You sir, are an idiot. Haha it's obvious he's making a point here. I too think we all go back to our daily lives to quickly after thinking about these people.. It's so unfortunate but the ant follows it's colony because breaking off could mean it's end. If 60% of people dropped everything and helped these people, the other 40 would blindly follow I'm sure. Good luck making that happen though
Ummm right. So rather than donating money which we know these 'set up' organizations pockets most of that money, how about sending clothes and other resources they are minimized with. For instance, when I see a homeless person holding up a sign on the street corner..I would rather ask that person if they want food so I know exactly what that person is getting with the money I worked for. How many times do they spend this money that is genuinely for a good cause gets wasted on alcohol?! They have numerous soup kitchens and shelters available here where I live. Many people including myself has donated not only clothes and cans of food, but volunteering my actual time and effort to help those within my community. I do it out of my own generiousity, not bc someone tells me I have to help. OP labels a title only to follow up with pictures of starving children. I'm sorry, but that is just a demented way of illustrating his point. Read his original post, he finds it 'hilarious' to see people eat in this manner. Then he says wrong pictures, I'm gonna spoil myself with richness by devouring a pizza. Really?! Seems to me he's playing devil's advocate.
Oh boy, this is going to be a long response. Here we go! Solid. On the topic of differential success and material inequality in human populations; there are some very good academic explanations for this, and if you're interested, I can give you some read on the subject. I find it a very interesting subject myself. Well, I can't fault you for believing this, because I know you have good reasons. It's a belief I onced ascribed to as well, but I now joyfully reject that cynical view. It's not as if one of us is right or wrong, I think it's just a difference in perspective. I don't know if I would call it "saving", but we can do a lot to effect positive change in the health and happiness of billions. I don't consider any human life to be worth anything. I'm the culmination of history. I didn't create me, I don't deserve life, but I have it. I was fortunate to be born in middle-class white America. I'm not worth more or any better than a starving African baby. I was given a different path on the tree of life, I'm thankful, but I don't feel any more important. Exactly! And we're all guilty of this at some level. There are even competing explanations for this in the realm of evolutionary psychology. Sociology gives us further explanation concerning cultural attitudes and the contagious nature of altruism and apathy. Again, I think change can be effected, with considerable effort. Step one, is creating a dialogue I disagree with your conclusion (but again, I see how you arrived at it). The bolded section hits a familiar point. Let me respond with a simple axiom. I am unsure of it's origin, but I love it; "Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something." And there are a lot of people doing nothing. oops u caught me, dood!!1 Nope, haven't the foggiest, I can barley put myself in the perspective of any single person, much less the tens of thousands suffering, or the millions more beyond the region of East Africa. So because I use the internet and because I wish to bring the issue of poverty and starvation to the attention of armchair philosopher... that is a sound basis to conclude I am fully ignorant on the subject? Strange logic you got there, kiddo. My high horse is a beautiful horse. Leave him alone. How did you manage to get offended by a vocabulary? A little delicate maybe? This is a very valid point! There are several well-known charitable organizations that I refuse to associate with, due to questionable spending practices, methods and motivations. (i.e. World Vision) But there are many, many other organizations that do profound good, and move almost 100% of contributor donations to those in need. There are yet other organizations that instead of providing material goods, offers loans and business opportunities to impoverished communities. If you would like to know more about specific groups, or specific causes, feel free to contact me. But as always -- do your research! Absolutely a great way too approach it. You're not shelling out nickels to clear your conscience, you're actually effecting real change. Kudos to you, sir. Now you're onto something A wall of text and a link would not have generated two pages of emotional responses. I got exactly what I was seeking.
If you were fully intent on spreading awareness of such a serious issue via the internet, I don't think you'd be posting images of dying children and boasting about eating pizza. The fact that you find these images "hilarious" is, as a matter of fact, a sound basis to conclude that you are fully ignorant on the subject, kiddo.
This could have been a good thread, with good discussion on the philosophical implications of natural disaster and suffering on a whole, but no. of course not, not in this forum. all it is is a bunch of people who don't understand the use of sarcasm that don't go away. Unsubbed.
So if I were to donate... how would I know that the money actually goes to feeding starving people in whatever country? Should I just fly to that country myself with suitcases full of money and give everyone there X amount of dollars? I'd be willing to do it as long as I could guarantee the safety of myself. I can't be helping anybody out if I'm dead now, can I?
Why don't you go ahead and start a philosophical discussion somewhere? It's a pretty sad state if you have to act the jackass to get people talking. I'm at university studying geology, and part of my course is the study of natural disasters and their repercussions. I've had plenty of discussion about the issue. Of course I understand sarcasm, but it's really not necessary here.
Act the jackass? i dont understand. not being a dick but was it a misspelled ask or do you mean be a jackass. Im not really one for starting threads though. My point was 'okay we get it, it may have been a little tasteless but can we just move on and get to the real issue?'
Thats what happens with wortheless threads. No offense to the OP, a day or so later he did provide a link and some input on how we can help, but this misleadingly titled thread started with a sentence and a couple pics that don't match up, it was destined to fail. (I quoted you because I agree with you) Yes people are suffering, and yes I can sit here from my own place, on my sofa with my laptop probably all built by slave labor, and say, hey everyone, give a couple bucks you are all selfish. But like others said that doesn't fix the problem, its just a band aid....not saying that is a bad thing as helping people is almost always good, but its no solution to the real problem.
"Act the jackass" makes sense in Ireland, the meaning might be slightly lost in translation, but I just mean generally be a jackass, such as uploading unnecessary photos to get your point across. Anyway, I agree, it was tasteless, and that's all I wanted to say. Move on to the real point by all means mate, and as always, stay high.
I clearly don't. I haven't even eaten pizza in months. How you managed to not pick up on the scent of waggery, I'm haven't a clue. It's a critique, a ridicule, of you, me and everybody like us. People who perpetuate cycles of economic imperialism and ignore the human tolls. That outrage you feel at my perceive frivolousness is exactly what I wanted you to feel, and it's one we should all turn back on ourselves. Somehow you missed the disingenuousness of my initial post. I also wanted people to do something about it, which I will explain further. How can you be ensured on a level of subjective qualitative experience? You can't. Like I said, the best way to do this is to do your own research. Find a charitable orgaization that appeals to you and research their methodology, their goals, their achievements and their financial claims. Many reputable organizations have this information readily available. I think you're capable of doing this on your own without me spoon-feeding you a link, so I won't patronize you by doing so. Alternatively, if you wish to volunteer; there is absolutely no guarantee of your safety. That is the nature of altruism; you must be willing to take personal risks. Volunteering is a thankless job, it's often demanding, emotionally draining, and can be dirty, dangerous and internally unrewarding. Or, there is also the possibility of you volunteer, not in Somalia or Ethiopia or Kenya, but in your community, with people you know. There are many, many outlets for this. Or... you can go back to your box of onion rings and pizza. Says more about US than ME. Destined to fail? This is exactly what I wanted. Like I mentioned a couple times earlier, I'm not so hot on serving ideas on a silver platter. That's not how genuine empathy proliferates. I want you all to react and self-motivate. This is something most of you have already failed to do without provocateurism. Simple answer: DO MORE.
Yes... yes... human suffering is bad and what not... But I want to see what I came here for.... pictures of people looking stupid while eating.
Hey cool man, like I said dont take it personally, but if someone wants to raise awareness they will provide the tools and information to do so, otherwise its wasted motivation. So myself, along with several others made the clear observation that this was probably not your main intention. Thats fine, and from there I put in my 2 cents on the hunger issue...so again, dont take it personally if you did. Posting "do more" just reiterates my point. The link you provided..great. What else. I believe I go way above and beyond when it comes to this, but this thread isnt about me, but why not provide others with ideas, like you did with the link. Its different for each persons circumstances, but personally, if I need something I try and get it off Craigslist 1st. When I needed a new car, I bought used, vehicle works great, I saved a bunch of money, and there isn't another new car full of steel, plastic, and environmentally dangerous fluids being built for me to sit in a junk yard 15 years from now. Reducing and reusing resources is a great way to help the world, because a lack of resources (or unfair distribution) is one of the main problems.
What makes any of you incapable of typing "somalia food program" into google? How about instead of giving you a link, I give you a list of different word combinations to type into your favourite search engine. I very intentionally did not serve links in an obvious way. If people don't care enough at this point - will a link really change everything? There is obviously an emotional anchor in how people have responded. The biggest hurdle seems to be cynicism and lethargy, not ability. If your research skills are lacking, feel free to private message me, and I can give you some recommendations on organizations to contribute to. Right on! I agree with you that starting to share ideas, exposing the routes of externalities and discussing our options is a positive and motivating step. It's productive and can even sometimes very rarely work to spread awareness. But that wasn't quite the intention of this thread, it was more to rouse any interest at all, pure and simple. In the context of this thread, I'm sticking to that, challenging people with the blunt realities, even through facetious example. I was hoping that the productive exchange of ideas would be a cascading afterthought. If you were to start a thread on activism, I would happily contribute. Feel free to post a link to it in this thread. Maybe we can really get something going on within Grasscity. No one of us can do it alone, but if you start leading, you better believe I'll follow you on this one! And also -- great example of how seemingly unconnected lifestyle choices can impact multiple issues we face. It's a good step, and one that more of us need to take and take more regularly. Mobile communication technology, affordable fuel and patterns of food consumption also play huge roles in global poverty and famine.
On a serperate note, in context of the facetious original post; it was never intended to be quite so vulgar. As I mentioned earlier, it was the result of the transition of subjects. This thread WAS going to be about people who look stupid when they eat; in respects to the philosophy of absurdism and how it perhaps represents true divination. It evolved as I wrote it, and became something very different. I found distaste in it too, but I realized that is a powerful reaction, and one which I decided to utilize. I left this thread in the S&P section because I feel like there is a lot of discussion but very little action from regulars. Perhaps this will provide an opportunity for spirituality to manifest itself in material altruism. Keep an eye out for a thread on Erisian Absurdism, it is coming soon.