[MyNameIsNowNotMyName]

Yeah, I feel bad for them. Not much I can do about it though, the reality is, is that even if I give my money, it's still just going to keep happening, because I don't pay funding towards them making their own food, I pay towards their food outright. That dependency is not a good thing. I feel bad for them, but I don't really have much I could do that I, as a middle-class human being, am capable of.
Edit: Oh, and I'm also 16, so... Yeah. I have a extremely low-paying job though.....

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Do I feel bad for them? Of course I do. It sucks to be hungry.

But will I send money to them? Nope. For one thing, there's pretty much no promise that the money will even go toward food for the children. It's just as likely that the money will be intercepted by the corrupt "governments" in charge and put toward weaponry for the next genocide, or another solid gold Humvee. And I can barely even feed myself as it is after paying off all my bills each month... so I've kinda look out for myself first before I start trying to help others.

That, and if we're referring specifically to the TV commercials that you tend to see late at night looking for donations... the vast majority of them are Christian groups. I've got nothing against Christians (or people of any other faith for that matter) as people, but that doesn't mean I support them spreading their beliefs. While I'd like to think that my money would go directly toward food for the children, I know damn well that the food would come with a whole lot of bible thumping being forced upon the children who just want to eat.

 

[Auron225]

Admittedly I did feel bad, but not really enough to do much about it... that is, until I went there. And saw it. With my own eyes. Now if I won £10,000,000, Id donate at least £9,990,000 of it.

Shame I had to actually see it to grasp it, cause not everyone can go and see it, but I wish everyone did.

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

Yes it hurt's to think about it, but helping them is very hard.

Of all that stuff that's get;s sent to to starving people their corrupt government's steal most of it.

 

[Brandon237]

I live in South Africa... when I see them, I feel bad, although I have been so exposed to it (first-hand too) that it doesn't worry me when I am not being confronted by it. And unfortunately no, the vast majority of the money intended for them gets... lost along the way with the corrupt motherf***ers we currently have in power, and same goes for most of the continent

 

[Whispering Cynic]

I do like to think of all the starving children while I gorge myself...

But seriously, I don't care in the slightest. I don't see a reason to worry about something that's completely out of my control (I don't buy that "everyone can make a difference" cliché), doesn't affect me in any way unless I allow it and is caused by the lack of said children's parents self control. Therefore I have no reason to feel guilty either.

I've had the misfortune of watching a certain local TV programme a few years back that dedicated an entire episode to this issue. It made me feel nothing but pure, boundless hatred towards its creators because it was pathetic, manipulative and clearly attempted to influence the viewers with highly emotional content (a good deal of it felt staged, by the way). The whole thing was engineered to produce guilt in viewers and make them give away their hard earned money for a pointless cause. Because, let's face it, no matter how much money you pour down there, it simply won't get better unless the african people themselves start taking some serious steps towards improvement.

Right now they just wait with their grubby little hands outstretched for another pile of credits from me. Well guess what, it isn't coming.

 

[ExileNZ]

Okay, two questions, two answers:

1. Yes, yes I do. Not just for "starving kids in Africa", but for the homeless or just poverty-stricken people I see around me on a semi-frequent basis. Also, oppressed and war-ravaged populaces like those of Syria and Burma. It does suck to be them, a whole lot more than my first-world problems might sometimes seem.

2. Not really. Not a lot. I make regular donations to a couple of NPOs but I've all but stopped giving change to people in the street. Burned one time too many (which isn't a lot when you're talking charity to strangers). It's funny, but since moving to France I've gotten much more used to ignoring (or even actively avoiding) people who clearly need help. I don't think this is healthy, but there are enough people trying to put one over you that it's no longer worth the risk.

 

[Crazy]

No, no I do not. I actually forget about them quite easily.

Blame the monkey sphere.

 

[Ashadowpie]

the first thing i think of when i see those commercials is " what about the people in Canada that are starving?" its disgusting how Canada is treating our aboriginal people, and they were here first, it just baffles me. also how long have we been helping these people and nothing has changed at all? my dad who's almost 50 said he saw commercials of the same thing when he was a kid. when it comes down to it, people should be helping there own countries food/poverty issues first instead. its sad all around.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

It's a bad thing that people are starving but do I care? Nah. I don't know these people and I never will so why should I give a rats ass about what happens to them?

 

[ablac]

people should worry about their own problems before trying to fix the problems of others. i have a multitude of problems to deal with. that and this country's in some SERIOUS debt (what $300 Trillion?)

$300 trillion? That's like 20 times the US's debt, what country do you live in?

Oh, hang on, how does your currency system work and how are you defining debt?

Its probably more to do with a calculation considering he used dollars (US presumably otherwise they tend to state it). The US's debt is something like $10/$11 trillion overall which is still a huge problem. There isnt $300 trillion on the planet so id be impressed if you could rack up that kind of debt.

nope US... i just took a guess honestly all i knew is that it was astronomically high. the fact i'm off on a number i guessed at anyway dosn't change the validity of my point though

Actually the number is only slightly higher than your GDP so its not devastatingly bad. Still bad but only as bad as what every other country is going through. I wasnt having a go I was just trying to make things clear on numbers because your figures made it seem impossible and were confusing some people.

 

[ShadowKatt]

I'll feel bad about the starving kids in Africa once we get done taking care of the starving kids in America. No reason we should be trying to help them when we can't even seem to help ourselves.

 

[Racecarlock]

I do kind of care about them, but I probably won't sign up for one of those monthly donation things. Why? Because there will always be starving kids in Africa. Africa doesn't have a strong economy right now, and the country itself is closer to the equator, making farming much more difficult. Conditions like that are almost guaranteed to result in a large number of starving children, but even if that wasn't the case, there's still one basic law of economics. For there to be rich people, there will always have to be poor people, some on the brink of starvation. It sucks, but even if the entire world adopted a communist government, you would still have starving people. It's a symptom of overpopulation and basic economic rules. Plus, I really hate how people use the starving kids thing as a guilt trip. What the hell do people expect me to do about it? Buy food for the whole country? There's just not enough money, or food for that matter, in the world to feed everyone. Do I wish I could feed those kids? Sure, but I have my own problems, and I can't be expected to take care of theirs as well.