Politics What is the most serious problem in the world?

[ms.katejones]

I picked poverty as the most important issue because I see war, terrorism, and ethnic conflict as largely the result of people living without adequate resources. If everyone had enough food, water, and medicine there would be less violence in the world. It's not a matter of not having enough resources, but a matter of spreading those resources more equally.

What do you think is the United States' responsibility in fixing these issues?

[post="1062180"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]​

What bothers me is that by spending so much money on defennse, the U.S. is spending less on foreign aid and helping people who are starving. It seems like we are treating the symptom of the disease (war/terrorism) and not the disease itself(poverty.) It is short sighted to assume we can beat the rest of the world into submission. For a long term end to terrorism and war, the U.S. should help other countries to become economically stable.

That said, I don't think the U.S. can fix the world's problems by itself. We need to work with other countries and the U.N. to solve the crisis of global poverty.

 

[Hibou]

Hmmm biggest problem in the world? Stupidity :lol:
JK...but there are so many, it's hard to chose

 

[AliasHombre]

The US just feeding the starving peoples of the world is extremely short sighted. First of all, in countries with lots of needy people, the government stonewalls any attempt to help (see: haiti) Second of all, feeding them fixes them for a day, mabye two. By toppling these oppressive governments, a door will perhaps open for a long term, stable solution.

I equate mindless humanitarian aid to welfare here in the US, it only enslaves the people being helped into becoming dependant on it for their very being.

 

[xdancer]

The US just feeding the starving peoples of the world is extremely short sighted.  First of all, in countries with lots of needy people, the government stonewalls any attempt to help (see: haiti) Second of all, feeding them fixes them for a day, mabye two.  By toppling these oppressive governments, a door will perhaps open for a long term, stable solution.

I equate mindless humanitarian aid to welfare here in the US, it only enslaves the people being helped into becoming dependant on it for their very being.

[post="1063583"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]​

i wonder how you would feel if you were one of those starving people. it's relatively simple in my mind. someone's in need and you have the resources, the only option is to help them.

i think the major human rights abuses all over the world are the most serious issues. thousands of black muslims have and still are being murdered in sudan by the arab janjaweed, which by the way, gets barely any time if any at all in the american press. women are being treated as second-class citizens or worse in far too many areas of the world, as natalia pointed out. child labor is prevalent in certain areas. those are the things i find intolerable.

 

[tippinlover]

The US just feeding the starving peoples of the world is extremely short sighted.  First of all, in countries with lots of needy people, the government stonewalls any attempt to help (see: haiti) Second of all, feeding them fixes them for a day, mabye two.  By toppling these oppressive governments, a door will perhaps open for a long term, stable solution.

I equate mindless humanitarian aid to welfare here in the US, it only enslaves the people being helped into becoming dependant on it for their very being.

[post="1063583"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]​

I understand what you're saying...and we do need long term solutions, but we also have to recognize that we need to do something in the meantime...way too many people in our country and around the world are dying of hunger and it's an absolute travesty!

 

[Goonigoogoo]

I voted for environmental issues, people and governments just brush them off as if it was nothing. Future generations are gonna suffer from these ill effects, it boggles my mind that more people don't care about nature.

As for starving people, well i have pitty for the children but hatred towards the parents, why bring a life into this world if you have no means to feed and nurture for it? This might not be too PC but i think the world has graver issues to deal with then to help selfish people who can't think ahead.

 

[Natalia]

To add to what I was talking about.

According to the United Nations, nearly half of 840 million chronically hungry people in the world live in South Asia. Experts have argued that there is a direct correlation between hungry girl children and the preference for male children in many parts of India and other South Asian countries.

Large numbers of girl children in poor families are deprived of adequate food in order to feed their male child. The girl child often suffers from diseases due to severe malnutrition.

 

[Hibou]

God that's horrible! I can't believe parts of the world are still like that...at least it's not like Medieval times when the second-born was sent off to a monastery and forgotten about...

 

[xdancer]

I voted for environmental issues, people and governments just brush them off as if it was nothing.  Future generations are gonna suffer from these ill effects, it boggles my mind that more people don't care about nature.

As for starving people, well i have pitty for the children but hatred towards the parents, why bring a life into this world if you have no means to feed and nurture for it?  This might not be too PC but i think the world has graver issues to deal with then to help selfish people who can't think ahead.

[post="1063999"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]​

not everyone has access to birth control, you know. and you have no right to judge people like that.

 

[Goonigoogoo]

not everyone has access to birth control, you know.  and you have no right to judge people like that.

[post="1064114"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]​

Birth control? How about will power? sheesh

I think people can hold off sex if it means their child is gonna be born in poverty and/or have no means to be fed.

 

[spymaster]

The discussion about whether poor people are having too many children to support.... it is tough. I think parents anywhere should think carefully about their abilities to support their children before deciding to have any. At the same time, it's easy to talk about will power, but the reality for most women in poor countries is they often don't have a choice whether to have sex or not if the husband demands it, or if the husband doesn't like using birth control. Or they are not provided with birth control or educated about it. Or fertility is valued a blessing in many traditional cultures.

And another point about will power... that doesn't seem to have done much good with containing AIDS, has it?

The US just feeding the starving peoples of the world is extremely short sighted. First of all, in countries with lots of needy people, the government stonewalls any attempt to help (see: haiti) Second of all, feeding them fixes them for a day, mabye two. By toppling these oppressive governments, a door will perhaps open for a long term, stable solution.

Humanitarian aid given without putting in place long term strategies is not the long term solution- though there are situations that just call for immediate aid such as famines and genocides where it made the difference between life and death. But many rich countries including the US don't even meet the target of 0.7% of their GDP in donating aid- is that really too much to ask when half of the world has so much and half so little and when billions are spent on arms? Aid aside, rich countries need to help with economic empowerment of poor countries by writing off their debt and by stopping their protectionism in areas such as agriculture.

As to toppling oppressive governments- a good idea perhaps in theory but can be dangerous in practice. Regime change can be a very slippery slope- who decides who's oppressive?- and not a solution at all if it is motivated by imperialism or if it is not followed by solid nation building for at least a decade. I don't trust for it to be undertaken unilaterally, but it would require huge commitments multilaterally. I wish we could do something about the poor people in North Korea, but is bombing it to rubble the best way forward?

 

[xdancer]

re: birth control. very good points, spymaster. i agree. plus, it's a lot easier to talk about will power and such when you're living comfortably, with plenty of luxuries, not to mention food, in a western, developed country.

 

[the_alliance]

how can we help other countries when we have so many problems ourselves? it's a lot easier to change others than to change yourself. whenever americans want to help, they usually make things worse.

 

[spymaster]

Since ethnic/religious conflict was such a popular choice, do people think that that kind of conflict is a staple of the world or will people become more tolerant?

Are we heading for the infamous "clash of civilisations"?

Are nationalism and (religious etc.) fundamentalisms forces doing more harm than good?

 

[ninja-kitty]

I think that we are the most serious problem.

Humanity is destructive - we're slowly destroying the planet and it's resources. So many different animal and fauna species are on the endangered lists - the ice caps are melting in the artic.

I think that at the heart of it all - war has been fought about land, religion and money.

I do agree totally you have to fix your own problems before fixing other's

 

[ms.katejones]

Are nationalism and (religious etc.) fundamentalisms forces doing more harm than good?

[post="1073066"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]​

I don't think nationalism and fundamentalism do ANY good since they promote the belief that one country/religion/ethnic group is superior to another. I think it's time for people to stop thinking nationally and start thinking globally. So many or the problems on the list are worldwide problems (terrorism, the environment, poverty, etc.) so it's going to take a worldwide effort to fix them.

I think a good start would be for wealthy countries to forgive third world debt so that developing nations can focus on building up their own infrastructure instead of paying off loans to Western nations. It's not like these poor countries can even pay off these loans, so why cripple them with interest?

 

[Natalia]

The discussion about whether poor people are having too many children to support.... it is tough. I think parents anywhere should think carefully about their abilities to support their children before deciding to have any. At the same time, it's easy to talk about will power, but the reality for most women in poor countries is they often don't have a choice whether to have sex or not if the husband demands it, or if the husband doesn't like using birth control. Or they are not provided with birth control or educated about it. Or fertility is valued a blessing in many traditional cultures.

An example being in the Hindu religion, which is one of the three major religions of the world. It is considered absolutely crucial to have a son, as in order to get into 'heaven', your son has to light your funeral pyre. Poorer Indians in particular will have as many children as it takes to come up with a son. And, considering things like the infant mortality rate, it is often considered neccessary to have more than one son.

In a society so steeped in religion, it isn't possible to explain population control to many people. Epspecially considering the fact most of them will never leave their village, and so have no idea about the world.

 

[Ophelia]

What's the biggest problem in the world? The fact that the supposed last remaining superpower is led by a complete imbecile, Bush. What would I do about it? Hey, don't blame me. I voted for John Kerry. <_<

 

[Natalia]

What's the biggest problem in the world? The fact that the supposed last remaining superpower is led by a complete imbecile, Bush. What would I do about it? Hey, don't blame me. I voted for John Kerry.

I agree totally.

I was going to say that one of the biggest and scariest problems at the moment is religious extremism. And all of the major religions are guilty of it - Christian fundamentalists in America, Islamic extremists, Hindus in northern India. The concept of tolerance has completely disappeared, and nobody is even willing to listen to another person's viewpoint because they are so busy trying to force their religion onto people who don't want it.

"Democracy, quite simply, was poisoned to put George W Bush in the White House."
Britain's The Guardian

"Logically unsound, confused and unprincipled, unwise to the extreme."
Jiang Zemin, Chinese President

"I hope he is not as stupid as he seems."

"Bush was not elected president, but appointed" and therefore why should the US b**** about Cuba not holding free elections?"
Fidel Castro

"If ever proof were needed that we live in a global village, that is confirmed by George Bush - we now have our own global village idiot."
Jonathan Porritt, a former chairman of the Green Party and Friends of the Earth.

"A shallow, arrogant, gun-loving, abortion-hating, Christian fundamentalist Texan buffoon."
a European administration official described it to the New York Times.

 

[sarklover1]

^i love the quotes u got and i agree with u totally.