The Paradox of Starving Children in Africa - Propaganda?

[Scepcop]

I have a paradoxical question. If there are so many starving children in Africa, as the Western media likes to portray, then here's what I don't get.

If there are millions, or even thousands, of children and people who look like all bones in Africa, like they show on TV, then it would mean that they literally have nothing to eat right? Well human beings can only survive without food for 3 or 4 weeks right? If so, then how are all these millions of people with nothing to eat surviving to adulthood and reproducing with so many babies, who in turn survive into adulthood and repeat the cycle? If they had nothing to eat, wouldn't they all be gone in a month? How are they producing millions of more starving children with nothing to eat and lasting throughout every generation? Something doesn't seem to add up. Isn't this a contradiction of basic logic?

Interestingly enough, everyone I know who has gone to Africa say it's nothing like the media shows. They saw no starving children, and instead see an advanced industrial society with technology and development everywhere.

If that's so, then is this all a Western media propaganda? If so, what purpose does it serve? And where do they find all those people who look like they are all starving and bones?

Either way, why does the media wish to portray Africa as either a place where everyone is starving, or where savage tribes engage in warfare and cruelty? What's the purpose in that? Why don't they show the normal industrialized parts of Africa? What is their agenda and motive?

[Jayhawker30]

Well, why are some people in the world rich while others are poor?

[Craig Browning]

What ticks me off most about all those commercial that solicit funds for the starving kids or abused puppies is that most of the cash raised goes in the pockets of "administrators". . . if the group honestly cared about the things they sing the sad sounds over, why are they paying six digit incomes to staff members?

Want a quick way to raise over a million dollars to feed those kids; force all the upper management to accept salaries of less than $100k and curtail the expense budgets. Stop dropping a few hundred K in making psychologically compelling commercials that EXPLOIT the kids or abused critters (not to mention some of the deliberate misrepresentation certain footage offers).

The real crime when it comes to those poor kids in Africa that will starve to death if I don't eat the crust on my bread (that's what mom used to say); take out the dictators that allow food to root on the docks rather than distribute it. . . the dictators who steal this food & clothing for themselves and their armies, etc. Take direct legal action towards those investors and corporations exploiting those people. . . like Pat Robertson and his blood diamond business (I never knew diamond mining was part of Missionary work but according to fat Pat, it is).

My biggest pet peeve is the fact that we have millions of malnourished people right here in the U.S. that aren't seeing any kind of sympathy & support. In my book charity should begin at home, taking care of our own first and foremost; I'm quite disgusted by the fact that this nation takes care of everyone else in the world faster and better than it takes care of its own citizens.

[Scepcop]

Why can't these starving children in Africa just build farms and crops, and live the way people did before money existed, when society ran on the bartering system?

I still don't understand how all these starving children are able to survive and reproduce millions of more starving children.

[Craig Browning]

[Veni]

Well. In every country one have an opportunity to find a member of society that is unfairly poor and can`t provide for his family. That may occur because of various reasons, like government arbitrariness or whatever. Now we photo this human and write a topic about hunger in all city. Inspire people to donate money and save the popularity of poor guys. Mission accomplished! You may take an imposing sum of money and... a little part of it will be spent on REAL charity. That`s a simple answer.
If someone wants to help a real concrete person that suffers, he should donate to him or her directly. There exist such a service.
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[Craig Browning]

[NinjaPuppy]

[cecil1]

[Twain Shakespeare]

people must be allowed to come into the latter 20th century with their understanding about the world & the universe vs. buying into Bronze Age mythos as being the literal truth. BALANCE is the only place where genuine truth can be found and our world doesn't have that in any remote sense of abundance even after 10,000 years of encouragements.[/quote]

I personally would like to see us reach the 3rd Millenium, but considering it took Christianity over a thousand years to pull Europe back up to the 5th Century BC, and Islam has barely pulled Africa into the Age of Mohammad, how long will it take Democracy to drag Joe Blow up to accepting the 1st Amendment?

[cecil1]

The whole point of a democracy is to employ majority rights over minority rights, philosophically that is bad moral ethics and initiation of force, also known as collectivism.

Just a pet peeve of mine seeing democracy being touted as good moral ethics.