Hate to be a voice of negativity BUT.....

[Locut0s]

I can't help but feel that Haiti is just yet another example of temporary global charity. I'm not arguing that the charity that's being given and that will be given won't be heart felt. I'm not saying that it shouldn't be given, quite the opposite. I'm saying that it's a tragic commentary on humanity that it takes tragedy on a scale like this for people to wake up and give. All the while Haiti has been one of the poorest most crime ridden nations on earth for decades right at our door step. Sure Haiti will be on CNN for some weeks to come and billions of dollars in aid will be pledged by countries around the world, the US will lead the pack. But in 6 months this will be all but completely forgotten and Haiti will be worse off than before. It's going to take billions of dollars just for the humanitarian effort to say nothing of rebuilding the city which I have a very dim prospect will ever really happen. Remember the boxing day Tsunami several years back that killed almost 300,000 people? Same story there. There was an immense outpouring of much needed support temporarily then when the story left the front pages the funds just dried up. Much of the worst affected areas in Indonesia are still make shift shanty towns to this day.

The amount of suffering that goes on in the world DAILY in Africa, South East Asia, South America, and elsewhere make disasters like this seem small. I'm not trying to play down the horrors that are going on in Haiti here. 25,000 people die on average every day world wide due to hunger and many more due to other disease and neglect. If Haiti's death toll reaches 100,000 that's equal to only 5 DAYS of average deaths due to hunger.

The global need is so staggering but the solutions are so cheap and affective on a per capita basis that it's mind numbing that people (especially the rich) aren't willing to do more on a consistent basis. We are talking about dollars and pennis a day to save peoples lives. I'm also not arguing that everyone should adopt a child or something (though that would be great). I'm arguing for countries around the world to be more compassionate on a political level. How many B2 bombers to we REALLY need? The US spends more money on it's military than the rest of the world COMBINED! For ONCE IN A BLOODY LIFETIME IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE THOSE FIGURES GO DOWN AND THE MONEY DIVERTED TO GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN CAUSES. Just do it for ONE FUCKING year and see if world war III breaks out. Trust me it won't. Quite the opposite will happen, you will need to spend LESS money on the military the next year! And I'm not arguing that the US should shoulder the burden along, every country should. The US already does give more charity than any country this I do know.

I'm not arguing for let's all hold hands around the world or some hippy dippy notion of world piece here (I am hippyish myself though). I realize the solutions are FAR FAR FAR more complex than that. I'm saying that the amount of money needed to drastically cut world poverty and the amount wasted by governments around the world on things like military and wall street spending are much closer than you might think. And it's a tragedy that more is not done.

 

[Craig234]

Doing something about the horrible global suffering of poverty, the wealthy nations giving a small amount that is a huge benefit. Hear, hear.

 

[Locut0s]

Doing something about the horrible global suffering of poverty, the wealthy nations giving a small amount that is a huge benefit. Hear, hear.

Sorry? The last part of that doesn't make sense.

 

[boomerang]

Oh look, another foreigner telling the U.S. what it's doing wrong.

 

[Locut0s]

Oh look, another foreigner telling the U.S. what it's doing wrong.

Oh look I didn't blame the US solely. Canada is as much to blame here on a per capita basis. I mention the US because it's the largest player here.

 

[Craig234]

Sorry? The last part of that doesn't make sense.

What didn't make sense? The phrase hear, hear is an endorsement of your point.

 

[Craig234]

Oh look, another foreigner telling the U.S. what it's doing wrong.

Not a word onthe toic whether he's right or wrong, just a knee-jerk mindless attack response. You're like the blind guard dog for the US whe barks at everything and 'protects' the residence from nothing.

 

[Locut0s]

What didn't make sense? The phrase hear, hear is an endorsement of your point.

Sorry didn't mean to make it sound like I thought you disagreed. I just didn't get the wealthy nations give a small amount part. In fact they give quite a lot even now. It's just that there is so much more that they could give that is instead almost entirely wasted. If it was going to people in their own country I could understand but it isn't by and large.

 

[Craig234]

Oh, what I meant was that for the wealthy nations giving a small amount more to them, it has a big benefit for the poor. Many don't realize that and tune out the issue as a 'bottomless pit'.

 

[theevilsharpie]

Failed states like Haiti didn't end up that way by accident. Decades of dictatorships and violent power struggles have scared away any sort of foreign investment, and general social and political instability have prevented domestic industry from forming in any significant capacity. The US along with many other nations give generous amounts of aid to Haiti, so much so that foreign aid makes up most of Haiti's income.

It's funny that you bemoan the US's military spending when discussing Haiti. Since the current circumstances in Haiti (especially after the earthquake) prevent the Haitian people from forming a functional government, the most humane course of action that I can think of would be to overthrow what's left of their government/military and govern it as a US territory. The stability of US governance would open the door to foreign investment and would give the Haitian people the opportunities they need to lift themselves out of abject poverty.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

It's funny that you bemoan the US's military spending when discussing Haiti. Since the current circumstances in Haiti (especially after the earthquake) prevent the Haitian people from forming a functional government, the most humane course of action that I can think of would be to overthrow what's left of their government/military and govern it as a US territory. The stability of US governance would open the door to foreign investment and would give the Haitian people the opportunities they need to lift themselves out of abject poverty.

i read a book on child slavery in haiti where they discussed the political instability and i had this very same idea. no reason haiti can't be successful like puerto rico.

 

[brencat]

Failed states like Haiti didn't end up that way by accident. Decades of dictatorships and violent power struggles have scared away any sort of foreign investment, and general social and political instability have prevented domestic industry from forming in any significant capacity. The US along with many other nations give generous amounts of aid to Haiti, so much so that foreign aid makes up most of Haiti's income.

Exactly right. I love how people complain about the U.S. when in fact Americans are the most compassionate generous nation on Earth, and usually the first to provide aid, rescue relief, and help during worldwide disasters. On top of that, watch how much Americans will donate to charities for Haiti.

Perhaps going forward, we should not donate a dime to anything other than our own country for a year or two. That might teach all the ingrates out there who take our country for granted to appreciate the U.S. a little bit more.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Perhaps going forward, we should not donate a dime to anything other than our own country for a year or two. That might teach all the ingrates out there who take our country for granted to appreciate the U.S. a little bit more.

This! The US, by far, provides the most aid to the world...financially, militarily and physically (food, medicine, etc). It's not even close. We should really just take care of ourselves in this time of trouble, let the world see what it would really be like without the "evil and corrupt US" propping everyone else up, and let them come back to us in a year or so begging for our help after they gained a little appreciation for just how much good the US does for this world. The rest of the world talks trash about us and holds their hands out for freebies at the same time. Spoiled little entitled brats...

But hey, hating on America is the trendy new thing to do in the "enlightened, liberal and progressive intellectual" circles... D:

 

[Hacp]

I agree 100% with you on the first point but not on the others. This is just another example of inefficiency. Instead of looking at cost per life saved, people get sucked up in the moment emotionally and start acting irrationally.

 

[StageLeft]

You're right. The world is used to status quo. When there is deviation people pay attention. For example, 911 caused far fewer deaths and has the realistic potential to continue to cause far fewer deaths than any number of other killers to Americans, but since it was a novel threat it received a disproportionate response.

 

[Craig234]

Exactly right. I love how people complain about the U.S. when in fact Americans are the most compassionate generous nation on Earth, and usually the first to provide aid, rescue relief, and help during worldwide disasters. On top of that, watch how much Americans will donate to charities for Haiti.

Perhaps going forward, we should not donate a dime to anything other than our own country for a year or two. That might teach all the ingrates out there who take our country for granted to appreciate the U.S. a little bit more.

If you coupled that with the US withdrawing the CIA, all military troops overt and covert, all aid to puppets, all corporate exploitation, you might be surprised how many would jump for the deal.

The US does great good and great harm.

Some are closed to half the facts.

 

[theevilsharpie]

We should really just take care of ourselves in this time of trouble, let the world see what it would really be like without the "evil and corrupt US" propping everyone else up, and let them come back to us in a year or so begging for our help after they gained a little appreciation for just how much good the US does for this world.

I'm pretty sure that the destitute people of the world are grateful for the humanitarian aid they receive from the US. The people that always seem to complain about how "little" aid we give are wealthy Westerners.

 

[theevilsharpie]

If you coupled that with the US withdrawing the CIA, all military troops overt and covert, all aid to puppets, all corporate exploitation, you might be surprised how many would jump for the deal.

They might.

Would they be better off? Probably not.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

I'm pretty sure that the destitute people of the world are grateful for the humanitarian aid they receive from the US. The people that always seem to complain about how "little" aid we give are wealthy Westerners.

If the needy people actually get our aid...most of the time it is confiscated by totalitarian dictatorships or squandered by corrupt bureaucracies and used to make themselves wealthy, not help the people. These are the same governments that then turn around and trash the US and demand that we give them more free stuff to make the world more "fair". D:

 

[theevilsharpie]

These are the same governments that then turn around and trash the US and demand that we give them more free stuff to make the world more "fair". D:

Can you cite an example of this behavior?

 

[Locut0s]

This! The US, by far, provides the most aid to the world...financially, militarily and physically (food, medicine, etc). It's not even close. We should really just take care of ourselves in this time of trouble, let the world see what it would really be like without the "evil and corrupt US" propping everyone else up, and let them come back to us in a year or so begging for our help after they gained a little appreciation for just how much good the US does for this world. The rest of the world talks trash about us and holds their hands out for freebies at the same time. Spoiled little entitled brats...

But hey, hating on America is the trendy new thing to do in the "enlightened, liberal and progressive intellectual" circles... D:

These responses are funny in light of the fact that I went out of my way to state very clearly that the US DOES give more aid than anyone else and that it IS appreciated.

What I was trying to point out was the HUGE amount more that could be done by all nations of the world by freeing up some of the money they would otherwise waste on things like their military. And yes the US has the most to free up for this kind of purpose. There are absolutely stupendous amounts of money that are wasted on horribly inefficient things like upkeep of old weapons systems (like thousands of nukes) and the like.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Can you cite an example of this behavior?

Come on...this one is easy. The UN! It's nothing but a cabal of brutal dictatorships and corrupt bureaucracies scheming up ways to steal more from the "evil and unfairly wealthy" US.

Never has there been a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

 

[feralkid]

If the needy people actually get our aid...most of the time it is confiscated by totalitarian dictatorships or squandered by corrupt bureaucracies and used to make themselves wealthy, not help the people. These are the same governments that then turn around and trash the US and demand that we give them more free stuff to make the world more "fair". D:

For the moment, STFU!

Jesus wept. People are dying, trapped under rubble. Right now as we speak.

WTF is wrong with you?


Damn...were you "socio" before you were banned?

 

[Locut0s]

If the needy people actually get our aid...most of the time it is confiscated by totalitarian dictatorships or squandered by corrupt bureaucracies and used to make themselves wealthy, not help the people. These are the same governments that then turn around and trash the US and demand that we give them more free stuff to make the world more "fair". D:

Very very true. However very often this is also the fault of those who are giving the aid (and here I don't mean the American people but the government) who insist on top down measures instead of the money being spent on bottom up small scale grass roots type help.

For example instead of giving the money to build vast irrigation systems country wide (which instead go to government palaces) they should invest in drip irrigation system for individual farmers, at a person by person level.

 

[Red Dawn]

Come on...this one is easy. The UN! It's nothing but a cabal of brutal dictatorships and corrupt bureaucracies scheming up ways to steal more from the "evil and unfairly wealthy" US.

Never has there been a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Excluding your immediate family?