clakclak wrote: ↑Tue, 1. Feb 22, 13:59
matthewfarmery wrote: ↑Mon, 31. Jan 22, 17:22
clakclak wrote: ↑Mon, 31. Jan 22, 12:26
Honestly what I think about it is irrelavent. I am in no position to nor do I feel a desire to dictate someone elses life and I am certainly not in a position to tell people to get kids. Japan and South Korea are free countries. The people can choose how they want to live their lives themselves.
[...]
Africa is another country that seems to think its OK to have a lot of children, yet have other countries pay for their health and education.
[...]
This will sound a bit aggressive and possibly condescending but if you do not even know that Africa is not a single country, then you probably should not try to comment on it. Maybe I am a bit biased here, because I actually spend time living in an African country, but the idea of other countries "paying" for their health and education is beyond laughable. The rest of the world has exploited African ressources and labour for hundreds of years now. European countries have acted like parasites sucking the continent dry, supporting dictatorships in the process to ensure that ressources can continuously be exploited. That contributes heavily to poverty. Poverty also contributes heavily to population growth
as this video explains in an easy to understand way. Let me try to illustrate my point about why the idea that "other countries pay for their health and education" is dangerous, wrong and oversimplified with a story.
While I was in Namibia I met an old men. He was shirtless and had a long healed scar on his chest. We got to talking and I aksed him where he had gotten these scars. He told me that they were a small calibre bullet wound, from when he was a young boy. He told me that on his way to school he used to walk past the house of a Boar, a white South African, back then Namibia was still part of Apartheid South Africa. The Boar had a young son, who did not like him and often would shout insults at him on his way to school. One day he insulted him back, so the following day the son waited for him with a rifle and shot him. Then, nothing happend. No trial, no arrest, no nothing. The police did not care. Because during the Apartheid the life of a black person in South Africa did not really matter. Namibia became independent in 1990. If you walk around Windhoek today, even throught the townships "normal" tourists would not see, it is hard to imagine that this country and many people alive in it today suffered through not only Apartheid but also a war for independence only a bit more than 30 years ago. But it is important to remember that things were different not to long ago and you can still feel it.
White people make up roughly 5% of Namibians but today they still own more than 80% of the countries wealth. This extreme inequality is undeniably a result of colonialism. While Namibia is one of the more stable countries in Africa, this inequality still slows down progress significantly.
So let's see how my homecountry "pay for their health and education" today, because it is a good way to illustrate how we allegedly pay:
We (Germany) did not officially acknowledge the Herero and Nama genocide, which took place from 1904 till 1908, until the 28 May 2021, leaving aside
the flimsy apology from 2004 for a moment. During the genocide it is assumed that up to 80% of the Herero people were murdered. To compare that to another horrible German crime from the 20th century; during world war 2 Poland was the country which lost the highest percent of its population at 16%. Then to make up for it, we so graciously decided to
pay 1.1 billion € over the course of the next 30 years starting in 2021 in special forgein aid. Roughly at the same time we gave Lufthansa around 9 billion € so they could continue their
practice of flying empty aircrafts across Europe. In fact to further illustrate why 1.1 billion € over a period of 30 years is a bit of an insult,
look at this picture. That is a concert hall in Hamburg which did cost 800 million € over a way shorter period.
So no. I do not agree with your idea that African countries are the problem here. The problem is an unequal destribution of wealth, access to education and a lack of social stability. It may not be apparent to you now, but considering that Elon Musk
recently earned 36 billion US$ in a single day, I am sure we will soon start seeing more and more inequality in the so called 'first world' as well which may correspond with increasing birth rates as people can no longer rely on government paid pensions, as the rich don't pay taxes and will be forced to get children to care for them in their old age unless they belong to the richest 10%.
I'm sorry that I hit a nerve there, I admit that Africa has been hit hard by many factors. However, the issue is, in the UK we see a lot of adverts about charities and other fund rasing methods, to get people to pay for
fresh water,
helping children to see after they contract a disease that makes them go blind, or their eye lashes turn inward and makes them go blind.
preventing men three times a girls age, marrying girls (and giving those said girls, an education. (not just in Africa, but in some India and other places around there.
Food
I think there are others too.
Take for example water aid, from my knowledge, they have been doing adverts for over 20 years, saying that they will fix the water problems in Africa period. (but doesn't say which parts of Africa, but generally I don't really bother to watch such adverts, as I just feel that they are doing a pipe dream and will never fix the water issues.
When I say education, that is from several adverts, that says the following,
"Can't believe its happening to my little girl" , (can't remember the exact line. Basically, a group of woman looking away from the camera, or looking down at the floor. (child sponsor) Another advert, saying that they will help the village to prevent children from marrying men 3 times their age, But same style of advert. (also sponsor the child's education.)
Other adverts, like food, teach a small village to make their own food with seeds that have been adapted to the climate.
Can't find any of the adverts using google, but generally I mute the volume.
How many of these adverts are nothing but pipe dreams? how many are just in it for the money? or even if someone does save a child, how many other children will take their place? or are such charities trying to meddle with things that they shouldn't? I mean, for example, just because it might be acceptable for arranged marriages and men marrying girls in that country, but because its not acceptable here in the west, UK / US. Does that give the people in the west the right to meddle?
This might be a bit off topic compared to the original topic. But considering that the UK is bombarded by adverts for the above. I just think we should stop messing with other countries affairs. Including the above. And let those countries try and sort out their own problems.