fighting world hunger

[Woodsy]

Caddilac Desert. great book on the west and water
building Dams to irrigate arid land so farmers there can raise the same crops we pay people in the midwest not to grow
as to Hunger, Oxfam released a report about the Niger famine, discussing how western countries give aid where the headlines are.

[LAN]

Poverty is relative.

[cj001f]

Poverty is relative.

Funny. Starvation, malnutrition and death aren't.

[LAN]

Funny. Starvation, malnutrition and death aren't.

This is true, but I was referring to char's comment on poverty.

[Spats]

Caddilac Desert. great book on the west and water

Seconded. Absolutely fascinating and totally relevant to anyone who lives west of the Mississippi.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

[char]

Poverty is relative.

Wow. Thanks. Thats not the point I was trying to make at all. Uh-huh.

[shamrockpow]

Did you actually read the article? If there is a natural disaster and you're a hunter, you hunt somewhere else. If you're a farmer, your crop is ruined and you starve. And yes, the quantity of activities is much greater, but the amount of time left for them is many times smaller.

All I'm showing you is that life in pre-agricultural times was much more than trying not to die, and was not, as is usually thought, "nasty, brutish, and short". As far as we can tell, it involved much more free time and much less misery than almost any agricultural or industrial society, only excluding certain social classes in certain countries in the modern age (like our own).

Spats: you still gotta combine natural disaster risk with human violence risk. Sure, there has been a fairly recent period where agriculture built up societies in a two steps forward/one step back fashion - but that doesn't mean that life is less tenuous.

I don't have an anthropology text handy (or Laurence Keeley's book on War pre-civilization), but I can guarantee you that humans are violent and are most violent when resources are scarce. Modern technology has greatly mitigated these risks. Truly rural hunter-gatherer societies may have been peaceful in isolation, but there is strong archeological evidence that upwards of 20% of the "primitive man" population died a violent death. One other interesting take (that probably disagrees with my view) is Army officer David Grossman's "On Killing." Excellent read, but IMO it says more about cultural than genetic attitudes...

[Blurred]

I think everyone who has posted "how much they care" in this thread should sell everything they own, and send the $ to Africa to help the starving people who didn't rotate their crops.

[LAN]

Wow. Thanks. Thats not the point I was trying to make at all. Uh-huh.

Then why pose the question in the first place?

[sea2ski]

Saying you don't want to save someone's life because they might grow up and be drafted, shot, die of disease, etc is just rationalizing inactivity. They just as well might grow up and campaign for peace, make a stunning discovery, or just run a small business and raise a family. There's no reason they shouldn't have a chance to. Hey, maybe some of the political problems will be solved by the time some of the children and infants are teenagers?

Sure there's more overhead to running overseas aid organisations. There are a number of American charities that have large overheads as well. That doesn't mean there aren't foreign aid organisations that can do greater good with your dollar than domestic organisations.

Don't quote me out of context. My response was to Dexter when he said my money would feed more people in Africa than if I gave to an organization in the US. Having worked in soup kitchens and having been a group leader for underpriveledged children who looked like they were six or seven when they were actually 11 and 12 due to malnutrition, I don't think I have to rationalize anything. Hunger is not an just an African problem.

[cj001f]

Don't quote me out of context. My response was to Dexter when he said my money would feed more people in Africa than if I gave to an organization in the US. Having worked in soup kitchens and having been a group leader for underpriveledged children who looked like they were six or seven when they were actually 11 and 12 due to malnutrition, I don't think I have to rationalize anything. Hunger is not an just an African problem.

You said

I guess I look at saving a child from starvation at birth so he can be recruited into a militia in his teens isn't doing him a favor.

how was I treating that out of context when I said they may grow up to do something else? And because the organisation has higher overhead to work in Africa doesn't mean they won't feed more people there with the same donation than they would in the US. And yes, there are starving malnourished people in the US. There are millions more elsewhere.

Good you volunteer.