I have to go now, don't feel offended when I stop replying to these shitposts.

You gonna go build some homes for people in Sudan?

You know, the smiles on those kids look more genuine than anything I've seen from over 90% of the fucking kids in my town, and hell 90% of the adults here too. You don't have to be rich or even well off to be happy. And in that regard, there are people, who despite living with a mountain looming over them at all times, fight and struggle and find more happiness than many people in the so called modern and civilised world. And in some way, they have more than a lot of people in modern society can say. When you're happy, you don't need so much, because you can walk over and climb what the world throws at you.

We are limited to our perspective because of the way we exist. Every single person has troubles and obstacles. And to every single person, these obstacles can look like the same mountain as some person in a third world country dealing with trying to find clean water or start a home or feed themselves. If you switched places with them however, suddenly things would look different. You would not only understand that although your troubles are still troubles, but that you should appreciate what you have.

No matter what one human being is going through on one side of the planet to the other, we all face things that test us. There is no side that can complain and one that can't. Sure, I live in the modern world, and compared to some people in poor countries, I have a lot more than they likely ever will. But if you swapped our lives, and accostomed us to them, the challenges we'd face would both be very real, and very much the same. Something stands in our way and we must go through it, regardless of what it is.

I can't change the fate of how some people end up in other parts of the world.

But what I can do is remember, that when I ever do complain about something, it could always be worse. And what I have may be much more than some others can say. But that doesn't change the fact that my problems are very real, and carry as much weight as someone struggling to keep going in some dark corner of the world. The scenarios are different, but the struggles and outcomes of failure are very much the same.

OI!They got  bikes!
I never got a damn bike from my parents.

We're still exploiting them for resources and cheap labour.

That's false. The only reason people see this is because there's some guilt in having cheap labour do things for us and make our products. We don't see the poverty of subsistence living in a trade-less economy. There's a reason that demand for low-wage, poor-quality jobs is so high, and it's because it's preferable to unemployment.

That's false. The only reason people see this is because there's some guilt in having cheap labour do things for us and make our products. We don't see the poverty of subsistence living in a trade-less economy. There's a reason that demand for low-wage, poor-quality jobs is so high, and it's because it's preferable to unemployment.

Exploitation isn't an acceptable or beneficial solution to poverty. You haven't contradicted what I've said, you've tried to justify it. It's about simple humanism and accountability. But I don't come on here to argue politics or morality with gamers and teenagers of all people. I think this thread should be moved to #serious where I don't have to look at it.

Exploitation isn't an acceptable or beneficial solution to poverty. You haven't contradicted what I've said, you've tried to justify it. It's about simple humanism and accountability. But I don't come on here to argue politics or morality with gamers and teenagers of all people. I think this thread should be moved to #serious where I don't have to look at it.

Oh come on Elegiac.

Calling it exploitation is the real indicator of "privilege" here. People choose to work in such jobs because it's their best option, and buying their products is what gives them their income. No country ever got prosperity from aid.

It certainly isn't humanistic to assume you know what is best for these people, despite not being in their position.

Not another infected ;-;

It seemed like the only appropriate word, to be honest. The reason we can try and make this prescriptions and proposals for the third-world is born of the fact that we don't have a proper understanding of what it's like. People want to live in poverty because it's better than complete and utter anus-wrecking poverty.

Last comment, you forced it out of me with your callous ridiculousness.

It's not a huge imaginative leap to assume that if I were one of those people, I would like a fairer deal. They say as much themselves. It isn't about aid; it's about not putting profit before people.

Callousness has nothing to do with it, it's about economics.

Just, read this. An actual economist will put it more succinctly than I ever could. The point is that a "fairer deal" is only ever going to come about over time, with the development of infrastructure and economic growth. You can't force a better situation on these people, and trying to do so will just pull the rug out from under them. Not putting profits before people will result in a situation whereby the people are too expensive, and they won't get any benefits at all from the economy.

Part of me feels as if this is stemming from the thread on separating students on ability, where me and Mr Psychologist both claim to have done well despite not coming from affluent backgrounds.

If you want to take a global view of it, then sure, we're ridiculously affluent and incredibly lucky. Do I feel grateful? No, not on an emotional level, although I understand my luck intellectually. I don't know if that's just me or if it's born of a deadened sense of my own, comparative, affluence to those in poorer countries.

Nonetheless, don't confuse international affluence with intranational affluence. Me and Mr Psychologist were making the claim that we're not particularly affluent compared to the people in our own environment, and our achievements are contingent on the effort we expend in that environment. Neither of us ever made the claim that we don't have an affluent background relative to people from other countries.

Most kids don't have much money, you're not really that unique (25% of all kids in the US are born in poverty, the overwhelming majority are born well below average). In fact both of you are just exaggerating anyway. How many parents do you have? Two? Oh, I thought as much.

U.S. poverty measures aren't terribly reliable, considering the fact that they don't factor in things like transfers (which most developed countries do).

Yes, I have two parents. A mother, and a step-father. My mother raised me by herself for about the first 7 years of my life.

Do you just pull this stuff out of your ass or?..

Other countries typically look at consumption instead of income, and because transfer payments aren't counted as a form income, they aren't counted.

Notably, the range of consumption levels for those reporting zero or close to zero income is not only wide but indistinguishable from the equivalent range for those reporting income levels up to 20 dollars of income per person per dayβ€”above the level of the official U.S. poverty line. This is illustrated by the horizontal section of the best-fit curve where the relationship between reported income and consumption is absent. Put differently, it is not clear whether a comparison of individuals reporting 20 dollars and zero dollars a day in income coincides with any difference in consumption or welfare. Thus, a focus on zero or close to zero income respondents may not offer the best filter for examining minimum living standards in the U.S.

So...I'm feeling like this thread should be moved to Serious.