Originally posted by: dullard
There is a vicious circle of poverty and population that many poor countries are unwilling to make the sacrifices to end. I feel strongly that there is enough evidence to support this theory.
For example, suppose there is a starving young girl in Kenya that I could donate food to. Being a giving person I choose to donate enough food and medical care so that child will live a long life. Twenty years later what happens? Yes thankfully I saved her life. But now she has 5 starving children. I open my wallet again and give enough food and medical care to keep them living. Twenty years later they each have five children and there are now 31 people who would be starving (1 grandma, 5 parents, and 25 grandchildren) without financial support. I open my wallet and support them. Twenty years later there are now 156 people needing support. I support them for a while but I die eventually die. No one takes over for me and 156 people starve to death. If I let that one child die - then these 156 people wouldn't have starved to death.
Ok it is an extreme example where saving one makes many more suffer. But that is the situation that many people in Africa suffer. They refuse to stop having more kids then they can feed. It is a trend that shows up in cultures all over the world - the poor have many children and the wealthy have few. If the wealthy give enough to support them then the next generation is that much bigger needing that much more support.
Poverty -> support -> more population -> more and much more drastic poverty -> more support -> even further population growth...
I'm not going to assist that viscious cycle until they as a culture make the decision to keep their number of children down to a sustainable level.
Now I'm not saying I'm not generous. I help others around me whenever I can. However there are some places where good intentions will make the problem far worse - I don't have any problems with my conscience in NOT making future problems worse. EVEN IF IT MEANS SOME SUFFER TODAY.
