you know
there is enough food in the world to feed everybody. but rich countries take it all. why? because food is a commodity and if you can't afford it, you can't have it.


while you read this about 3 people died of poverty.
(ewe, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 17:45, 57 replies)

so...
that's 3 less we need to worry about, right? I feel better already...
(Chad, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 17:48, closed)

I've read this 6 times already.
So that's 18 less life leeches.

Hooray!

*keeps reading*

*not clicking*
(posthumous mince is tiptoeing through the tulips, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 17:53, closed)

life leeches?
way to miss the point

*sigh*
(ewe, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 17:55, closed)

Erm, just to be pedantic
But no one ever dies of poverty. It's like AIDS.
(Metalfish Hasn't had a sig since, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:38, closed)

poverty pathology
It's always suffocate or drown. Which means suffocate one way or another.
(unclestinky, Sat 25 Oct 2008, 23:57, closed)

Sounds like a good population control measure to me
Yes, we are that heartless.
( flirting with badgers What? It sounded good at the time., Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:13, closed)

badgers!!!111
so random!!!!!!!
(ewe, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 6:09, closed)

You must be mistaken
this is the internet, Food Aid is in the opposite direction
(mymilkshakebringsallthemongstotheyard poison hearts, poison minds - joining hate, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:17, closed)

why don't they walk to a richer country then?
It's not like they have a house to sell or a job to still get to.
(turtles head is touching cloth poked a dwarf on the forehead at, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:19, closed)

If modern anthropology is to be believed
all human life originates in Africa. So, the thought occurs to me, if our ancestors were capable of getting their fingers out and walking somewhere less shite, then modern Africans have got no excuse.

Besides, we pay more in over seas aid than we spend on the Royal Navy in this country, so we're not doing too badly by them really. If we didn't buy all their coffee, they'd have no money for AIDS medicine. What are they going to do? Live off coffee?
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Thu 30 Oct 2008, 11:08, closed)

what a coincidence-
I read this and died of boredom.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:19, closed)

What, you can die of poverty???
I thought it was only old age, accidents, murder, disease and a lack of either food, water, or Oxygen that I had to worry about - now you go and add a shortage of cash to the list! Now I'm going to have to mug an OAP on my way home from the office tonight - only for the good of my own health you understand.
(AdrianJ, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:26, closed)

are you retarded?
"disease and a lack of either food, water"

if you live in poverty you may find it hard to afford (or even have access to) healthcare, food and water.

thus: people die because they live in poverty

people die from poverty.
(ewe, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 6:08, closed)

no they don't
people die through lack of oxygen to the brain, and oxygen is free.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 7:09, closed)

So you say that...
...basically, people die because they live.

I couldn't agree more.
(randomset, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 23:44, closed)

*brrrrooooooom* WHAT WAS THAT!?
That? Oh, that was just sarcasm completely passing you by.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Thu 30 Oct 2008, 11:08, closed)

Congratulations
you are boring

and I'm now annoyed that I ventured into qotw
( Liquid Crystal, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 19:20, closed)

.
Give us another chance please oh mighty main/talk boarder, because we desperately need more sarky waspish bores here.
(Hippo_of_Doom, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 20:41, closed)

No.
While I read that, three-hundred and sixty seven thousand of my brain cells died.

And I blame you for every single one.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 20:53, closed)

^this^
you love it.
(Holy Cremola Foam Batman will be back on, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 22:17, closed)

You sir/madam,
are a total cliché. And have completely failed to amuse anyone on this site.

Thanks for trying though, please come again.
(Askew, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 22:47, closed)

I'm a very slow reader.
Does this make me more of a monster than someone with faster reading skills?
(Jeremy Paxmans Itchy Gusset, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 23:01, closed)

does this mean that
12 people will die if a dyslexic reads it?
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 0:02, closed)

Brilliant
This is much funnier than the original post.
(Bazongaloid, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 18:32, closed)

click
and fuck you, everyone else who commented so far.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 1:07, closed)

I'm with not-so-stupid.
All hail to the Apeloverage! Have a clicky too!
(EffinDoubt is breaking glass on, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 10:50, closed)

Cos we all hate poor people and wish them death?
Arf!
(posthumous mince is tiptoeing through the tulips, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 13:26, closed)

We don't actively wish them death
we just don't feel inclined to do anything to stop it.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Thu 30 Oct 2008, 11:11, closed)

You make a decent point...
But it's all come across as a little sanctimonious, and what's it got to do with being a tightwad? Back in the 80's, when Ethiopia was all the rage, the classic come back to "finish your dinner, there are people starving in the world" was, "well send it to them then", my tight, old parents never once forked out for the stamps.
(babydad, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 8:32, closed)

sorry
but i have been researching world hunger for my class, and it really shocked me, we all need reminding. it's not sanctimonius at all. yeah it might be a cliche to "preach about the kids", but what isn't a cliche these days? making oh so irreverant comments on the internet, where nobody can see you?

my point is not having a go at people for not finishing their dinners. it wouldn't change anything. tightness implies that people care about money so much that they are unwilling to lose any. and this is exactly the role of the corporations and the large countries of the developed world. they could very easily end poverty, but they won't becasue it would mean losing money.
(ewe, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 13:09, closed)

So Ewe...
Are you typing these posts out on your own computer? If so, I bet you'd be able to get a least a few hundred for it on Ebay. Even if it's a creaky old ancient thing, I'm sure you'd get at least a tenner for it, right?

If all that's true, Ewe, why aren't you selling your computer to help those people in poverty? If half the world is living off less than a dollar a day, well, that's 50p a day. You could support one of them for a long time by selling your computer. And I imagine your internet connection costs quite a bit a month too.

So if you care so much about the poverty, how about you do something about it before nagging the rest of us, eh?
(Musuko, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 14:33, closed)

actually no it's not my computer
it belongs to a youth group that I'm working with (for free), I'm teaching english and also stuff about globalization and world trade.

and once again you miss the point.

1. i'm not Nagging YOU. MY POINT IS ABOUT GOVERNMENTS AND CORPORATIONS. not your everyday joe b3ta reader.

2. Selling my computer? Yeah sure it might help a few people, very short term. after the charity has taken admin fees. How about sell everything and live homeless? and then I can finally dare to say something about global inequality.

does it make you feel like a rebel to be so contrarian about everything?
(ewe, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 17:57, closed)

Well
you're clearly a very good and virtuous person and that much better than most of the people who regularly post here.

But you really have misunderstood this website if you thought for a second that your original post was going to achieve anything other than replies in the style posted so far.

How many governments and corporations do you think are reading B3ta and going "shit, we really are bastards aren't we, lets stop right now".

So while your post may be both entirely correct and demonstrate quite a laudable attitude to the problems that many people in the world face, posting it here and then spending your time arguing against the amusing responses over whether you can "die of poverty" or not seems really daft.

Also, I wouldn't bother getting involved in an argument with musuko over anything, he's demonstrated on several occasions that he's a pillock.
(Bazongaloid, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 18:40, closed)

yes
but b3ta is mostly user generated content. i am a user.

don't worry i have a lot of free time (i can only stand so much burmese music) and i find it quite entertaining to respond to the idiots.
(ewe, Sat 25 Oct 2008, 11:57, closed)

@geordie
Thanks. You're quite a charmer yourself, I've noticed.
(Musuko, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 16:04, closed)

Which implies that
Hm, you're poor, which makes you more empathic to the 3rd world problems. It's not because you're good at heart for more than 5 minutes, but because your own misery associates you with the other poor.

I was there, not eating for 2 days in a row sometimes, while having a lot of fun in it, actually. But there were a lot of depressing times, also.

Things changed. I'm well of now, which made me realize that, while you have some cash to spare, you can't care about every poor living in the world. Life for some people sucks, that's a fact.

So every now and then I help some people: buy them beer, give them work, nothing much. It's more a reward on merit to those who need it.

But charity to people 10000 miles away is a lost cause and I deeply hate the arrogance of trying to make somebody feel guilty for some poor chap dying in Botswana.
(randomset, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 0:00, closed)

George Dawes What Are The Scores
If you said:

- "Gosh I'm starving" and someone replied 'You're not starving, there's children in Africa dying of hunger', then award yourself by kicking their sanctimonious cunt right in! Yay!

- "Fuck that noise, I'm off to the pub" - congratulations, you also win.

Have grown up to seriously dislike and loathe in equal portions domestic attempts to make me feel concerned for starving hordes while trying to vilify me with some misplaced sense of guilt. I have food, thanks, and I do because I work for it and am lucky enough to live somewhere where I don't have to kill someone to get it. I don't need a guilt trip every time I put a spoon or fork to my gob, so take your ill-aimed charity shot, stick it up your arse, and fuck off while doing so.
(mymilkshakebringsallthemongstotheyard poison hearts, poison minds - joining hate, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 22:32, closed)

I bet
if the poverty-stricken people started acquiring money they wouldn't be so keen to surrender it either.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 14:53, closed)

i sponsored a zimbabwean girl for 6 years
but, due to having very little money myself, i had to stop. before you say "oh, surely you can afford £15 a month" no, i can't. the only reason i haven't had to get rid of my phone and internet is that, due to having a bypass, my weekly shopping now costs approximately £6 so, as long as there are no unexpected bills, i can just about manage.
i'm disabled, i literally can't work. yes, i feel sorry for people starving in africa but, frankly, i come first.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sat 25 Oct 2008, 0:37, closed)

Fuck off and tell Amnesty, or something
this isn't funny, or relevent. Furthermore, to those of us who have left school, it's not exactly news.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Sat 25 Oct 2008, 13:15, closed)

kill yourself
please.
(ewe, Sun 26 Oct 2008, 3:43, closed)

Any preference as to how?
I could try starving myself to death, but I'm concerned that it might make you bleat on like a pious sixth-former some more...
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Sun 26 Oct 2008, 11:50, closed)

Ya well...
Better them than me, kiddo! I think it's sad that it happens, but ya know - I started out in abject and total poverty. When I was very young, we lived in our car, and we stole stuff to live...We did all sorts of bad shite. My parents eventually dragged themselves out of the gutter. Why? They realized a little too late that ultimately they are responsible for the preservation of their own lives. It's a shame when you have leaders of poor nations going begging to rich nations for food and subsistence - when it was their own greed and ignorance that contributed to their people's starvation. We are each responsible - as individuals, communities and nations for our own conduct and our own lives. These people suffering from poverty are suffering from their own weaknesses. Charles Darwin said, "...survival goes not to the strongest or most intelligent, but those most capable of adapting to change." It's brutal, harsh, and there is not a thing I can or intend to do about it. Get a helmet.
(aeon chicken Like the Millenium Falcon, only slower and noisier, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 21:20, closed)

Jewellery
You always see pictures of the staving with jewellery and big ear-rings.
Well if they stopped buying Jewellery for their kids and bought food instead it might make things better.
(derlin9753, Sat 25 Oct 2008, 17:16, closed)

this
is how to make funny comments. everone else who got offended by my post take note.
(ewe, Sun 26 Oct 2008, 3:44, closed)

being lectured by you on the subject of humour
is akin to being lectured about human rights by Idi Amin.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Sun 26 Oct 2008, 12:17, closed)

right...
because people who say something serious can't be funny?
0/10.

why do you get so offended by someone speaking about global inequality? are you gay or something?
(ewe, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 5:47, closed)

In your case, apparently not...
I'm not offended by people speaking about global inequality. It's your rather blithe and arrogant assumption that only you know or care about these things, and it is your duty to educate the unwashed and ignorant masses.

I do my bits for charity - quietly, without harranguing random strangers on the internet. If you must indulge your pious egotism in such a public fashion, perhaps you could find a more relevent forum.

As for the 'gay' comment - if this remark is indicitive of your intellect, perhaps you could do everyone a favour and shut up entirely.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 10:25, closed)

Sorry but
we all need a little reminding. I was unaware of the true state of global hunger (there is enough food it's just not distributed properly: does that not make you angry?) until last week, so I'm pretty sure that a lot of people out there don't know this either.

the fact you you try to paint me as haranguing, blithe and arrogant, show more about yourself than me. I can't believe just one attempt to remind people of global inequality unleashes so much bile and misguided hatred.

just look at you. you're "having a go", because I dared to mention that people are dieing because of government and corporate greed. do you have some unresolved issues relating to dick size?

as for the gay comment, sorry but I thought that since jokes about dead people were alright, then it would be ok.



gay.
(ewe, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 12:00, closed)

Yes, you're quite right -
My inability to read your self-absorbed drivel without contemplating what a mind-numbingly boring little twat you are is directly related to the size of my penis.

You presume that just because you were unware of global hunger, everyone else must have been. I would imagine you could fill a very large book with articles of common knowledge that have mysteriously passed you by, as you sound somewhat thick.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 12:44, closed)

ok ok
i've realised i'm being trolled. you got me.

7/10

just in case you are infact completly serious, it wasn't global hunger. it is the common misconception that global hunger is caused because we haven't enough food.
(ewe, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 13:05, closed)

WARNING! CRIPPLINGLY UNFUNNY (AND MASSIVELY LONG) REPLY!
As Naomi Klein says, asking a corporation notto act in its own self-interest is like asking a shark not to have teeth. They're legally required to generate as much profit for their shareholders as possible.

Similarly, democratic governments are responsible for delivering the best results for their electorate (in an ideal world...). Not the electorate of other countries.

Anyway, you could point to our involvement in the Third World at a governmental level as being part of the reason for the problems it faces. The IMF has ordered disaterous economic restructuring and enforced unfair FTAs in poor countries such as Mexico, while the WTO can and does interfere with the international trade which enriches nations.

Large-scale foreign aid from governments perversly helps retard the economic growth of the recipient. It's useful for short-term problems, such as an immediate famine, but actually works to undermine long-term development - such as fixing up a country's agricultural policies and infrastructure so famines don't occur. A budgetary reliance on external money means there's less internal pressure for proper development, as there's always a crutch handy.

Plus, poverty-stricken Thrid World countries are more likely to be controlled by despotic regimes than affluent First World countries. In these cases, aid simply won't filter out of the centralised bureacracy's control.

The upshot is, you'd be better off lobbying the governments of poor countries to reform themselves so that their citizens can engage in the free trade which brings wealth. Individuals could then buy food, or the government could use the increased tax revenue to improve their levels of self-sufficiency. Inequality is best resolved by improving the lot of the less fortunate rather than depriving the fortunate, after all.

Anyone read this? Sorry to be dull...
(Lapin, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 15:47, closed)

sure
third world governments are notorious for running off with World Bank and IMF money,leaving their people to rot. Latin America seems to have woken up, but of course will soon be labelled as rebels simply becasue they don't want to play by the WTO's global rules.

I agree with most of what you say. But isn't "free trade" part of the same problem that keeps the third world reliant on external sources of finance? the problem with free trade is, like you say, that countries end up not being sustainable (Western dumping pricing out small farmers being one example).
(ewe, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 16:22, closed)

No
Free trade is the only thing that will solve the problem. Without it, they haven't got a hope.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Thu 30 Oct 2008, 11:16, closed)

It's not like all the world's food is in a big pile, and the rich are pinching it all.
Rich countries grow their own food. Granted, they should share it, but - with a few exceptions - the quality of soil and quantity of seeds around the world remains constant. The poorer countries need economic reform and a stable government that doesn't steal crops to feed a corrupt military force.
( Digeridude Lord Wellington's Beef Trapeze, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 20:31, closed)

I'm not sure about your use of the word "should" here
"Could", yes, but why should we? We grew it. What are the poor going to give us for it? If we give it away for free, they just end up dependent on us. I thought that people in the third world didn't want handouts, they just wanted the chance to work themselves out of poverty. Well, we're giving them that chance by ignoring them and leaving them alone to get on with it.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Thu 30 Oct 2008, 11:15, closed)

you sir are a
fucking hippy

grow up
(chimpo2k, Thu 30 Oct 2008, 14:15, closed)