Foreign Aid?
July 10th, 2009So, world leaders want $20 billion from us in food aid to feed the poor, starving people around the world. My thoughts? Screw them. Let them starve.
As cold as it sounds, I’ll explain.
This world is severely overpopulated. The last thing we need are more people. I just got back from Vegas and in the shark reef, every single endangered animal had one thing in common - habitat loss. You know what habitat loss is? It’s the politically correct term for there’s too many fucking people in the world and those people are sprawling out and causing animals to become extinct.
Instead of giving food aid, we should cut off all foreign aid. No more military aid either. No more fighting other peoples’ wars. No more global rent-a-cop. No more bombs. No more missiles. No more food. The only thing you should be getting from us are contraceptives and instructions how to use them.
I am no longer a Right-winger. I’m tired of both liberals and conservatives. They’re all idiots. I have no wings any more and no alignment to anyone. Visiting zoos, wildlife parks, and the Vegas shark reef have really brought some reality to my 30-something year old brain. Animals everywhere are going extinct and it’s not because they suck (I do think species that can’t cut it should go extinct), it’s because humans breed like rabbits and sprawl everywhere, pushing animal habitats further and further out until they got nowhere left to go. Yes, WE caused these extinctions.
So yes, I have become slightly misanthropic. Thinking about human greatness has also brought me down. We went to the moon in the late 60s and what have we really done since? Let’s see, put SUVs in every yuppie’s garage, created cell phones and a generation of kids completely devoid of social skills, wiped out all kinds of cool species like the Baiji (Chinese River Dolphin).
Now, the internet is cool. I’ll give humans that. No, Al Gore didn’t invent it and I personally saw it in use before Al Gore did, so he can kiss his own self-righteous ass.
But we need to seriously do something about sprawling and habitat loss. Now. I just learned the Komodo Dragon is in “vulnerable” status. Take a guess why.
sorry, i can’t agree with you here. send the contraception, yes. encourage greater responsibility among our own people so we aren’t sucking up the resources that drive species into extinction, yes. cut off the food aid, no, no, no. these are human lives. a lot of suffering occurring through no fault of their own such as refugees(and yes, i’d rather teach a man to fish than always give a fish, etc. it’s why i am a proponent of micro credit and other forms of help which maintain dignity of the people being aided and encourage their own work so if you want to substitute some food aid for this sort of thing, fine. yes, i also know corrupt governments can prevent food aid from getting to those who most need it. id’ rather find a way to address that issue properly). i understand your logic. i just disagree with the solution. there but for the grace of god go i. call me a bleeding heart. call me illogical. i cannot be unmoved by human suffering.
Lime - You know I love it when people disagree with me, especially when they are very thought out.
First off, let me differentiate private aid vs government aid. I’m all for private aid. I think people who give because they believe in a cause are more than likely very good people. Government aid though can be a waste, although you covered the reasons - it never gets to who it’s intended to and unfortunately often ends up in the hands of dictators who line their own pockets instead of help out the people who need it.
I also think, yes, these are people. But all we’re doing is creating more generations of starving people. Ten people starve, we keep them alive, we don’t show them how to fix their problems, and they breed and get 20 starving people. Meanwhile, they sprawl, take up even more resources, depend on our aid, then beget 20 more people. Soon, we create a monster.
As cold as that sounds, that’s how it has become. And it’s gotten to the point where because of our breeding as a species, other species are going extinct. The thing is, it’s so bad, we may eventually reach the level of the comet that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it was caused by us, not a comet.
I cannot live with that.
Honestly, most government aid never even makes it to the donor country at all because of a common practice called “tied aid”. Most of it doesn’t even make it into the hands of the corrupt dictators. America is one of the last industrialized nations to still do this, most others have stopped the process - and therefore aid from them actually DOES get where it needs to go.
Tied aid is the practice of saying “we’ll give you $x, but if you want it, you have to spend it on goods, services, and consultants from the US.” What happens then, is that the money rarely even leaves US shores - the recipient country is forced to buy food, supplies, raw materials from America - even if {gasp} it would actually spur real development and sustainable progress if they were to be able to invest that money in local goods and services - sustaining their own economy and region. So not only does our method of aid actually not help anyone, it also ensures the recipient countries remain dependent on aid because they’re unable to sustain their own growth.
Aid itself isn’t the bad thing, it’s the lack of appropriate aid going to the right places, for the right purposes.
Actually, this is a good article about that - and it corrects a couple of the factual errors I made. Apparently there are a handful of nations in addition to the US still tying aid:
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=24509
hear hear!! couldn’t agree more with you.
Looks like the whole point of our existence is to pollute and destroy.. nways its sad to see animal get extent because of our selfishness.
BTW hope you’re well my friend:) haven’t been here for a long time… hope you are doing good
“Instead of giving food aid, we should cut off all foreign aid. No more military aid either. No more fighting other peoples’ wars. No more global rent-a-cop. No more bombs. No more missiles. No more food. The only thing you should be getting from us are contraceptives and instructions how to use them..”
Nuff said. Cold hearted or not its an idealistic indulgence to think we should be feeding ‘the world’ and spreading peace and democracy, especially when doing so threatens to endanger EVERYTHING. And who are we fooling anyway, we are, in practice, the most dangerous, consumptive and destructive creatures on this planet. The less of us the better.
I’ve been wondering what political party I could affiliate with. Now I know — The No Wings:) Perhaps you are outspoken and extreme on this matter but you are right and the only one with the nerve to say it.
Oh, and one more thing I forgot… If you want to curb overpopulation there’s one reallllly easy solution that doesn’t involve starving millions of people:
Invest in girls education. Period.
That sounds exactly like the rant I spew whenever someone says that hunting is causing animals’ extinction. No, too many people paving over our planet is causing extinction!
With all the yuppies buying up our farmland to build their mcmansions and the associated shopping malls, we’ll be the next extinct species.
hrmm. well, once I had read your rant twice, I thought that maybe I was missing something, because I feel the same way a lot of the time about foreign aid. Mostly from gov’t hand outs which don’t get to the people *I* would think that most need it. But indeed, I see the point.
But.. and there is a but…
I really do not see a difference between a mal-nutished person having unproteced sex and spawning, or an educated US citizen having unprotected sex and spawning. So taking the food from the people who need it, seems to me, too extreme when there is no difference. Breeding is breeding, and it’s not like we can put a cap on who is aloud to breed, or how many children you can have. Okay, well China has done that. But look at what happened there.
Anyway. I didn’t lose sight of what you were trying to say, and I feel the same when I see these creatures becoming endangered, and becoming more educated myself with the way the world is turning. Personally I find making people aware of the situation (which i think you are doing here) and trying to do what we can on a household level (no matter how futile it may seem) is the way to go. And if you choose not to breed - you know, for the sharks - then all the more power to you.
malnurished….. oh my gods with the typos.
funny, I was just thinking about a similar thought. Aid to countries that cannot support themselves is only adding to overpopulation.A certain geographical area and ecosystem can support a limited population of humans and animals. By giving aid and food we are supplying a false ecosystem and not allowing nature to rule. i.e. if some areas in Africa( only as example, could be Saskatchewan.) had to be self sufficient, it would allow the given number of humans and animals that could survive. and those that could survive would flourish.They would be self reliant and more capable.
Put humans in a limited area with Komodo Dragons and see who survives.I would wish the Dragons but I saw a National Geographic show where they exist together. The problem is of course, too many people from outside having an influence upon the local area.
Additional problem, IMO, suburban sprawl. There are boatloads of houses in the Detroit area available, but no, people have to live 75 miles from their work with their nearest neighbor two miles away (I’ll concede to exaggeration). To say nothing of people who have actually used the term “used” house. A friend of mine bought a perfectly lovely older home in Baltimore and her friends actually asked her why she was buying a “used” house. With attitudes like that, it’s no wonder, cities are emptying and houses standing in ruins. Oh, and 1200 sq ft just isn’t enough any more, even for two people. It’s ridiculous.
We need to learn to take care of what we have and stop taking everything.
Detroit may be a bad example.Apocalyptic hellholes do usually do well in the real estate listings. Except for Zombies of course. Zombies love Apocalyptic hellholes.( and brains.)
Sorry.meant do not do well. Was enthralled by the thought of Mr.& Mrs. Undead perusing the real estate listings in the Saturday paper. ” Oooh, here’s one honey, downdown Detroit, no heat ,plumbing and copper wiring ripped out. Next to abandoned and burned out shells. Nearby crack dens. and whorehouses. Sounds lovely.
I’m tired of both liberals and conservatives. They’re all idiots.
I’m with ya there.
If we really want to help impoverished parts of the world, intermittent supplies of food and some medical service won’t help. Education and industry (perhaps in the form of microloans) are the way to go.
We are the only species on the planet smart enough to possibly breed ourselves out of existence.
The human population is rising at an exponential rate. At some point it will correct itself. either by ravaging disease that wipes out a large portion, or by human to human conflict. When other food sources run out, cannibalism is a very strong possibility. Think about it. Humans have often turned to cannibalism under extreme cases, and the entire population of many countries is very close to this extreme case.
Wonderful comments everyone.
Very glad this opened up some dialog about overpopulation. It needs to be said more often.