4 ms·

> Is basic human empathy such a bad reason to try and help? If the help does more harm than good in the long run, then obviously yes. Whether a particular cour

• chris_wot 14y ago
  I wonder what you would say if you were that starving child? Would you feel it is best to just die from lack of food because of the long term benefits of doing so?
  • rimantas 14y ago
    You don't get. That's the problem: free food does not solve the starving child problem. It just creates more starving children.
    • chris_wot 14y ago
      That's a fallacy. "Free food" does not create more starving children. Whilst some famines are caused by over-population, it is far more likely that they are caused by other factors such as genocide campaigns, civil wars, refugee flows and episodes of extreme violence and state collapse. Of course, if your solution to the "starving children" problem is to let them die of starvation, then you indeed have a final solution. And what a solution! I am interested in where you are coming from. Personally, I would hate to look a starving child in the eye and deny them food to keep them alive. I would hate to look their parents in the eye and tell them that because they have four children that they aren't worthwhile keeping alive and they should drop dead from malnutrition. So I do get it. My question remains the same - what would you say to a starving child? Or their parents as the child lay dying?
      • genwin 14y ago
        Free food almost certainly causes more starving children in any country whose main religion/culture demands "be fruitful and multiply". > Whilst some famines are caused by over-population, it is far more likely that they are caused by other factors such as genocide campaigns, civil wars, refugee flows and episodes of extreme violence and state collapse. It's also likely that all those other factors are greatly exacerbated by overpopulation, if not outright caused by it. Jared Diamond's book Collapse makes just that argument for the Rwandan Genocide event. Wikipedia: "Diamond theorized that population pressure was the main cause of the genocide. ... Rwanda's population density in 1990 was 760 people per square mile, one of the highest in the world. The population grew at over 3% a year. By 1985 all the land except the national parks had been cultivated." > My question remains the same - what would you say to a starving child? Or their parents as the child lay dying? If I was personally involved then I'd have a hard time not giving aid, even as I was confident I was making the problem worse in the long run. These age-old questions show the reason we insulate our leaders from problems on the ground, the better to allow them to make decisions that do the greatest good.
        • 7952 14y ago
          How do you know that limiting food aid would have the desired effect of limiting population growth? Do you think that people stop having sex just because their children die? I would argue that high population growth is a consequence of excessive mortality rather than the cause. This is evident in the drop in birth rate that tends to accompany development. This has even happened in countries that have traditionally objected to contraception (Italy).
          • chris_wot 14y ago
            He can't know that. To be clear, overpopulation is a problem - but the solution is not to stop trying to save those who are dying!
          • genwin 14y ago
            You can search for the article "Why Foreign Aid Is Hurting Africa", which says "Aid is an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster." I can't prove that aid including its free food form contributes to population growth. I'm confident that it does from my studies. > This is evident in the drop in birth rate that tends to accompany development. I would argue that development follows a dropping birth rate, not the other way around. Poor people with 4+ kids can't contribute to development or otherwise improve their future. They're too busy each day focusing on basic survival. Unlike many African countries, Italy solved their cultural/religion problem. Now they largely ignore the Catholic Church on contraceptive issues.
            • chris_wot 14y ago
              Make up your mind. Is it a problem with their religion, or is it a problem with free food for the starving?
              • genwin 14y ago
                There's no contradiction. Religion/culture is the root cause of the problem. Free food makes the problem worse.
• 7952 14y ago
  Catholic doctrine would teach that contraception does more harm than good. They, like you are measuring harm badly.