Your life doesn't suck

[Kaido]

Read this if you're feeling down.

 

[S Freud]

Wow. That is truly sad.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: S Freud
Wow. That is truly sad.

Kinda erases the complaints you have about your own life, huh?

 

[Zim Hosein]

Yolen Jeunky, 45, collects dried mud cookies to sell in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince on Nov. 29, 2007. Rising prices and food shortages threaten the nation's fragile stability, and the mud cookies are one of very few options the poorest people have to stave off hunger.

WTF doesn't the UN offer aid? :|

 

[Cuda1447]

And we waste so much food...

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Yolen Jeunky, 45, collects dried mud cookies to sell in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince on Nov. 29, 2007. Rising prices and food shortages threaten the nation's fragile stability, and the mud cookies are one of very few options the poorest people have to stave off hunger.

WTF doesn't the UN offer aid? :|

Government aid is about politics. Most other aid is about economics. It sucks, but it's the way things work.

Edit: Just look at Burma. 22k dead, 63k missing. Not to turn this into a P&N thread, but the government of Burma is handling things terrible. They should really just open the gates to their country and let help flood in as fast as possible. People are dying because of the government's decisions. Again...it's just how things work, unfortunately.

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Yolen Jeunky, 45, collects dried mud cookies to sell in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince on Nov. 29, 2007. Rising prices and food shortages threaten the nation's fragile stability, and the mud cookies are one of very few options the poorest people have to stave off hunger.

WTF doesn't the UN offer aid? :|

I'm by no means an expert on this and I don't want this to turn into P&N but I think the aid thats offered to many of these countries is stolen by the corrupt governments and the people are left to suffer. Doesn't do any good, just gives those corrupt governments more ish.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Yolen Jeunky, 45, collects dried mud cookies to sell in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince on Nov. 29, 2007. Rising prices and food shortages threaten the nation's fragile stability, and the mud cookies are one of very few options the poorest people have to stave off hunger.

WTF doesn't the UN offer aid? :|

I'm by no means an expert on this and I don't want this to turn into P&N but I think the aid thats offered to many of these countries is stolen by the corrupt governments and the people are left to suffer. Doesn't do any good, just gives those corrupt governments more ish.

And it just gets more difficult...for example, why not just drop food and supplies in hurting areas? Because then people are greedy and horde it, don't share it, steal it and sell it at unfair prices, etc. It's an extremely difficult situation.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Yolen Jeunky, 45, collects dried mud cookies to sell in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince on Nov. 29, 2007. Rising prices and food shortages threaten the nation's fragile stability, and the mud cookies are one of very few options the poorest people have to stave off hunger.

WTF doesn't the UN offer aid? :|

I'm by no means an expert on this and I don't want this to turn into P&N but I think the aid thats offered to many of these countries is stolen by the corrupt governments and the people are left to suffer. Doesn't do any good, just gives those corrupt governments more ish.

I see your point Cuda1447, but the UN is supposed to have an "army" that should stop this type of action by a country that wants aid from my understanding.

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Yolen Jeunky, 45, collects dried mud cookies to sell in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince on Nov. 29, 2007. Rising prices and food shortages threaten the nation's fragile stability, and the mud cookies are one of very few options the poorest people have to stave off hunger.

WTF doesn't the UN offer aid? :|

In a column in the Washington Post on Tuesday, Mr Latortue acknowledged that the $2.5bn of aid sent to Haiti over the past 10 years had borne "results far short of expectations".

Why send money if it only goes to help the rich?

 

[Saint Michael]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: S Freud
Wow. That is truly sad.

Kinda erases the complaints you have about your own life, huh?

Not really. Their problems are their problems, my problems are my problems.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Yolen Jeunky, 45, collects dried mud cookies to sell in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince on Nov. 29, 2007. Rising prices and food shortages threaten the nation's fragile stability, and the mud cookies are one of very few options the poorest people have to stave off hunger.

WTF doesn't the UN offer aid? :|

I'm by no means an expert on this and I don't want this to turn into P&N but I think the aid thats offered to many of these countries is stolen by the corrupt governments and the people are left to suffer. Doesn't do any good, just gives those corrupt governments more ish.

I see your point Cuda1447, but the UN is supposed to have an "army" that should stop this type of action by a country that wants aid from my understanding.

Isn't that a Catch 22? The "wanting aid" part has to come from the government in order for the UN to go into that country legally (I assume), so if the government is corrupt and wants aid, then it becomes exactly the situation that Cuda described.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Saint Michael

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: S Freud
Wow. That is truly sad.

Kinda erases the complaints you have about your own life, huh?

Not really. Their problems are their problems, my problems are my problems.

I think to some degree it puts our problems into perspective. I agree with what you say as well - everyone has their own set of problems to deal with. Compared to this, however, my problems don't seem as bad.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Yolen Jeunky, 45, collects dried mud cookies to sell in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince on Nov. 29, 2007. Rising prices and food shortages threaten the nation's fragile stability, and the mud cookies are one of very few options the poorest people have to stave off hunger.

WTF doesn't the UN offer aid? :|

I'm by no means an expert on this and I don't want this to turn into P&N but I think the aid thats offered to many of these countries is stolen by the corrupt governments and the people are left to suffer. Doesn't do any good, just gives those corrupt governments more ish.

And it just gets more difficult...for example, why not just drop food and supplies in hurting areas? Because then people are greedy and horde it, don't share it, steal it and sell it at unfair prices, etc. It's an extremely difficult situation.

To further clarify:

The only way to effectively feed all of these people is to BECOME the government of that country. When you are talking about feeding that many people it is a MASSIVE logistical nightmare. You are talking about thousands of trucks, which in turn means fueling stations and systems to bring that fuel in. Then you need security for all of that. Then you need housing for all of those involved. It just spirals from there. So even if you do not "invade" the country you would effectively take over the government of that country.

Obviously countries (and the UN) are just a tad reluctant to do this, both because of that and because of the cost.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
To further clarify:

The only way to effectively feed all of these people is to BECOME the government of that country. When you are talking about feeding that many people it is a MASSIVE logistical nightmare. You are talking about thousands of trucks, which in turn means fueling stations and systems to bring that fuel in. Then you need security for all of that. Then you need housing for all of those involved. It just spirals from there. So even if you do not "invade" the country you would effectively take over the government of that country.

Obviously countries (and the UN) are just a tad reluctant to do this, both because of that and because of the cost.

That, and then you have a nation of welfare recipients. It's an extremely difficult problem to solve the problem of people having to eat mud cookies without ruining their lives or their country.

 

[OulOat]

How about a story at little more up to date

Matches for Gasoline: A View From Haiti?s Food Riots. Haiti has been an early casualty of the latest global food crisis. Here, the Associated Press correspondent in Port-au-Prince provides a first-person report from the front lines.

And

UN to step up food aid for Haiti following riots over prices

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
To further clarify:

The only way to effectively feed all of these people is to BECOME the government of that country. When you are talking about feeding that many people it is a MASSIVE logistical nightmare. You are talking about thousands of trucks, which in turn means fueling stations and systems to bring that fuel in. Then you need security for all of that. Then you need housing for all of those involved. It just spirals from there. So even if you do not "invade" the country you would effectively take over the government of that country.

Obviously countries (and the UN) are just a tad reluctant to do this, both because of that and because of the cost.

That, and then you have a nation of welfare recipients. It's an extremely difficult problem to solve the problem of people having to eat mud cookies without ruining their lives or their country.

Yup. What the UN and the aid organizations try to do is make them self sufficient, but the problem with that is that it is an even larger investment of resources in many ways. With just giving people food you need fewer people involved (it is more just dropping off loads of food in each village). With making them self sufficient you need people on the ground for YEARS in each village/group of villages, but then you need security for them, housing, and then you are in that same spiral again. You can't even just give the existing government money to do it (though this has been tried many times) because that government has already demonstrated that it can't manage resources.

 

[HannibalX]

Am I supposed to feel sorry for the people there? They choose to make their country a corrupt, never ending warzone.

 

[Canai]

You guys should watch Ghosts of Cite Soleil.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
Am I supposed to feel sorry for the people there? They choose to make their country a corrupt, never ending warzone.

That's a pretty big generalization...I think that most people are good people, but there are a lot of people in power who are corrupt and are making life hard on the rest of the people. Do you seriously think that the guy making, selling, and eating mud cookies is sitting there thinking "gosh, I feel like being corrupt today and making my country a warzone!" ?

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
Am I supposed to feel sorry for the people there? They choose to make their country a corrupt, never ending warzone.

That's a pretty big generalization...I think that most people are good people, but there are a lot of people in power who are corrupt and are making life hard on the rest of the people. Do you seriously think that the guy making, selling, and eating mud cookies is sitting there thinking "gosh, I feel like being corrupt today and making my country a warzone!" ?

Countries that want to do better will.

 

[m1ldslide1]

"Trust me, if I see someone eating those cookies, I will discourage it," said Dr. Gabriel Thimothee, executive director of Haiti's health ministry.

Christ - Let them eat cake.

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
"Trust me, if I see someone eating those cookies, I will discourage it," said Dr. Gabriel Thimothee, executive director of Haiti's health ministry.

Christ - Let them eat cake.

ZING!

 

[everman]

I believe there was a recent article in the economist about how giving so much aid to certain countries has actually caused more harm than good. Instead of developing their industry/economy they have learned to rely on foreign aid. If we were to stop supplying aid, they would have a greater incentive to develop. Similar arguments are applied in opposition to welfare, people choose to rely on it instead of trying to help themselves and the situation never improves. Sure some people do need help and should get it, but not entire countries.

 

[Ktulu]

I'd probably resort to eating bugs and other animals like in Man vs. Wild before I started eating mud cookies.