Are you moved?

I didn't think I would be, but yes, I am.

This stuff has been happening for millenia. The solutions will be hard to accept. Changes in agriculture and even abandonment of regions may have to occur in Africa, and God knows how to deal with Yugoslavia. I think that the EU is going to have to step up and be the major player. Man, we have it good here.

It's a funny thing. Back in the sixties, there was a movement called the peace corps that created global consciousness, and the desire to help our fellow humans. This was before the internet made us aware of other nations really. Now, we are mostly conscious of or world's problems, yet the only organization I know that is truly proactive in a real humanitarian sense seems to be the US armed forces? Why? Granted they have been used for unjust causes in the past, but lately they seem to have a larger role as humanitarian disaster relief than anyone other than the red cross.

rightfully so in peacetime i think. considering how much money we spend on our military, if there is no war to be fought, put em to use otherwise.

Exactly - here you have a force of healthy, go-get 'em young people, with rtechnical skills and already organized into highly mobile, efficient units. In the future, Force Projection may equal Humanitarian Protection. Which puts me in mind of a Martha Washington comic issue, where the global UN military unit is fighting the global Burger Corporations in Brazil, to save the last rainforests from being cut over for pasture.

I was most moved by the AP photo of the Somali street thugs dragging the naked carcass of a 28 year-old American husband and father through the streets by a rope tied around his left ankle. Remember that one? The artist neglected to include that one in this gallery. He was part of a humanitarian mission too. We got enough problems right here. Let's take care of our own.

That's one man compared to thousands, hundreds of thousands. Sure, that soldier's death was tragic, but is it more tragic than those pictured because he was American? But, actually, I am moved by neither. I'm sitting in front of my computer with a full stomach, fat, contented, adn in my element. I'd be the ultimate of self absorbed if I thought it was possible to absorb so much.

i am moved to ask why we humans procreate no matter what our situation. we can be starving, beaten, stalked, miserable, depressed, insane, and enslaved, and we're always looking to add more people to the soup.

fuck you guys. at least the last few entries. "take care of our own" that's bullshit. take care of our fucking own. i'm not doubting that there are needs in the U.S. but i find it disgusing that people feel the need to deny other people help just because they live somewhere else, look a certain way, or goodness knows what else. i don't understand why the idea to just help people regardless of whether or not they are deemed "deserving" in our own eyes. We are lucky fucking bastards to be sitting above the rest of the world and waving our wands of superiority and offering help or contemplations of help to all of the people in the world who need something that we may or may not feel like offering them. as for people procreating. ever think that the more kids you have the more money you might be able to bring in? ever think about the prospect of not being able to access birth control? and of course they should stop having sex... well when everything else in your life sucks you might as well get rid of one of the only pleasures that you have. why? because the americans told us to do it. as for the armed forces in all of their glory. let us go out and promote our american ideals. let us tell these people the "american way" which will undoubtedly solve all of their problems. oh wait... and then it's no longer convenient to spread the word of the great americans here, so we'll run over to some other needy place and spread our good fortune there. fuck us all!! we're no more deserving of our help than anyone else... in fact we may be less deserving.

the "take care of your own" mentality implies the piss poor human spirit so many seem to lack, a failure to look at the big picture....so many americans have their individualistic, egotistical heads up their ass they can barely see past that one tree in front of them...muchless the whole forest. i admit to not being saint, i admit i haven't done as much as i could for others, be it starving kids in south central or south america.......but to isolate ourselves behind a curtain of "it's been happening for centuries", as if the past somehow justifies the present is just silly. In this day and age, with our enormous wealth, no one should ever have to worry about where their next meal comes from. i don't care how idealistic that sounds and you can toss your ayn rand in my face but it goes beyond charity... i wish i was shooting blanks

That's easy enough to accomplish. Shooting Blanks, that is. If you are willing to suffer a little.

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck you, bell_jar "as for people procreating. ever think that the more kids you have the more money you might be able to bring in? ever think about the prospect of not being able to access birth control? and of course they should stop having sex... well when everything else in your life sucks you might as well get rid of one of the only pleasures that you have. why? because the americans told us to do it. " yea. making more money is always a good reason to have children. fuck you. this has absolutely nothing to do with telling people to get rid of their only pleasure. oh, so fucked up. and i was talking about humans. not 'other' people, 'foreign' people or whatever vs. americans. i mean everyone. myself included.

if you would like to be charitable and "help your own", then you may help tornado-ravaged fort worth by sending me all your money, liquor, drugs, cd's, and any spare children you may have around that are strong enough to work or fat enough for slaughter. god bless you.

oh pay no mind heather.....i am not evern sure i understand what the hell he is talking about in that paragraph. He seems to jump from the topics of abstinence, possible tax cuts from bearing childeren, birth control availability and american imperialism ....???

first of all... he is a she... i can elaborate if you'd like... so as to demonstrate what the hell i am talking about. in the context of the conversation that was going on a assummed that you were insulting the third world countries for having children. speaking generally the reason third world countries have such a problem with people having children is because the more children they have the more work and money can be made. many, many, many people assume that these people are ignorant because they are having children when they are so poor, to the extent of starvation. again generally speaking the availability of birth control is not extremely high in third world countries. and there are religious rationalities that prohibit its use in some cases too. and again we americans stand by in our superiority and proclaim to all the third world countries that they are only making it worse by having children. "don't you see... if you stop having children they won't be taking away from your resources... you won't starve." Just trying to make a point. I was judging your judgments. I'm so much better you see.

"yea. making more money is always a good reason to have children. fuck you." in my defensive nature of being attacked i would like to respond to this statement. we don't know these people's situations. i am going to guess that neither you nor anyone else here has been a starving child in Africa or Asia or even the U.S. we may have gone hungry, but we don't know the truth about starving without options. we don't know what it is like to have to put our children to work when they are only two or three years old in order to feed them or me or my dying mother. so fuck you for your condescending nature.

i don't think i saw heather specify a region, country or culture anywhere in her comments. She was making an all inclusive statement of which i wholly agree with. It seems your argument is all over the map and vague. I have been known to have those kinds of arguments, so I am sympathetic to a certain extent. i have also felt the whips of the general populus here for being such a butt head, so all I can say is.....bring out the cage, it's been a while....!!!!! my apologies for thinking you had testicles and peni.....the way you were waving your (now) metaphorical dick around led me to assume you were a dude. alright i'll shut up

my arguments tend to be vague... i don't deny that. however, i don't feel that i should be criticized for making the assumption that heather was speaking of third world countries. her comment would have been completely random had it not been taken in the context of a third world country. she may have her randomness. i can't deny it to her. as for the penis thing. i think your comment was oh... so... sexist. women can have strong opinions too. i know that it isn't something men want to hear...but...

i definitely have my random-ness. but i would argue that my comment was not completely random, although at the moment i randomly don't feel like backing that up. "in my defensive nature of being attacked i would like to respond to this statement. we don't know these people's situations. i am going to guess that neither you nor anyone else here has been a starving child in Africa or Asia or even the U.S. we may have gone hungry, but we don't know the truth about starving without options. we don't know what it is like to have to put our children to work when they are only two or three years old in order to feed them or me or my dying mother. so fuck you for your condescending nature." i am wondering if you do not see the twisted logic in this.

i am not denying that women can have strong opinions. I should know, i married one of the strongest women I know. If anything, i expected better argument from a woman.......but that opinion comes from a low male ego and self esteem..... the assology of assumptions Ass- the nether regions, buttus fartus stinkus You- creator and facilitator of buttus stinkus. Me- general, non specifiying...anyone could be the possible recipient of stinkus from your buttus... is that the squeek squeek of the cage i hear being rolled out of the barn......YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

i agree with heather, but i also agree with belljar, none of us could ever have even the slightest clue as to what it would be like to be in a totally impoverished state. even when i was nineteen and living on canned beets and 59 cent burritos, i still had my upper middle class upbringing under my belt. i have never experienced what it was like to be truly impoverished. i can't tell you that i would abstain from sex, i can't tell you that i would do something specific to improve my situation, because i just don't know. my mom was a big fan of the "never judge a man..." phrase, and i try to live by that concept as much as i can. none of us know who or what we would be if our lives had started out differently.

i see the logic dear heather-girl. however, i make no judgement on the logic, for i have no room to make such a judgement coming from a my middle-class upbringing. agatha, you said it so much better than i could or would have.

i agree (though, it seems like i'm arguing) my original words were a question. why. i don't understand. i know that. that's what i was saying. my life is pretty amazing. i really, really want to have children but i question it every time i think about it. and, yes, i also realize that somehow it is a luxury to have this space to question things. i ask why do WE. not, why do 'those bad people'...etc.

i was agreeing with agatha

i ask that you go back and look to see just how out of context your statement was: 1: are you moved? 2: yes i am moved by this horrible picture 3: me too! it is awful. why is the world so terrible? 4: not me, i am a bastard. 5: blah blah about the armed forces. 6: i am moved to ask why we humans procreate no matter what our situation. 7: we are selfish bad people for not being moved. 8: yes we are. and yet you meant that you were just asking why it is that you wanted to have a child. mrs. out-of-context.

bob and weave! jab! jab! fuck the self-righteous indignation! take her down with the uppercut!

'dear heather-girl' i need to stop replying now

WAHOO!!!!!!! float like a sting and butterfly like a bee. er....?

i ask that you go back and see that i don't care how out of context my statement was. raisin bran i replyed to the original question patrick asked. "are you moved?" 'i am moved to ask.. blah blah blah' fenestration and this- "and yet you meant that you were just asking why it is that you wanted to have a child." -nope eraser i like rain

cool, she's a fiery one.....you are going to work out well around here. Please see the nurse for your shots and report back to base immediately.

You are all stalking me! Sheep!

I would thank Lucy if she was around for telling about nicorette gum when flying,it kept me from being arrested.

Getting interesting around here again... figures, as I get ready to pack off to Philly and away from a computer... I can't wait to see the reaction to this: Everyone should stop having kids. Let's skip a generation. Let's declare a moratorium on baby-making for 20 years. It's probably the most painless way to avoid having to chow down on soylent green. I would also like to point out that Bell_jar states that none of us assume to know what it's like to be starving, but then doesn't get that she assumes that bad ol' American Imperialism is solely to blame. (I have to stick up for Heather because she is the only Sorabjiite I have ever communicated with besides email and here.)

HAVE TO? anyway, i thank you. i think the whole thing just got silly

well duh. Have you forgotten where you are?