Famine in Africa

[Jagger69]

It's not that everybody here just doesn't care. A lot of it's that a lot of people here don't have any practical way they would help.

That's a cop-out, d-rock. Anyone could make a contribution as long as they could afford it. $5 buys 10 days worth of food for a child over there.

 

[Lewis2001]

It's deliberate, Kissinger always said Africa needed to be depopulated so as the West could grab their resources

 

[Njosnavelin]

They should try to make a strong Africa....A old fashioned resource grab with such long term planning if that is true is just fucking really long even in regards to national interests....If Africa was made stronger as in capable of self sufficiency in food and other stuff.

For fuck sake the whole place can't have been plundered....Its like most other things in other shit holes....Mismanagement, fucking warlords and other douches who don't care about their people and are only seeking short term reward(cause like they will die)

On the other hand a stronger Africa which the west could trade with equality for once in it's life would, Dare people think cause that might be dangerous.

It would be a hell of a consumer base.

Though having said that I would need more information myself I guess before fully framing that thought out as to the actual possibility of strengthening Africa if it was restructured, where modern techniques in everything where available....The place can't be that desolate for fuck sake you could some serious cattle ranching down there end up feeding themselves and others.

PS> Unfortunately the place is a nightmare the warlord's have too much control and the common man about the place will rise up against any foreign power attempting even to help them as in the case of black hawk down....I'd suspect its on mc namara's list of insane places to go near.

 

[Ulysses31]

Africa is a continent that needs a complete revamp, I'm not against the west donating money to ease the suffering but there also needs to be a long term strategy. There is still too much fighting between ethnic/religious groups as well as government corruption where money intended for the needy vanishes into the pockets of crooks. I'd also like to see the richer african nations do a lot more to help the poorer ones to bring up the standard of the whole continent. Wouldn't be a bad idea letting the British show them how to set up and run an effective government

 

[ragincaucasian]

y'all need to distinguish what you're talking about.

Are we talking SOMALIA?!??! Or the entire fucking continent of Africa?

 

[Mr. Daystar]

There's famine in America too...maybe we should fix our problems first.

As far as Somalia, and the other warring, radical countries that allow their people to suffer...they will never change, until the people rise up, and effect change. If that means they have revolution for the rest of eternity, so be it. An asshole comes into power...kill him, if the guy that takes his place is an asshole too...kill him.

As a nation, we're circling the drain, and we need to look out for ourselves for a change. We can't help everyone else, if we can't help ourselves, and we can't help the people that don't want it.

 

[tartanterrier]

If the rulers of these countries had any shame then they would all
commit suicide for such shit leaders.

Then they can leave all their inheritance and riches to the people
who needs it most

 

[BustyFan1]

Darwin would think of it as "nature's way of population control". Hey folks, I didn't make it up. He did say it.

 

[GB Boy]

We're all Africans

If you believe this then perhaps you should return to your homeland to help out?

 

[D-rock]

That's a cop-out, d-rock. Anyone could make a contribution as long as they could afford it. $5 buys 10 days worth of food for a child over there.

In many cases that might be true, but in fairness to a lot of people, like me for instance, I don't really have $5 to spare like that. I'm about one small step away from needing people to donate money to me to get by and quite frankly one moderate disaster away from being homeless, and while I could give that money away now I could very well need something like that tomorrow for some emergency or something important and unexpected, like gas money to get to a (admittedly unlikely) job interview that might come up for instance. I don't have any sizable reserve of cash sitting around as a buffer and definitely not for any great luxuries.

I'm not to make excuses or rationalize it, but there are so many people in the world that need help that giving them all help is almost impossible for most people. We could give them money, but that could very well take away from what we could give to somebody else, and a lot of times it's not easy to decide whom one helps and whom one doesn't when help can't be given to everybody. The very few times I've been in a position to donate money to a cause I choose to do it in the local area, party because I feel I own them more because the local area supported me more and party because I could actually see where the money was going and knew it wasn't be used by some corrupt person or organization for themselves.

If I was some millionaire or even somebody that was middle class and just didn't give a damn about anybody but myself I could see where you might be right, but that's often not the case for people.

If you believe this then perhaps you should return to your homeland to help out?

I think he might mean we are all African in a genetic sense, which is true. :dunno:

 

[Mr. Hyde]

The USA does plenty of good but I'm not writing a book here and that's not the purpose of the thread. We're selfish as a people because there seems to be little, if any, concern about this issue, that's why. I'm not necessarily blaming the government....they have plenty to worry about right now but the general (yawn!) "gee, ain't that a shame" type reaction and then back to business as usual apathetic attitude is what bothers me. That's why we're selfish....because, overall, we just don't care enough to do anything about it. Look at the response to this thread....weak compared to "who's ass would you fuck?" (I know, I know "it's a porn board") but exemplary of the general indifference nonetheless. It's not just the USA either....don't see many people period overly concerned about what's going on over there.

If the USA wanted to take over Somalia and we made a full-scale commitment to a major campaign using overwhelming force we could take control in no time. Our previous adventure over there was not anywhere close to being on that scale.

That's not what I am suggesting however....simply pointing out that if it were to our economic or geopolitical advantage to do so (ala Iraq, Afghanistan) it would greatly increase the chances that we'd go in with military force. Hell, we went into Libya for a helluva lot less so don't give me this "what can we do?" stuff. We've already shown we can impose our will whenever and wherever we want with relative impunity no matter what the rest of the world thinks or does. The truth is....Somalia is a wasteland when it comes to resources and its people have little or nothing in common with us here in the West other than they happen to be human beings. I guess that isn't enough to conjure up much concern.

What would I have us do? I gave you a link to a number of charities to which you can choose to contribute or not. We cannot individually do everything to fix the problem. However, if we all do something, we can do anything. If you choose to do nothing, you simply provide validation for my original argument.

So....did you make a contribution? :dunno:

Fuck no...not because I don't give a shit, but because it's fucking useless to do so. Do you honestly believe that any money you give to a charity for Africa is going to make a difference there? HONESTLY believe that? That place is just fucked. Hell, Somalia is an anarchy. Fucking PIRATES operate out of that place...and you think everyone in America giving $5 is going to change anything over there? Do you know how naive that sounds?

Nothing is ever going to change in Africa. There will be famines 50 years from now there...the people there are just too culturally backward to help themselves. Corruption, powermongering, and violence are just too ingrained in the culture of too many places to change things.

It's not selfish to say that, it's realistic...and to call Americans selfish because there is a famine in Africa is self-loathing.

 

[brodkill]

if i had the money i would send it to some poor kids in africa, but i dont, so i can oly say this and hope people will believe me

i just really dont like how these pushy snobs stand on the street corner or in a mall, and start being all nice to you and tell you some sob story about starving kids in africa, and then make you feel like a selfish jerk, when you say you cant afford to send them money

 

[Jagger69]

In many cases that might be true, but in fairness to a lot of people, like me for instance, I don't really have $5 to spare like that. I'm about one small step away from needing people to donate money to me to get by and quite frankly one moderate disaster away from being homeless, and while I could give that money away now I could very well need something like that tomorrow for some emergency or something important and unexpected, like gas money to get to a (admittedly unlikely) job interview that might come up for instance. I don't have any sizable reserve of cash sitting around as a buffer and definitely not for any great luxuries.

I'm not to make excuses or rationalize it, but there are so many people in the world that need help that giving them all help is almost impossible for most people. We could give them money, but that could very well take away from what we could give to somebody else, and a lot of times it's not easy to decide whom one helps and whom one doesn't when help can't be given to everybody. The very few times I've been in a position to donate money to a cause I choose to do it in the local area, party because I feel I own them more because the local area supported me more and party because I could actually see where the money was going and knew it wasn't be used by some corrupt person or organization for themselves.

If I was some millionaire or even somebody that was middle class and just didn't give a damn about anybody but myself I could see where You Might be right, but that's often not the case for people.

A fair point and well-taken. You help if you can. If you can't, you can't.

Fuck no...not because I don't give a shit, but because it's fucking useless to do so. Do you honestly believe that any money you give to a charity for Africa is going to make a difference there? HONESTLY believe that? That place is just fucked. Hell, Somalia is an anarchy. Fucking PIRATES operate out of that place...and you think everyone in America giving $5 is going to change anything over there? Do you know how naive that sounds?

Nothing is ever going to change in Africa. There will be famines 50 years from now there...the people there are just too culturally backward to help themselves. Corruption, powermongering, and violence are just too ingrained in the culture of too many places to change things.

It's not selfish to say that, it's realistic...and to call Americans selfish because there is a famine in Africa is self-loathing.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

To put my money where my mouth is, I actually have donated money to Africa, in a way. I have an account with Kiva, and have put $250 in it. Right now, I have a micro-loan out to a guy in South America, but the last two loans were both to women in Africa. One was operating a sewing machine business where she mended clothes for people, and needed supplies to expand her business. The other owned a fruit and vegetable stand and needed money to buy more fruit and veggies that she could sell, and open up a new stand.

So yes, I actually have done something to make Africa a better place. Do I think it's going to make a difference? No, but I think teaching people to take care of themselves is a much better way to do it than to drop food on them that warlords will steal.

I don't mean offense Jagger, but you're a little naive.