USA - The Good Samaritan

[KatNotKathy]

Can any of you that know so much, mostly still living with your mommies, and drifting this thread toward military tactics, of which you know nothing, please tell me why...

Why has nobody commented on the fact that when we sent food to these supposedly starving people they made up a story that it was bad and started kicking it around instead of eating it? THIS is what the $100,000,000.00 cash advance that we couldn't afford to take paid for.

As I'm sure you know, we kind of have a history of ******* with Haiti. Hard. I'm honestly not the slightest bit surprised that people would be skeptical of us.

Besides, read the ******* article. They believed the food to be expired. Sure they were wrong and whoever shouted that out was an idiot, but if you were completely uneducated and somebody handed you food that you believed has been expired for over a year, are you going to eat it? You found one instance of people not accepting our aid, and even that's because they had the (mind-numbingly incorrect) belief that the food would make sick(er). It's not "making up a story", it's misreading the packaging date as the expiration date. Still pretty dumb and it was certainly no good just shouting out that the food was bad rather than asking somebody for clarification, but it was an act of ignorance, not malice.

Should one person misreading a label and upsetting one crowd be enough reason to let the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, one who's poverty is largely our fault, just sit there and fall apart?

 

[enchanted_one1975]

Because it was a single incident based on a misunderstanding, and doesn't negate the huge number of people in real need who are grateful for the help they receive.

People that are really starving will eat anything. I have been there myself. I have been so hungry I would have eaten dirt.

No, it wasn't. It was a UN food shipment, if it matters.

Who do you think the largest contributor of UN funds is? HINT: It isn't Canada.

 

[enchanted_one1975]

...but if you were completely uneducated and somebody handed you food that you believed has been expired for over a year, are you going to eat it?

If I was starving, yes. I have done so, as a matter of fact. I do what I do to survive. These people obviously have no idea what it means to starve.

 

[KatNotKathy]

If I was starving, yes. I have done so, as a matter of fact. I do what I do to survive. These people obviously have no idea what it means to starve.

ITT White American man claims to understand starvation better than Haitians.

No really, **** you. Do you honestly believe you understand starvation better than those living in the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere? Who made the news a few years ago for resorting to eating dirt, just to get something in their stomachs?

Put yourself in this situation. Food is coming, probably the first food you'll get in a good while, but there's a problem: if you eat it you'll probably die of food poisoning. See, when you're STARVING TO DEATH, your immune system is obviously going to have some severe problems, and while your average American can handle a little bit of food poisoning (as I have learned time and time again), if you're immune system is compromised, that's a death sentence.

Here, we can have an experiment. How about you starve yourself for a few weeks, subsisting entirely on dirt and water from a local well (do NOT purify it other than boiling), then eat some expired...anything. Make sure it's been expired for at least a year...any time in 2008 is fine, for authenticity's sake.

Oh wait, you should also break a whole bunch of holes in your roof and walls, and not see a doctor during this entire experiment. We need to recreate the Haitian experience here.

EDIT: I'm also loving how "but we have invaded several countries" becomes "I know nothing about MILITARY TACTICS and also live with my mommie (see it's funny 'cause that means they're like babies!)" in your mind somehow.

EDIT2: Ok, maybe that "**** you" was a bit over the top. But seriously though, up till now you've just been like an old military grampa, spouting off things that while incorrect, enough people believe it that I can't really be shocked by it. This though, damn... You went beyond ignorant and into flat-out offensive in an instant.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

People that are really starving will eat anything. I have been there myself. I have been so hungry I would have eaten dirt.

Wait - are you really faulting frustrated, starving people for not thinking completely rationally?

Who do you think the largest contributor of UN funds is? HINT: It isn't Canada.

HINT: it isn't the US either. The United States is famous for its failure to pay its UN dues. It currently owes the UN somewhere around a billion dollars.

Anyhow, UN food aid in Haiti right now has been paid for out of money the UN already had, not out of this 100 million you're griping about.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

If I was starving, yes. I have done so, as a matter of fact. I do what I do to survive. These people obviously have no idea what it means to starve.

It doesn't mean they don't know what starvation is, it simply means they believe they will make a bad situation worse by eating expired food. Certainly a good amount of Americans have went hungry for a period of time. But to be starving, that very few of us here in the States can truly say we have been there. When you eat dirt, insects, salt some bricks, or just nothing at all, then you are starving.
It's also a mob mentality. Given that the only applicable term to describe Haiti's current situation is "hell," it tosses all rational thinking out the window. When one person screams the food is expired, more will start to, and it triggers a domino effect.

 

[DallasApple]

Can any of you that know so much, mostly still living with your mommies, and drifting this thread toward military tactics, of which you know nothing, please tell me why...

Why has nobody commented on the fact that when we sent food to these supposedly starving people they made up a story that it was bad and started kicking it around instead of eating it? THIS is what the $100,000,000.00 cash advance that we couldn't afford to take paid for.

I commented on it.And I dont live with my mommy.If some of the aid doesnt get to where its supposed to be that doesnt mean we arent helping the ones that do need it and do recieve it.

Love

Dallas

 

[KatNotKathy]

It doesn't mean they don't know what starvation is, it simply means they believe they will make a bad situation worse by eating expired food. Certainly a good amount of Americans have went hungry for a period of time. But to be starving, that very few of us here in the States can truly say we have been there. When you eat dirt, insects, salt some bricks, or just nothing at all, then you are starving.
It's also a mob mentality. Given that the only applicable term to describe Haiti's current situation is "hell," it tosses all rational thinking out the window. When one person screams the food is expired, more will start to, and it triggers a domino effect.

This, pretty much. I've gone weeks without food (non-consecutively, fortunately), lived much of my childhood (and a short bit as an adult) homeless, and have eaten grass and dirt to fight off hunger pain numerous times, but I wouldn't in a million years compare that to what your average Haitian goes through. The thing is, even our poor would be considered rich over there.

 

[Alceste]

People that are really starving will eat anything. I have been there myself. I have been so hungry I would have eaten dirt.

Who do you think the largest contributor of UN funds is? HINT: It isn't Canada.

The US is in arrears with their UN budget funding to the tune of $771,000. Japan made the largest payment in 2008 - nearly double the contribution of the US. Canada's contribution was about a third of that paid by the US despite the fact our population is one tenth the size. You paid $0.72. I paid $2.21. Your average Japanese person paid $3.16.

So you're still whining about being out of pocket less than a dollar for the cause of global citizenship, despite the fact you are $4000 in the hole for military spending, just on America's needless wars.

Anything else you want to be corrected on?

http://www.globalpolicy.org/images/pdfs/images/pdfs/Regular_Budget_Payments_of_Largest_Payers.pdf

 

[Gabethewiking]

This, pretty much. I've gone weeks without food (non-consecutively, fortunately), lived much of my childhood (and a short bit as an adult) homeless, and have eaten grass and dirt to fight off hunger pain numerous times, but I wouldn't in a million years compare that to what your average Haitian goes through. The thing is, even our poor would be considered rich over there.

I wanted to make a comparison here, I visited Sweden not to long ago and after checking some stats and experiencing the country (was over in Norway as well), I realized something.... They do not have poverty...

Actually, what they call "poor" is a middle class citizen here in the U.S.. Which is odd, but never mind that, not relevant of course, it is interesting that you consider us rich and "them" poor, and I just do not understand why... Why would you say that and how is it relevant to this? What is the point, do you need to say that because it makes you feel better about yourself?

 

[enchanted_one1975]

...despite the fact you are $4000 in the hole for military spending...

I don't know what kind of hand out program you are on, but I pay a heck of a lot more than $4,000.00 per year in taxes. Couple that with the fact that I have been gainfully employed and paying taxes since I was 14. (That means I have been paying taxes for 20 years...since before most of those here that claim to know it all were even born.) How does that put me in the hole? I am very interested...maybe it's the new math I keep hearing about that puts me in the hole.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I don't know what kind of hand out program you are on, but I pay a heck of a lot more than $4,000.00 per year in taxes. Couple that with the fact that I have been gainfully employed and paying taxes since I was 14. (That means I have been paying taxes for 20 years...since before most of those here that claim to know it all were even born.) How does that put me in the hole? I am very interested...maybe it's the new math I keep hearing about that puts me in the hole.

I think her point was that the United States' debt due to military spending works out to $4000 per taxpayer (or maybe per person - not sure about that part).

 

[enchanted_one1975]

I think her point was that the United States' debt due to military spending works out to $4000 per taxpayer (or maybe per person - not sure about that part).

However you look at it, I pay way more than that in taxes every year so I don't owe it as she claims. I would be willing to bet that I pay more taxes in a year than many of the folks posting in this thread make in a year. That pretty much means I am paying my share and yours (for those that actually live in the US).

 

[KatNotKathy]

However you look at it, I pay way more than that in taxes every year so I don't owe it as she claims. I would be willing to bet that I pay more taxes in a year than many of the folks posting in this thread make in a year. That pretty much means I am paying my share and yours (for those that actually live in the US).

You may pay more than $4000, but that's only the individual cost of the wars, not individual total tax burden

 

[dust1n]

However you look at it, I pay way more than that in taxes every year so I don't owe it as she claims. I would be willing to bet that I pay more taxes in a year than many of the folks posting in this thread make in a year. That pretty much means I am paying my share and yours (for those that actually live in the US).

Give me free education and resources to do something great, and I will.

 

[KatNotKathy]

I wanted to make a comparison here, I visited Sweden not to long ago and after checking some stats and experiencing the country (was over in Norway as well), I realized something.... They do not have poverty...

Yeah, Scandinavian countries in general are very good at dealing with their poverty problems. Not like we'll ever get anything similar. Given the ****-fit people had over health reform, think of what would happen if we tried any real welfare measures

Actually, what they call "poor" is a middle class citizen here in the U.S.. Which is odd, but never mind that, not relevant of course, it is interesting that you consider us rich and "them" poor, and I just do not understand why... Why would you say that and how is it relevant to this? What is the point, do you need to say that because it makes you feel better about yourself?

Because it's extremely relevant. Nation-wide poverty obviously correlates with shoddy infrastructure, which is why the earthquake hit them so badly in the first place. The quake itself wasn't really that extreme. We've had worse ones up here in the states that barely damaged anything, but because they're too poor to afford modern well-constructed buildings, even a small earthquake in Haiti can kill thousands. Their poverty is relevant because that's the real reason they're in such a mess right now.

It has nothing to do with feeling better about myself, and I don't even know how you could have reached that conclusion.

 

[TurkeyOnRye]

Is anyone ready to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Haiti yet?

 

[KatNotKathy]

Is anyone ready to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Haiti yet?

Yes. It's great to see so many different countries coming together to help. I was kind of shocked by Bangladesh's contribution, considering when I was a kid my church was always having fundraisers for some charity there. I really don't know anything about the place myself (though I can point it out on a map at least), but if it really is as poor of a country as I've been lead to believe, them helping so much really means that much more.

 

[enchanted_one1975]

Give me free education and resources to do something great, and I will.

I never got a free education. I had to work for everything. I did not take advantage of the Montgomery GI bill so the US Government did not send me to college. Nothing has been a handout.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I never got a free education. I had to work for everything.

Even elementary school?

I did not take advantage of the Montgomery GI bill so the US Government did not send me to college. Nothing has been a handout.

Hmm. Personally, I consider benefits like that to be part of a soldier's compensation, like his salary... or I suppose for a better analogy, like an end-of-year bonus in the private sector. If you took it, it wouldn't have been a handout, IMO.