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  1. #1

    "But there are starving children in Africa"

    This seems to be the popular "go to" comment when you are talking about something that emotionally effects you, but isn't as significant as other issues.

    A good example of this comes up when discussing animal cruelty.

    See a newspaper article of a dog getting beat up because the owner was a sadistic asshole, and express your disgust verbally? "You shouldn't worry about that, because there are starving children in Africa".

    Comment that you are against glue trapping rodents because it's unnecessarily cruel and inhumane? "Who cares about pests when you have children in Syria dying".

    Funnily enough, the people who mention such children in worse situations usually bitch about even "lesser" things, how they had a bad day at work, or how their meal at a restaurant was substandard, etc.

    There are starving children in Africa - yeah? And? What does that have to do with my opinion about the issue in hand? Do global issues pertaining to famine and corrupt governments mean we should be silent about issues that affect us on an emotional level, which are smaller? Of course not. Children being bombed in a middle eastern country isn't going to change my opinion on issues like people being total f-wits to animals, or people being bitchy in the workplace. It is important having priorities, but that doesn't necessarily mean people should care about only one thing at any given time. I detest both cruelty to children and animals, but for some people who don't give a damn about the latter, this is somehow mutually exclusive??

    Some people say that people who complain about animal cruelty are self righteous - well, are they really? I can understand a PETA member who is full on vegan and proclaim meat eaters are evil animal abusers, they are definitely self righteous. But calling out someone being cruel when they are beating their own dog? Prolonging the suffering of an animal in a trap? I mean, isn't there a division somewhere between self righteousness and calling a spade a spade? Where is it?

    Those who say things like "but there are starving children in Africa" to someone who expresses concerns about animal cruelty might as well be saying "I don't care about animals, only human beings". At least that is being honest and not trying to force people into thinking they shouldn't worry about stuff like animal cruelty because humans are suffering. Isn't suffering bad regardless if humans are higher on the totem pole?

  2. #2
    Merely a Setback Sunseeker's Avatar
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    Most people don't care about other people's problems, and folks who use "Well you should worry about XXXXX instead!" are just people who don't care about any problems that they themselves are not vested in. They're assholes, they're just preachy condescending assholes.
    Human progress isn't measured by industry. It's measured by the value you place on a life.

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  3. #3
    Abortion is another issue people like to mention (where it's irrelevant), even though they have absolutely no idea of the stance the person doing the complaining has on that. The complaint could be about any welfare issue.

    And I do find it funny with the glue traps. What, do they think the corpse will magically disappear? People will have to handle either a live animal in distress, or a dead one. And most of the time it's bloody and the trap full of urine and poop built up over time. They are unhygienic, cruel, and not even that effective - seems like they were made for sadistic people who don't give a shit if the animal suffers on it. I do not like them, and most of the heartless people who use them, but I concede they are a last resort for some people who don't necessarily want to brutally torture an animal. Then again, these things are banned in many places. They are illegal in Germany for example, and yet people get by without them if they have a rodent problem, so how should that be any different from someone in the US?

    One thing you didn't mention was people mentioning factory farming methods. The assumption is that people who complain about gratuitous, malicious cruelty are hypocrites because they eat meat. I'd like to know how people come to this conclusion when a) they do not know the person's eating habits b) where their food comes from/how it is treated and c) how they can link a controlled, direct action to something the average meat user has no control over.

  4. #4
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    Everyone likes to complain about everything for no reason. What about the kids in africa or women getting raped or people getting arrested over weed without a license and this can go on all night. Anything i say about me enjoying prime rib will always attract someone to complain about my satisfaction cause he or she can't afford a hard earned steak. I wouldn't lose sleep over it since im always around 50 year old men acting like kids complaining about lack of sleep or wife is not happy or bills and such, you really start not caring about anything anymore when you work for so many years.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by smrund View Post
    Most people don't care about other people's problems, and folks who use "Well you should worry about XXXXX instead!" are just people who don't care about any problems that they themselves are not vested in. They're assholes, they're just preachy condescending assholes.
    Not entirely true. I care about other people when I know I can make a difference, but sadly I have enough issues of my own to worry about. Not going to waste my time, energy and money helping someone I don't know when I have enough to deal with for myself and immediate family! Besides most the shit people are in dire straights with, they willing did it to themselves...

    As for the topic at hand, "I don't give a shit about the starving children in Africa", maybe these people should stop reproducing so much and place priority on bettering their living situation and society.
    Last edited by Khalus; 2014-07-19 at 06:47 PM.

  6. #6
    The Unstoppable Force Puupi's Avatar
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    @OP
    You whine on video game forums about people having double standards while there are starving children in Africa.....
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i've said i'd like to have one of those bad dragon dildos shaped like a horse, because the shape is nicer than human.
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i was talking about horse cock again, told him to look at your sig.

  7. #7
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    There are always starving children in Africa.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Wiseone View Post
    There are always starving children in Africa.
    They've been "starving" for decades. Fix it by either being a better species and stop populating mindlessly.
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  9. #9
    The Unstoppable Force Puupi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ToxTheWrecker View Post
    They've been "starving" for decades. Fix it by either being a better species and stop populating mindlessly.
    They are breeding pretty fast for starving people...... looking at the demographics of Nigeria and Ethiopia for example. That kind of growth is unnatural!
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i've said i'd like to have one of those bad dragon dildos shaped like a horse, because the shape is nicer than human.
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i was talking about horse cock again, told him to look at your sig.

  10. #10
    The assumption is that people who complain about gratuitous, malicious cruelty are hypocrites because they eat meat.
    Over there, perhaps.

    Our farms don't treat animals like shit.

    The only reason I still eat meat is because I know where I am getting it from.

  11. #11
    I Don't Work Here Endus's Avatar
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    First, my concern about any given subject in no way detracts or restricts my capacity for being concerned about other topics.

    Second, there's a clear difference between issues I can have an appreciable effect on, and those I can't. Focusing on the former isn't a bad thing.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by ToxTheWrecker View Post
    They've been "starving" for decades. Fix it by either being a better species and stop populating mindlessly.
    Quote Originally Posted by Puupi View Post
    They are breeding pretty fast for starving people...... looking at the demographics of Nigeria and Ethiopia for example. That kind of growth is unnatural!
    When 2/3 of your kids will die before adulthood, due to starvation and disease and violence, people naturally and instinctively react by having more children. It's an observable trend that's held true across human populations, regardless of culture, religion, or other circumstances. The one solid, reliable means to curb population growth is to drop child mortality rates down to near-first-world levels. Takes a generation or two, and population growth levels plateau.


  12. #12
    "But there are starving children in Africa"
    Ive said versions of this quote when I was working in a restaurant. The amount of food people waste and how often, blew my mind. Untouched bowls of fruit, full glasses of milk and juice, stacks of pancakes, burgers, whole meals in general, with a few bites and most of it ends up in the garbage.

    I hate this douchebag argument that "This is whining go out and DO something about it!" No I cant do anything about it, except throw it away knowing Im not a wasteful person and it fucking sucks because throwing away piles of food is not what I was taught to do. Yeah I invoke the starving children because Im grateful (and lucky) to have as much as I do.

  13. #13
    Titan Al Gorefiend's Avatar
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    I care more about animals in Africa than the humans there, as they're far more likely to cease to exist in the next hundred years without intervention.

    Sad but true, I have priorities. I don't think humans there are worthless, but the animals, both economically and environmentally, are way, way, WAY more important.

    Who else agrees with me? Just ask the prime minister of Tanzania, who declared poachers open season if it meant protecting elephants and rhinos.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Puupi View Post
    They are breeding pretty fast for starving people...... looking at the demographics of Nigeria and Ethiopia for example. That kind of growth is unnatural!
    This to.

    "If the children are starving, why do so many people continue to have children?" is my best counterargument.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Heidelstein View Post
    This seems to be the popular "go to" comment when you are talking about something that emotionally effects you, but isn't as significant as other issues.

    A good example of this comes up when discussing animal cruelty.

    See a newspaper article of a dog getting beat up because the owner was a sadistic asshole, and express your disgust verbally? "You shouldn't worry about that, because there are starving children in Africa".

    Comment that you are against glue trapping rodents because it's unnecessarily cruel and inhumane? "Who cares about pests when you have children in Syria dying".

    Funnily enough, the people who mention such children in worse situations usually bitch about even "lesser" things, how they had a bad day at work, or how their meal at a restaurant was substandard, etc.

    There are starving children in Africa - yeah? And? What does that have to do with my opinion about the issue in hand? Do global issues pertaining to famine and corrupt governments mean we should be silent about issues that affect us on an emotional level, which are smaller? Of course not. Children being bombed in a middle eastern country isn't going to change my opinion on issues like people being total f-wits to animals, or people being bitchy in the workplace. It is important having priorities, but that doesn't necessarily mean people should care about only one thing at any given time. I detest both cruelty to children and animals, but for some people who don't give a damn about the latter, this is somehow mutually exclusive??

    Some people say that people who complain about animal cruelty are self righteous - well, are they really? I can understand a PETA member who is full on vegan and proclaim meat eaters are evil animal abusers, they are definitely self righteous. But calling out someone being cruel when they are beating their own dog? Prolonging the suffering of an animal in a trap? I mean, isn't there a division somewhere between self righteousness and calling a spade a spade? Where is it?

    Those who say things like "but there are starving children in Africa" to someone who expresses concerns about animal cruelty might as well be saying "I don't care about animals, only human beings". At least that is being honest and not trying to force people into thinking they shouldn't worry about stuff like animal cruelty because humans are suffering. Isn't suffering bad regardless if humans are higher on the totem pole?
    That something's worse somewhere else, doesn't mean that everyone else should stop trying to improve their own situation.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Humbugged View Post
    I care more about animals in Africa than the humans there, as they're far more likely to cease to exist in the next hundred years without intervention.

    Sad but true, I have priorities. I don't think humans there are worthless, but the animals, both economically and environmentally, are way, way, WAY more important.

    Who else agrees with me? Just ask the prime minister of Tanzania, who declared poachers open season if it meant protecting elephants and rhinos.

    - - - Updated - - -



    This to.

    "If the children are starving, why do so many people continue to have children?" is my best counterargument.
    Doesn't most of them die before 40? Hell, do even half of them survive childhood?

    This is a common thing in poor countries or poor areas. People will get more kids for higher odds of one or more of them succeeding in something. Look through the entirety of human history, and you'll see how the poor or less well off often got a lot of kids.
    I don't know the eco-socionomic science around it though.

  15. #15
    Someone else has it worse or first world problems is one of the worst non-arguments people make. It's extremely condescending with how pointlessly dismissive it is. When someone says that they are basically trying to say "**** you" nine times out of ten.

    The easiest way to flip it around is to say "Guess I can't be happy either because someone else will always be happier than me".

  16. #16
    The Insane Aeula's Avatar
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    I'd care more about the dog personally.

    Couldn't give a rats ass about some African woman who couldn't keep her legs closed and the brats she spawned so they can steal food for her. Those twits off in Africa get freaking laptops from charity man, some people in my own country can't even afford laptops!

    Where as the dog owns nothing, it's completely innocent, it has no idea why it's being made to suffer by it's dickhole owner.

    Whenever someone begs for money for kids in Africa my response is always: 'At least they've got laptops'.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Humbugged View Post
    I care more about animals in Africa than the humans there, as they're far more likely to cease to exist in the next hundred years without intervention.

    Sad but true, I have priorities. I don't think humans there are worthless, but the animals, both economically and environmentally, are way, way, WAY more important.

    Who else agrees with me? Just ask the prime minister of Tanzania, who declared poachers open season if it meant protecting elephants and rhinos.
    I dunno, I think it's really two different issues. Human life is important, but poachers are off breaking the law knowing they could be shot for it. It's not the same as just slaughtering people for the hell of it.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Aeula View Post
    I'd care more about the dog personally.

    Couldn't give a rats ass about some African woman who couldn't keep her legs closed and the brats she spawned so they can steal food for her. Those twits off in Africa get freaking laptops from charity man, some people in my own country can't even afford laptops!

    Where as the dog owns nothing, it's completely innocent, it has no idea why it's being made to suffer by it's dickhole owner.

    Whenever someone begs for money for kids in Africa my response is always: 'At least they've got laptops'.
    I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about, but it doesn't sound like you do either.

  18. #18
    I hate to use this example -.- but in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (the book not the neutered movie), there's one line that says something along the lines of, " I'd never tell my kid that their problems didn't matter because someone else has it worse. Their problems are relevant to themselves and they could easily be just as bad as a problem someone else is facing."

    It's relevant.

  19. #19
    The Insane Aeula's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sibut View Post
    I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about, but it doesn't sound like you do either.
    Half a decade back there was this Add campaign to raise money to give kids in Africa laptops. It pissed me off. A lot. I've never taken any form of crisis in third world country's seriously after that. So whenever someone says about kids starving in Africa I tell them that at least they've still got laptops.

  20. #20
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    sounds cruel,
    But I quite frankly don't give a shit about starving children in Africa, When there are starving and homeless people in my own country.
    Charity begins at home, before we start trying to fix other peoples problems, we should look at fixing our own. Billions of UK £ are given away in foreign aid every year, and that imo is not only wrong but down right disgusting when we have our own citizen going to foodbanks, and living on the streets.

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