why i hate this time of year

[Biff]

Stating the obvious...

India & Pakistan do indeed have shocking levels of poverty. As does China, Iran & N.Korea. All of these countries either have an alleged or declared nuclear capability. And the govt/dictator (s) of their respective countries would rather develop a nuclear 'deterrent' than channel money into sorting out social-economic shit.

Look at it from a politicians point of view for a moment, play devil’s advocate - "hmmm, pay for the development of a nuclear deterrent, which may just protect my entire country because I'm getting threatened by my neighbour or the U.S, either way 'they' have a nuclear weapon and I don't, or throw some money at the people? Although that may only serve to deliver relatively short term game anyway, due to WTO trade restrictions or UN embargoes or some other fked up political shit."

It's not just a case of throwing money at it, it's a global-trade/geo-political/ etc issue. Oh – and then there’s the shit that the earth throws at them, like earthquakes, tsunamis, the climate/weather and such like.

But at the end of this, once you've decided for yourself what is wrong with the world today, and how you know how you’d fix it all. You can't. But there's still a small child or family that really need some help, because fucking politics is far more important an issue than their welfare.

Genuine poverty in New Zealand? Give me a fucking break.

[Cookie]

...[snip]Genuine poverty in New Zealand? Give me a fucking break.

I agree with you 100 percent on this. Anyone who thinks that there is poverty here, take a little tour off the beaten track. I am yet to see anyone with "Beriberi" here but I have seen lots of cases of "McDonalditis".

Anyone who does sponser a child, good on you. I have no doubt that you are making a difference for someone.

Personally though, I've had a guts full of the current World Vision adverts with all the snotty-nosed kids and WTF does Jackie Clarke know about all of this? About as much as Lana before her - but Jackie's kids do have more SNOT. (More about this in the next paragraph).

WTF is it with the snot? Always HEAPS of snot. FFS where I live everyone tidies themselves up a little before the camera comes out, but not these guys. "Here, lets go get a close up of snotty-nose Gatunga! Quick, even better, he's got heaps of flies on him at the moment - get the camera on him!!!"

In between trying to single-handedly discredit organised religion this holidays, I was reading a bit of the latest book by Bob Jones, who spake thusly:

"Africa is in steadfast decline, owing entirely to the shortcomings of its inhabitants, notwithstanding Western handwringers' babble. Even when advantaged with great mineral wealth, such as Nigeria and Libya with oil, the net result is still disastrous because of the sheer rottenness of the ruling regimes."

Worth thinking about.

[SuperDave]

Or at least glad rap with a rubber band.

Or a popsicle stick and duct tape...

oh shit wait, sorry that's the third world's version of viagra.

[SuperDave]

There is a simple simple way to solve two of the world's problems: feed the homeless to the hungry!

[marty]

But I'm blaming the govts etc, they need to be removed, by some outside force, or by the people. maybe in theory if you let them get oppressed to such a level that they might take action themselves

-Indy

hey i know, you could send the world police in - like, America !

[Mooch]

this is why i hate this time of year

Problem : sponser a child they are all dying....

Solution: give all the parents condoms so they can stop breading like rabbits.

if i see another damn christmas hamper add on tv im going to i dunno rant some more or something

they overdo it to the point that i turn into a giggleing psycopath.



MA

Must be hard getting all those anoying adverts with kids dying in between espoides of Celebrity Treasure Island and Big Brother eh. Bet you don't go hungry by choice. NZ is fortunate enough to have the economy to stop that from happening (and welfare). We haven't had any country try and take us over since WWII. Our own wars stopped in the 1800's so we've been stable in that regard. Only real threat is from Aussie blokes taking our women folk. We still enjoy sex and contraception is available and affordable.

Here's a point, all the people here who say they shouldn't breed, you try going without sex / love for the rest of you life, and I doubt you could. But it's not about sex, or racism, it's about dying children now.

Biff has the right idea, He's probably seen more of extreme poverty than the rest of us on his travels. (life is different away from TV and internet !) I'm getting a different perceptive of the World since living in a different country be it UK. I'll always give to charities, both NZ and abroad.

Saw an excellent documentary here following a family , having to leave their land because of drought, were self sufficient , no food , family starves, they walk the equivalent of Taupo / Wellington , 18 month child taken makes it to aid station too late and dies a couple of days later in mother arms of starvation and disease. Running on TV at the same time, Big Brother UK. Doesn't compare but has the TV ratings FFS!

If anything this thread has inspired me to sponsor a child.

As for the Robert Jones quote, sorry, too much "red neck white trash" armchair BS".

[Beemer]

nononono youve got me all wrong i would sponser one if i could afford it it's just im saying why can't they use the money to stop them having like 12 kids each because otherwise they can't get sponsers for them all bacause there is no means of population control

I totally agree - look how many healthy people who could give a child a great home have trouble having kids, yet these skinny, wretched looking individuals seem to breed like flies. I'm sorry, but I don't see the logic in supporting them to raise as many sick and dying children as they can in poverty and filth when they can't even look after the ones they have. Sterilise them, provide them with healthcare, education and food, but don't keep throwing money at them when it's obviously not doing anything to help.

Look at the problems when animals breed indiscriminately - we don't allow that to carry on, we neuter them and find homes for the young. I think it is a crime to bring more and more children into a world when the conditions are not conducive to their wellbeing. It's like women on the DPB with kids to four different fathers - let them have one, but don't keep rewarding them for breeding!

[Indiana_Jones]

hey i know, you could send the world police in - like, America !

Hay why not? They're a world power, they want to get themselves into the history books like the Nazi's. Hell every other world power got to play with it's muscles, Britain got to have heaps of fun

-Indy

[Sketchy_Racer]

I have to go with MA's first statement about the breeding thing. If you are so poor that you cant feed yourself why the f*** should you breed?? it will only cost you more. If the dumb idiots grouped to gether and worked together thay could have a plentyful country. Screw sponsoring them, make them learn.

[terbang]

Some of you redneck boys need to go and take a look for yourselves. If you were to use a little more brain power than to just simply say "fuckem" and looked past what you see on TV and also had the social concience to dig a little deeper as to why these people were like this. You would probably be sponsoring children yourselves. But you arnt going to because you belong to the (becoming more common in NZ) "slack-jaw" group that are incapable of seeing past thier own back yards. In simple words (just for you slack jaws that need them) look at the big picture here.

[kro]

While corruption still exists at the highest levels within the various governments of impoverished nations (and the wealthy ones), these discussions are pointless.
These countries are like they are for a reason. If you want to boil it down to one word, its greed.

Sorry, but this is a dead horse of a discussion from the word go.

[skidMark]

im just sick of an ad for it being on every damn ad break

[kro]

Agreed, but we cannot let compassion be replaced with annoyance.

[terbang]

im just sick of an ad for it being on every damn ad break

Quite frankly if thats all you got to bitch about then you can't be all that bad off eh?

I hate all the ads but without them we would have to pay a lot more for our TV viewing so go and make a cuppa, get another beer, try some conversation or even resort to the "Mute" button next time the ads are on. In that way you can avoid these ads, the third world continues as it does and those of us that do give a damn don't have to put up with your ignorance.

[StoneChucker]

I have to agree with a few people here regarding poverty in NZ. Isn't it true that every citizen and resident in NZ qualifies for the benefit/dole? While it isn't alot, it must cover the simplest of abodes and the basic nutrition? Having that is the difference between NZ as a first world country and other much les fortunate countries, third world for example. As far as I know here, no one needs to be homeless or starving.

Education and social devellopment are a different matter as far as I see. The adds on tv are not for "Little Suzy has a house and food, but she lives in low demographic areas and can't climb the economic/social ladder". That is something which needs to be addressed in this country, but I don't class that as poverty!

I do think that as some have said, alot of people here haven't seen poverty. That's what people donate to, for the people shown on charity adds. Just as an afterthought, I also agree that showing more snot does not make me more sympathetic. The people in the worst situations truly don't know how diseases are spread, how hygiene is beneficial, how contraception is beneficial and how food/water safety practices prevent disease. That is yet another of the problems that need to be addressed, to slowly bring about change. Some charities are trying to teach this aswell, which I am all for. This is where practical/usable knowledge FAR outweighs religious knowledge. That can come much much later, once all other more pressing issues are sorted (an almost unattainable task, as I said before).