[Karle]

Poor Lives Matter. At least I have not heard about it yet.

I think the corona lockdowns and so on are the worst racism at all.

There was a talkshow (Anne Will) on German TV lately where a guest (Nida Rumelin) mentioned that the Government's corona restrictions like lockdowns are the reason why around 30 million people in poor countries will starve to death. Small business going broke, supply chains destroyed, no medical supplies and so on.

I was shocked. Most others were not.

The UN states even a higher number: 135 million deaths in poor countries as consequence of corona restrictions worldwide.

That is what I call extreme racism: Doing everything to save (a comparably small number of) people in the Western countries, and passing over with a shrug death and destruction in the third world.

Where are the activists?

[Ibon]

Poor Lives Matter. At least I have not heard about it yet.

I think the corona lockdowns and so on are the worst racism at all.

There was a talkshow (Anne Will) on German TV lately where a guest (Nida Rumelin) mentioned that the Government's corona restrictions like lockdowns are the reason why around 30 million people in poor countries will starve to death. Small business going broke, supply chains destroyed, no medical supplies and so on.

I was shocked. Most others were not.

The UN states even a higher number: 135 million deaths in poor countries as consequence of corona restrictions worldwide.

That is what I call extreme racism: Doing everything to save (a comparably small number of) people in the Western countries, and passing over with a shrug death and destruction in the third world.

Where are the activists?

It is elitism not racism. We are overdo for the poor and working class to unite against this common enemy of a growing 2 class society. The way you do that is to bring under one roof all the movements that are today often split on opposite sides of the political divide. Being US centric here for a moment, The BLM movement on the left has a counter part in the poor rural white population who are suffering from drug addiction and disenfranchisement. Both groups have suffered from the elitism that rewards the rich and allows the disparity to grow.

The challenge is for a leader or party or movement to emerge that can bring these groups under 1 roof. First is to practice this inclusiveness. So for example, instead of saying ALl Lives Matter or Poor Lives Matter as apposed to Black Lives Matter you acknowledge the plight of the BLM movement but expand the tent by inviting more in. Not a binary choice of BLM vs PLM but acknowledging all of the disenfranchised as valid. WE are so conditioned to think in binary terms that it is sometimes hard to practice being inclusive.

Your post asks a good question. The solution is not easy but it is possible.

I am predicting that as old calcified baby boomers die off that the generation that replaces them, those who have been exposed to greater diversity and who have also tasted the first bitter pills of the growing disparity of wealth and the rise of elitism, that they will address this question your raise more effectively than the generation currently in power.

Alot of obsolete baby boomers have to die first. Time is a better agent to do this then Covid19 . hahaha

Also remember that as the disparity between the have and have nots grow this in itself creates an unsupportable status quo. The very elite are trying everything to harness this instability by keeping the disenfranchised on opposite sides fighting each other. The solution is a movement that can expose this and unify the working class and the poor.

Do not misinterpret what I am saying as an advocation of socialism and the working class rising in some Marxist wet dream. That is exactly how the current baby boomers want to peg everything into binary extremes. Addressing the inequity of the poor and working class is not an endorsement of socialism but it does include a robust set of social, financial and political reforms. My generation (I am 64 years old) is not capable of this unfortunately.

[JuanP]

What a great question! The answer to me is very simple. There is no Poor Lives Matter because that would make a lot of sense, and most humans don't do things that make sense most of the time. Doing things that make sense goes against human nature. Why don't people breed sustainably? Same reason! Why don't people stop consuming things they don't need? Same reason again. Why don't people stop destroying the only known biosphere in this universe that can support our species? Can you guess the answer by now?

[dissident]

People who pointed out that all lives matter were murdered for their statements. You are dealing with zealot lunatics using some token moral hook to get their way. All those public personalities who engaged in apologia for these lunatics by making assertions such as "that's not the point" are scumbags.

[yellowcanoe]

Poor Lives Matter. At least I have not heard about it yet.

I think the corona lockdowns and so on are the worst racism at all.

There was a talkshow (Anne Will) on German TV lately where a guest (Nida Rumelin) mentioned that the Government's corona restrictions like lockdowns are the reason why around 30 million people in poor countries will starve to death. Small business going broke, supply chains destroyed, no medical supplies and so on.

I was shocked. Most others were not.

The UN states even a higher number: 135 million deaths in poor countries as consequence of corona restrictions worldwide.

That is what I call extreme racism: Doing everything to save (a comparably small number of) people in the Western countries, and passing over with a shrug death and destruction in the third world.

Where are the activists?

Activists in Western countries are fixated on the idea of moving refugees and poor people from third world countries to first world countries. Unfortunately the need far outweighs the ability of first world countries to absorb migrants. A few years back your country at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis took in 1 million migrants -- an extremely generous decision as absorbing so many migrants in such a short time period placed a great strain on the country. However, it really didn't have any impact on the overall number of refugees in the world. My recollection at the time is that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees was dealing with roughly 60 million refugees. That number has continued to grow despite the efforts of first world countries to sponsor more refugees and UNHCR now report that they are dealing with 80 million refugees.

[Tanada]

People who pointed out that all lives matter were murdered for their statements. You are dealing with zealot lunatics using some token moral hook to get their way. All those public personalities who engaged in apologia for these lunatics by making assertions such as "that's not the point" are scumbags.

+infinity

[mmasters]

Poor Lives Matter. At least I have not heard about it yet.

I think the corona lockdowns and so on are the worst racism at all.

There was a talkshow (Anne Will) on German TV lately where a guest (Nida Rumelin) mentioned that the Government's corona restrictions like lockdowns are the reason why around 30 million people in poor countries will starve to death. Small business going broke, supply chains destroyed, no medical supplies and so on.

I was shocked. Most others were not.

The UN states even a higher number: 135 million deaths in poor countries as consequence of corona restrictions worldwide.

That is what I call extreme racism: Doing everything to save (a comparably small number of) people in the Western countries, and passing over with a shrug death and destruction in the third world.

Where are the activists?

The economic system we have is elitist in nature, an outgrowth of the king's banking system established in Europe. The problem is with human nature this is the best system we have... The reason why there is no activism amongst the poor is they are simply in survival mode and the middle and upper classes mostly look down upon those that do little to better themselves. The reality of living can be harsh, especially at the lower levels, but it's always been this way. It's not a problem that the government can solve in any sustainable way. There is no utopia for everyone aside from the occasional prosperity periods that happen during economic cycles. Most everyone can get along when times are good but when things go wrong that's the true litmus test of a person's worth. The reality of the world of human nature is greed, selfishness, envy, predator and prey, sink or swim, dog eat dog and it's like this everywhere in the world. Best learn, accept reality for what it is and help out with what you can help out with.

[Newfie]

Well IMHO the answer is simply that poor lives do NOT matter. Never have, never will. That is a basic biological function built into the human gene.

The evidence is simply that throughout humanities history there have been poorer people, easily for over 4 thousand years. If we cared to fix that “problem” we would have. There have been small exceptions here and there but even then the human value was relegated to the tribe, and did not extend outside the tribe.

How one defines poor is not uniform. Is a person living in a West European ghetto poor compared to one of Ibon's villagers? What constitutes rich and poor? For a timely reference look only to Dickens Christmas Carol, its a nice morality play but effectively changed little.

Where else would you get foot soldiers for the American Civil War, or Child labor making your fancy duds? Look also to the deaths within Germany, Russia, and China or caused by Belgium, they caused little uproar within the country at the time, mostly they were embraces. To the greater tribe, taken as a while, the poor are not a problem, they are a feature

When viewed with sufficient psychological distance, to an anthropologist from the stars, the human species are a mean, nasty dirty, greedy critter who is relatively intelligent and very flexible and resilient. Sort of like a super rat.

People who understand this fundamental truth have great power for they are unfettered in their quests.

[Ibon]

When viewed with sufficient psychological distance, to an anthropologist from the stars, the human species are a mean, nasty dirty, greedy critter who is relatively intelligent and very flexible and resilient. Sort of like a super rat.

Humane serfdom as a solution? which is an extension of where we are already heading.

[Ibon]

People who pointed out that all lives matter were murdered for their statements. You are dealing with zealot lunatics using some token moral hook to get their way. All those public personalities who engaged in apologia for these lunatics by making assertions such as "that's not the point" are scumbags.

+infinity

Trump derangement syndrom goes both ways.

[JuanP]

People who pointed out that all lives matter were murdered for their statements. You are dealing with zealot lunatics using some token moral hook to get their way. All those public personalities who engaged in apologia for these lunatics by making assertions such as "that's not the point" are scumbags.

Thanks for the laugh! After I heard that people saying that ALL live matter were accused of being racist, got bullied and cancelled, I started saying it all the time, just to fuck with those racist woke assholes, particularly when the BLM issue is brought up by a woke person member of the cancel culture. They absolutely hate it when I say that, but I always win the argument by folllowing the rules of logic and using common sense, which tends to make them furious.

Now, I can afford to do this because they CAN'T cancel me. I have absolutely no online presence, I don't give a fuck what other people think about me, and I don't need or want anything from anyone in particular.. If anybody gets really stupid about it, I tell them to go fuck themselves. I'm just really mean sometimes.

[Newfie]

When viewed with sufficient psychological distance, to an anthropologist from the stars, the human species are a mean, nasty dirty, greedy critter who is relatively intelligent and very flexible and resilient. Sort of like a super rat.

Humane serfdom as a solution? which is an extension of where we are already heading.

There are many “solutions.” Few of them are attractive, none available that I can think of.

[mmasters]

The only reason you hear about BLM is they are a tool of the PC liberal media and serve as a divide and conquer strategy of the American public by the elite.

[Outcast_Searcher]

Poor Lives Matter. At least I have not heard about it yet.

So you've never heard of the left? Or especially the far left?

What color is the sky in your world?

The proper policy can certainly be argued, but acting like the poor has no advocacy is madness on steroids, What's next to bolster you point -- pretending like the "war on poverty" doesn't exist, and all the social programs and wealth transfer programs don't exist?

[mmasters]

Poor Lives Matter. At least I have not heard about it yet.

So you've never heard of the left? Or especially the far left?

What color is the sky in your world?

The proper policy can certainly be argued, but acting like the poor has no advocacy is madness on steroids, What's next to bolster you point -- pretending like the "war on poverty" doesn't exist, and all the social programs and wealth transfer programs don't exist?

To be fair, he was talking about the virus's economic effects on third world countries, not first world.

[Plantagenet]

So you've never heard of the left? Or especially the far left?

The left and especially the far left don't care about poor people.

They SAY they care about poor people but you have to look at what happens in countries run by the left and especially the far left.

Take Venezuela for example....the country has perhaps the largest fossil fuel reserves in the world and it should be a wealthy country.....but after the left took over they've gone from being one of the wealthiest countries in Latin American to one of the poorest. There are no medical supplies in the stores...there's no nothing in the stores....even food is rationed. Jobs have been lost across the country. There is starvation and even famine.

The same thing has happened in Cuba.....it went from being the wealthiest country in the Caribbean to the second poorest.

Again....you can't just naively take what the left and especially the far left say at face value......you have to actually look at the results of their policies...

why-are-venezuelans-starving


Starving Venezuelans going through the garbage searching food food

Cheers!

[mmasters]

So you've never heard of the left? Or especially the far left?

The left and especially the far left don't care about poor people.

They SAY they care about poor people but you have to look at what happens in countries run by the left and especially the far left.

Take Venezuela for example....the country has perhaps the largest fossil fuel reserves in the world and it should be a wealthy country.....but after the left took over they've gone from being one of the wealthiest countries in Latin American to one of the poorest. There are no medical supplies in the stores...there's no nothing in the stores....even food is rationed. Jobs have been lost across the country. There is starvation and even famine.

The same thing has happened in Cuba.....it went from being the wealthiest country in the Caribbean to the second poorest.

Again....you can't just naively take what the left and especially the far left say at face value......you have to actually look at the results of their policies...

why-are-venezuelans-starving


Starving Venezuelans going through the garbage searching food food

Cheers!

I don't think it's really a left or right thing. It's elitism where more complex humans are taking advantage of less complex humans though the tentacles of the economic system. Pretty much all empires have done this, the British being a good example with India and Africa. Now the US with Asia and South America.

Years ago I went to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and was grossed out by how many slums there were. And when I went shopping there I saw many US items costing 3 to 4 times as much as people in the US pay. It's a racket and not many people are able to see it for what it is.

[Plantagenet]

I don't think it's really a left or right thing.

I have to respectfully disagree. Its pretty clear when capitalist countries like Cuba or Venezuela are taken over by leftists and then plunge into poverty that the change to a "far left" government was disastrous for the people of those countries.

Or you can look at North and South Korea, where the exact same ethnic group of people where divided into groups....one put under leftist rule in North Korea and one put under non-leftist rule in South Korea, and by every measure there is more poverty in North Korea. In fact the people in the north are stunted.....they don't get enough food so they are actually shorter then people in the south because they don't get enough of the right kind of food to eat.

Years ago I went to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and was grossed out by how many slums there were. And when I went shopping there I saw many US items costing 3 to 4 times as much as people in the US pay. It's a racket and not many people are able to see it for what it is.

I envy you your trip to Brazil. I've never been there but I'd love to see it.

I agree with you that an "elitist" or incompetent or crooked government can mismanage and ruin any county under any system.....even a country as beautiful as Brazil can be mismanaged.

But many of the poorest and worst governed countries in the world right now are under far-leftist control.....and the people lying there hate their far leftist governments. Just look at eastern Europe where they all overthrew their far-leftist governments as soon as they could when the Soviet Union collapsed----and of course the USSR is yet another failed far leftist regime that mismanaged its own economy and so collapsed.

Cheers!

[mmasters]

I don't think it's really a left or right thing.

I have to respectfully disagree. Its pretty clear when capitalist countries like Cuba or Venezuela are taken over by leftists and then plunge into poverty that the change to a "far left" government was disastrous for the people of those countries.

Or you can look at North and South Korea, where the exact same ethnic group of people where divided into groups....one put under leftist rule in North Korea and one put under non-leftist rule in South Korea, and by every measure there is more poverty in North Korea. In fact the people in the north are stunted.....they don't get enough food so they are actually shorter then people in the south because they don't get enough of the right kind of food to eat.

Years ago I went to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and was grossed out by how many slums there were. And when I went shopping there I saw many US items costing 3 to 4 times as much as people in the US pay. It's a racket and not many people are able to see it for what it is.

I envy you your trip to Brazil. I've never been there but I'd love to see it.

I agree with you that an "elitist" or incompetent or crooked government can mismanage and ruin any county under any system.....even a country as beautiful as Brazil can be mismanaged.

But many of the poorest and worst governed countries in the world right now are under far-leftist control.....and the people lying there hate their far leftist governments. Just look at eastern Europe where they all overthrew their far-leftist governments as soon as they could when the Soviet Union collapsed----and of course the USSR is yet another failed far leftist regime that mismanaged its own economy and so collapsed.

Cheers!

I would say leftist is the preferred model by those pulling the strings globally, it allows the rich more power and control then the right versions (IMO the right is allowed in the US because of innovation it produces). The political system is an influence but I don't think it is the root of the matter. The money system is the root of the matter... but then again this came about as a result of human nature so it's kind of like good luck trying to fix this feature lol.

[JuanP]

So you've never heard of the left? Or especially the far left?

The left and especially the far left don't care about poor people.

They SAY they care about poor people but you have to look at what happens in countries run by the left and especially the far left.

Take Venezuela for example....the country has perhaps the largest fossil fuel reserves in the world and it should be a wealthy country.....but after the left took over they've gone from being one of the wealthiest countries in Latin American to one of the poorest. There are no medical supplies in the stores...there's no nothing in the stores....even food is rationed. Jobs have been lost across the country. There is starvation and even famine.

The same thing has happened in Cuba.....it went from being the wealthiest country in the Caribbean to the second poorest.

Again....you can't just naively take what the left and especially the far left say at face value......you have to actually look at the results of their policies...

why-are-venezuelans-starving


Starving Venezuelans going through the garbage searching food food

Cheers!

That pretty thick wad of Venezuelan cash that guy is holding on the picture is quite likely worth less than US$1! I remember needing more than twice that many high denomination Argentinian Peso bills to buy a pack of Marlboro cigarettes in Buenos Aires in the 80's, which I could also get for US$1.