30 Million people in Africa are suffering from aids.200 people die per day...Aids does not know frontiers, there will be 200,000 Orphans per year....Can we do anything about it, is this problem for all of mankind, HOW CAN WE HELP THE MILLIONS THAT ARE DYING............HAVE YOU THE INTELLECT TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS!!!!!
Hi IXL777, I saw a story last night on the BBC about AIDS in South Africa. They reported having traffic jams in their cemetaries. They bury 200 people per weekend in one cemetary alone. When they spoke to a young dying woman I felt my eyes well-up. As I see it, we in the Western world need to dig deeply into our pockets to send the required life-saving drugs to the third world. At the same time, the third world has to get their own house in order. I saw another story in which an African doctor stood in front of a warehouse filled with a mountain of condoms. He complained that few people wanted these condoms at a time when a devastating sexually communicable disease is ravaging the population. The reporter spoke to several African prosititutes that said men pay them extra not to use a condom. This is madness. The man that gave AIDS to the young woman I spoke of above will be responsible for her death. But I also share a responsibility for her death. Everyone walking on this planet bears some responsibility for what goes on here. Michael
saw it on bbc too last nite... its like a slow genocide... the situation is very grim... sometimes u feel so helpless considerin so much shit goin on in the world and you really can't do much....
1) I am in no way responsible for gangs of idiots in South Africa roaming about at night raping white virgins because their local idiot witch-doctor told them it would cure them or AIDS. Nor am I responsible for them getting it in the first place. http://bad-sports.com/~archive/revolution/failed.html 2) If drug companies produce medicines and ship them over to Thailand and Africa and such for free, they will go broke, then nobody gets any medicines. 3) If you send free drugs to those poaces where AIDS is going nuts, it won't do anything for the majority of sufferers. The only way the drugs will help is if you set up free clinics everywhere which give out medicines to AIDS sufferers at specific times, every day. Setting up those free clinics will have the same effect as giving out free drugs; it will send the suppliers broke. But even if you do manage to set all that up, and somehow manage to bring in a constant supply of free drugs, you then need to re-arrange local society so that all the recipients actually will come in regularly, at appointed times, for their pills or shots; and given the rather disorganised state of much of Africa, that won't happen. 4) To do all the remarkably humanitarian things so far mentioned, you need to do two things: - Rebuild the entire "western" economy as a charity organisation. - Rebuild Africa. Yep, that's right, wipe out their societies and cultures and create something new which actually works.
Adam , thankyou for your candid and erudite reply. yousaid: If you send free drugs to those places where AIDS is going nuts, it won't do anything for the majority of sufferers. The only way the drugs will help is if you set up free clinics everywhere which give out medicines to AIDS sufferers at specific times, every day. Setting up those free clinics will have the same effect as giving out free drugs; it will send the suppliers broke. But even if you do manage to set all that up, and somehow manage to bring in a constant supply of free drugs, you then need to re-arrange local society so that all the recipients actually will come in regularly, at appointed times, for their pills or shots; and given the rather disorganised state of much of Africa, that won't happen. 1. Can the west afford it? 2. Is there enough compassion left in the west? 3. Apathy and selfishness have become the 2 pillars of western society? 4.Do we have the will anymore with so much suffering and decadence? 5 Are these the final throws of Armageddon? 6.Can ordinary people do anything about it. 7. Have we all become sluts to mammon!! IS IT WORTH THINKING ABOUT ALTRUISM..HELPING YOUR FELLOW MAN.....OR SHOULD THEY ALL GO TO HELL!!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Education would help But before you can educate you need stability. In order to have stability, you need to have a few basic things like sanitation, sources of clean water, shelter, food, etc. Unfortunately when you look at many parts of Africa, many of these things are not available, or not ALL available at the same time. It's a vicious cycle of poverty, disease and death. On top of all this, you have corruption, slavery, civil wars, AIDS, ebola virus and over grazing of domestic animals which causes tremendous erosion, rain forests are ruined, animals endangered, enormous amount of natural resources which are just being used to fund more killing and power grabs by tyrant leaders. You all get the picture. It's a big mess and be damn glad you're not in it. I know this will probably fly like a lead balloon with all the atheists around here but you can do something. Many people are making a difference. It doesn't mean you have to pick a Christian relief organization because there are many others to choose from. I send a small amount of money to a church in Rwanda, they in turn provide the stability. The kids get a chance. Not much compared to us but a chance. The way I look at it, you can close your eyes and ignore them or you can be a small part, helping just a little bit to someone. Many people helping out in small contributions can make a difference. The solution is to find it in your heart to sacrifice something for others you don't know. Not always something that comes easily, it runs counter to the often hedonistic philosophy of "ME". Solution: Doing something is better than doing nothing.... Just do it!
Bridge..you are right of course..yousaid: "Doing something is better than doing nothing".... the question is what? and how.......Are you as an ordinary person willing to do something!!!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Hi Adam, It's one thing to talk about Africa or about Africans. Africa doesn't have a face. The woman I saw on the the BBC last evening had a face. I could not look into this woman's eyes and tell her that giving her the drugs to save her life would constitute a useless policy. An insidious thing happens to us when we talk about groups of people. The group becomes an intangible. The group doesn't have a beating heart; it doesn't have someone who loves it; it's not at all like you or me. When GWB asks someone in the White House to point out Iraq on a map, he evidently thinks of the people living within the imaginary geographical boundaries as imaginary people. They aren't anything like his wife or his two daughters. Iraqi people don't have dreams or families. That woman on the BBC could have been my wife or my sister. There was no particular reason the stork dropped me down my mother's chimney. Michael
$20 a month is less than what most people spend for their ISP connection. To someone in Africa that amount (multiplied by many people donating together for a common cause) means food, safe drinking water, a place to sleep, an education and most importantly a sense of hope. That is one answer. Some people who are even more selfless, go to Africa themselves and donate their time, energy and skills providing even more hope. Throwing up your hands and saying what difference does it make if I do something is another option TOO many people take. IMHO. They'd rather stay in their comfort zone and ring their hands over whether or not they should buy another pair shoes to go with their new outfit.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Actually, I think that was the intention, when American Government scientists released the virus into Africa in the first place... they probably thought it would stay confined to Africa. They also tried to do it to the gay community by releasing it in SF, not realising the implications regarding Heroin users and bisexuals! The drug companies, being one of the wealthiest industries in the world, could easily allow local firms to produce non generic AIDS drugs at a far lower cost than if they made/supplied them and it wouldn't banrupt them, after all, the Western consumer already pays enough for their development costs. Sometimes, profit has to be put aside for the greater good. But do the powers that be, really want to help the situation? That's the real question.
Does anyone have a vomit bag I can borrow: and Was that before or after the CIA dumped all that crack cocaine in the black ghettos? Look at that shiny black helicopter outside your window....what are they spraying down your chimney? Ebola?
Yes, they're all individuals ("I'm not..."). But does that change anything I said before? No, it doesn't. The only way to solve the problem is to go completely tabula rasa on Africa, Thailand, and any other places so affected. Wipe out their societies and cultures entirely, and build something new in its place that works. Or maybe people might consider that unkind, unfair, or whatever, to save their lives at the expense of their cultures (many of them being cultures which stone women to death if they admit to being raped, or cultures which sell pre-pubescents into sexual slavery, or cultures which...). Personally I have no problem with it. They can view their history in museums the same as the rest of us. Wipe out their cultures and rebuild Africa entirely. If people want the help, they shouldn't be saying "Well, I only want a little bit of help, just enough to make those three people feel better while the other 6,000 get sick an die. That will look good on my government's record, right?" Half-enough help simply won't do the job; all it will do is be a drain on other societies. That's all. If the help is to be given, then it should be done properly. Destroy it all, build it up from scratch. Or leave them alone. One or the other.
It is intentional. We can only rely on war pestilence/disease and natural disasters to limit population. 20 years of unchecked population growth points to a rapid depletion of resources to sustain civiliation. Naturally those on the critical soulution commitees would rather it devestation of population occurs "over there". This man made pandemic has been around for 30 years yet it seems some have just learned about it.
AIDS isn't the only problem in Africa, starvation is just as much of an issue, along with other diseases. For the most part, the only countries on the entire continent that aren't seriously plagued by these problems are Cape Verde, Lesotho, Madagascar, Kenya, Egypt, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Tunisia. Unfortunately some of these people aren't capable of helping themselves. They are born and raised in a world of violence, and all they are taught is how to chase an animal and try to kill it with a homemade wooden spear. They don't know any better and have not been taught to do anything else, including read (just look at the literacy rates - of course, in many of these places there aren't even schools). Diseases spread by mosquitoes (among other animals), polluted water, and waste sites (like land fills/garbage dumps where many people look for food), not just through sex. Commercial drugs are rare in Africa because no one can afford them (where do you think they are going to buy the needles and syringes to inject themselves with LSD? many cities don't even have drug stores) - so spreading AIDS through blood by sharing needles is not common. This is really a terrible situation on that continent, and I wish we, as the international community would do more to help Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Bridge Actually the CIA had a deal running with Noriega. They let him ship a certain amount od cocaine to the USA in return for access to his massive intelligence network throughout central and south America. It was only after Noriega cut the CIA off from his networks and tried to gather the local leaders to kick the CIA out of central and south America that the CIA started calling him a bad guy, and decided to invade. Well, that really does happen. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2002/t10092002_t1009ha.html http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/TET210A.html http://english.pravda.ru/world/2002/10/10/37987.html http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,65162,00.html
Adam ,I said erudite not lunacy...quote: Wipe out their societies and cultures entirely, and build something new in its place that works. Or maybe people might consider that unkind, unfair, or whatever.......unkind, unfair....you are missing the point...People who have intelligence and are altruistic have in them compassion.. Arrogance,Pride,hate are not the tools we need here its Love, Compassion, Altruism...for our fellow man!
Rhetoric The obvious response to what I have said is: "Surely it is a good thing to even save one person, even if we can't fix the entire situation?" However, the logical response to that is: "Fine you pick that one person to fix, and then look the other three million people in the eyes and tell them you thought that other single person over there was more deserving."
