1st World Comfort versus 3rd World Suffering

I'm not going to go into the politics. You all know more or less what I feel about politics.

But this is more apt to the topic, and is really well done (it's cute too).

link didnt show for me?

http://www.storyofstuff.org/

sorry about that ... I SWEAR I pasted it ! I did, I did, I did .... :blush:

The EU isn't competitive enough... so instead of making people in the EU more competitive we will just make it harder for people to compete with us by imposing taxation on their goods

That method however still leaves a country (or trade bloc) with a lack of overall competitiveness and efficiency (economically)

You know, I have a honda gx200 which I found and decided to rpair for fun. Today I ran it and decided to use your approach and reduce the fuel mix to make it more competitive. guess what, it stopped running.

I could easily import sweets from china and have them delivered to my door for cheaper than you can sell them to me from your shop. And before you ask, I've actually done that before (not really sweets, but salty roasted sunflower seeds, which I used to buy from the sweet shop when I was a kid).

I can import knickers and bras from china into europe, pay the tariff, export them to zimbabwe, pay the tariff (40% over there) and still I'll sell them for cheaper there than a scottish-made ultimo bra in the UK.(including shipping). And ultimo is no luxury brand. (BTW I just checked out their site they have lots of things on sale for a fiver)

and the sentiment that 'they brought it on themselves' is entirely a delusional 1st world construct.

I do business in Zimbabwe (my partner comes from there), and I can tell you that they definitely brought it upon themselves. Retarded ghovernment, no-one does anything about it. In fact, generally speaking, if you travel to africa, go to the villages and speak to the elders... they'll tell you things were better during the colonial eras. In fact, in zimbabwe I've heard (from blacks) that things were better during the white minority independent government than they are now. (and keep in mind the white minority independent government was significantly worse than british rule)

Obviously this "they brought it upon themselves" isn't always true. I'm pretty sure the US are to blame for cuba's problems. And the UN for Palestine's. The US and britain have more recently been involved in ruining the lives of Iraqis, etc. Pretty much every single country has been up to no good at some point in the past 50 years. But overall? they are responsible for their failures on their own land. They make their own bad laws as we make ours...

they/we did NOT bring it on ourselves. they/we have EVERY right to the same pursuits of happiness, the same government representations, the same EVERYTHING. why? because they/we ARE the same. if the tables were turned, and some now-opulent 3rd worlder said that you guys 'brought it on yourselves', i would rail just as loudly against that sentiment as i do here.

Really? I would probably agree and do something about it. Actually, those third worlders you speak of ought to do just that.

i do. every day.

what do you do everyday ?

"So... anyone got a clever response?" Jack mumbled, now starting to feel a little personally insulted. But, of course, that wasn't fair to take this personally, and she forced herself to keep taking deep breaths. The CMC also seemed to be taking that advice -- he was reclined in his chair with a cup of tea.

'In my humble opinion...' He began, speaking with both the authority of being a Count with loads of money and thus being in the ruling position, as well as formerly a member of the lower class who did have to live with the intolerable condition, 'Anyone who maintains, even in the slightest, that anyone in a disadvantage should pull themselves out of it is forgetting the incredible role that the system plays in this. Master Ren points out that many countries have 'retarded government' -- unfortunately, with those governments, the people are disenfranchised and have no power! They are unable to change things for themselves. Anyone who rebels against those governments is imprisoned.'

'Or worse.' Agreed Nash, also speaking from a first hand experience.

'There's only so much of that a people can take before they lose hope and give up. We do underestimate the power of the system -- the Dark Side, if you will.'

'Oh, Brother, don't be so harsh on him.' Daline butted in, flopping over her twin's armchair, 'If you admit there's power in the system, you also have to acknowledge how little control YOU have. And, let's be honest, nobody in the first world - or maybe anyone in the world, at all - likes to admit that they don't have nearly as much control as they think they do.' That certainly shut up the CMC -- Mister Poster-child-for-control-issues, himself.

'We also do tend to forget the amount of influence that money plays in the equation. For whatever reason, people who have a great deal of money usually have a disproportionate amount of power and, thus, control over theirs and other people's situations.' Oh, great -- there was the fanfiction CMC!Ken butting in. Why did Jack always let them get in on these conversations? 'Should it BE that way? No, and, technically, the people could have control over the role money plays in social control, but far to many people do put stock in monetary success. The result: What we have on our hands, right now.'

"That's why we in the first world SHOULD be talking about this." Jack realized, jolting out of her trance. The other characters shot her a look. The InMyBlood!Ken ironically started up a chorus of the Genesis song 'Land of Confusion' as the soundtrack while Jack talked, "Because of how the system is structured and how so many cultures collectively tie wealth and power together, the wealthy first world countries DO have power to control many other countries. And, to further this connection, with power comes..."

'Responsibility!' Chimed in Ken.

"So, regardless of whose fault it is or whether they have control over it or not, those of us who have more have an obligation to make things right." Jack finally concluded. And then she turned back to her search. Her wallet was suddenly feeling much heavier, and she knew one way to rectify that.

I think waste is a condition of transformation, and so its not a bad thing to find and use someones waste for something. Unless its toxic, the stigma of waste being rubbish, unhealthy or demeaning seems misplaced. The problem is when the people who have first dibs on the resources strip it of most or all its value, leaving nothing worthwile left. The 1st world has a window to progress to sustainability through technology, and in my opinion this is also a responsibility of being part of the 1st world - but most people of the 1st world are too caught up in personal comfort and entertainment to acknowledge that responsibility. As a result what we see is the quality of the waste being handed down the wealth scale becoming less and less, with no real progress being made because most everyone in the 1st world is focused on the wrong things. I'm having a bit of rant myself, but I guess its ok since the OP started it!
:lol:

Obviously we all should be 1st world nations. We do not need completely poor people for the world to spin around, and capitalism is meant to work better as numbers increase... so bringing the 3rd world up should help the 1st world - perhaps. The power lies with the 1st world because the 3rd world simply has none by comparison. I dont blame the 1st world entirely though, as most failing nations seem to rush into types of nationalism as a pillar of being a nation (political,religious), which to me seems like a popular facade for political power.. quickly crumbling under the realities of managing a country, not to mention in a globalised market place, to be replaced with violance labelled as popular revolts or coups.

So while it might be the responsibility of the 1st world to help emerging nations, the problems I see is that emerging nations usually are too immature to accept help at the cost of hype about national identity and independance.... but also that the 1st world really has its own identity problem in being blinded to the serious responsibilities of over population, increased levels of refinement leading to increased toxicity of waste and the limited resources available to make progress enough to avoid these issues becoming fatal to humanity and all the other life on the planet. If I had to score the governments of the world and top 1% of wealthy people on addressing these two (perhaps most) important aspects I'd have to give them a resounding F for fail.

ren wrote: what do you do everyday ?

at the risk of offending, quite a lot. and that is no flippant answer.

my profile image alone is me at an anti HB 56 rally in huntsville, alabama. you may know the law as the 'anti illegal immigration law', the most stringent in the land right now. i was interviewed by 2 separate news agencies that day, i think mostly due to my wearing my patrol cap and speaking english, that i stood out from the crowd. the link from WHNT 19 has been removed, but was deemed subversive enough to incite questions as to the legality of this law as a whole while simultaneously not being so offensive that it was cut from the broadcast.

it circulated occupy sites for some time, and always got a laugh.

so to reiterate, that was one afternoon in october. the rest of the time, i do other things.