Do people in "undeveloped" parts of the world really need our help?

[Lliam]

We are constantly told that people in "3rd world" countries need our assistance with food and medicine to survive. Is that true?

It's true that modern medicines have had miraculous results against certain parasites, infections and diseases. But it's also true that indigenous people had natural remedies for many of those for centuries and even millenia. Pharmaceutical companies learned about them from indigenous people, then patented them. And they denigrated naturopathic practitioners while touting "modern" Western medicine for profit.

Producing excess food to export to "undeveloped" countries is a pure scam. Nobody GIVES food away. To corporations, those places are untapped markets to be exploited. I won't go into how the whole process works.

Anyway, I just heard that India's population recently exceeded that of China. It occurred to me to research the % of people in those countries who live traditional lifestyles in rural (undeveloped) parts of those countries.

The numbers I found are not up to date, but they are interesting.

In China, where the population exceeds 1.4 billion people, over 50% are rural.

In India, over 70% of the population is rural.

On the continent of Africa, with a population of over 1.2 billion people, over 52% are rural.

The total population in those three regions comprises about half of the people on the planet, and well over 1/2 of them are rural farmers and villagers.

Up until 1920, over 1/2 of U. S. residents were rural.

Today, populations in the west are decreasing, despite our "sophisticated" medicine and agriculture. A large number of people in the U. S. are miserable.

Populations in China, India and Africa are increasing, despite their "undeveloped" (according to us) status.

Updates

+1 y

So do people in the world really need U. S. assistance? Or is western aid just an excuse for predation for profit? Undercutting food prices of indigenous farmers; replacing tradition agriculture with GMOs, agricultural poisons and monoculture; driving people off the land and into urban slums; creating more poverty? Destroying naturopatic medicine and replacing it with modern pharmaceuticals that sometimes cause harmful side effects, including infertility?

Is aid just another form of colonialism?

[RealMarek]

Western aid has much more to do with political control than with profit. As a system, it encourages corruption, ruins local economies, creates dependency, and generally holds back development. Much of the assistance is pilfered by political elites. Western aid workers who are on the ground think they are generous by overpaying for drivers, food, security, assistants, etc., and these people in turn drive up prices, thus plunging people into more severe poverty. To the extent these countries get hooked on IMF financing, they tend to go through round after round of restructuring, austerity forced on their people, and resources transferred to Western ownership. Also with Western aid comes the imposition of Western values on traditional, non-Western societies. Believe me, this creates massive resentment.

Instead of handouts, these people need business investments and infrastructure. This is why Africa and South America are turning to China for financing with Russian support for security. Instead of aid packages they get rail and airports. The Russians provide protection from US efforts to destabilize countries that leave the global American order. They have to pay back their loans and the terms are often difficult, but they get infrastructure and actual sustainable business as part of the deal without getting lectured or pressured about their cultural values.

[lightbulb27]

I hear from a fella that does ministry in poor countries, some do... specifically myanmar (Burma). people there starving, but that's due to war. Most don't. maybe they need help with clean water and basic medicines. Dr. s without border can probably answer better and likely more effective than sending millions/billions. churches more efficient than govt.

[sage2021]

When I was at the age of having children, I didn't have so many that I couldn't take care of them myself.
It seems to me these people enjoy a lot of sex and have a lot of children they cannot afford to take care of themselves. But they don't care about all their kids they produce. They want the sex!
So, there's got to be an answer here. Other countries cannot keep having so many children they cannot care for, then turn to the United States to take care of them. And there's the cycle!!
Having too much sex = overpopulation in the world!
Ya gotta nip it in the bud where it starts - and that's when these people continue to have all of the unprotected sex they want but don't think about the consequences. The United States ends up paying the price for their unprotected sex lives!

Look what China did. They would only allow one child per household.

Things can be done about it like what China did but these other countries don't have a plan other than turning to the United States to fix what they created. And how long can this continue? It can't go on forever, so they better figure out something to help their own people they keep making. It's not our problem.

[Lliam]

How does it harm the U. S? Why do we have to pay "the price"?

[sage2021]

@Lliam
It seems like the U. S. us always paying the price for other things we have no business sticking our nose in. Take this Ukraine-Russia war going on. It's not our war, we didn't start it, but man are we paying for it. Over 100 billion dollars sent to Ukraine and the U. S. doesn't even want verification of what they spent it on. We sent them 31 of our tanks among other things they need. What have the Ukraians ever done for America 🇺🇸?
So you ask, why do we have to pay? We just always pay. Why? I don't know, but the US always seems to find a cause to spend American 🇺🇸 tax payer dollars on. They just let 6 million walk into America and are kissing their asses with cellphones, free medical care, shelter (some are staying at very fancy Hotels @$900/night). All their food comes from America, etc.
Why are we spending all of our tax dollars on them? They aren't true "migrants". The Ukraian people that came to America were true migrants. They were coming her to get away from war torn Ukraine.
These are illegals that Biden wanted here to give them I. D. cards so they'll be sure the democrats will win with their votes. We paid a high price for that assurance, but it's the only way they could be sure to win the 2024 presidency.
How else do you think our debt ceiling got out of control and is so high we will never be able to pay it down. These democrats are like having children that were each given credit cards with no limit and they just keep spending and spending, and spending.
And what do the Americans get for all their spending? Loss of jobs, loss of lives, etc., It never ends.

[sage2021]

@Lliam
Thank you for the MHGIRL 🌹😎

[19magic]

Reminds me of the short I saw the other day, I can't remember the country the natives were from but the American guy was like oh you'll make lots of money back in the US. The dude replied with why would we need money? He then explained you want clothing you trade fish, you want baskets you trade, money has no place here. Another one was you can come back to the US and they replied isn't that where people commit suicide? They said it wasn't a thing where lived.

I especially loved it when they asked about gays and trans - baring in mind I have no qualms about trans in general just not kids and exposing themselves in changing areas.

But the idea of it all reminded me of avatar, see most people said it was cheap and colourful, additedly I also loved it for the 3D, we've got a 3D telly at home and it was absolutely breathtaking easily the best 3D movie they made. Off tract there, but the interactions with nature and their whole lives is so amazing, think it's why I've always been into folk and farielore. It's just the simplistic nature of it all is so soothing to the soul.

[Oatmeal2]

Trump airlifted 100 million worth of food to Venezuela. But Nicholas Mudaro refused to allow the planes to land in Venezuela. The planes landed in a neighboring country, but the food wasn't allowed to be distributed amongst the starving people. At that time Venezuelans were eating their pets and the zoo animals.

Trump should have just sent in a SEAL team to take care of the problem.

[Lliam]

But why were the Venezuelan people starving? Because of U. S. sanctions (an unprovoked act of war).
I think the fear was that Venezuela didn't want U. S. convoys entering the country and possibly bringing in weapons.

Later, an attack on the convoy at the border was blamed on Venezuelans. It was later revealed that the attackers were not Venezuelans. It was a propaganda ploy to discredit the Venezuelan government and military.

It was Trump who recognizing Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaido as the Interim President of Venezuela even though Maduro had won an overwhelming victory in a democratic election that was declared to be exemplary by international observes and even by Jimmy Carter. The U. S. wanted to overthrow a free and fair election in yet another country.

The U. S. doesn't care about the Venezuelan people, so the airlift and convoy were disingenuous. .

[Oatmeal2]

There was no convoy into Venezuela.

[Lliam]

Yes there was. It was stopped at the border.

From The Guardian at the time - "Venezuela: first US aid trucks arrive at border blockaded by Maduro. Two trucks reach Colombian border town of Cúcuta. Demonstrators welcome US aid, shouting ‘Maduro out’."

And from the NYT - "Top U. S. officials have said Nicolás Maduro’s regime burned an aid convoy last month. But TV footage contradicts that claim and shows how this unverified information spread across Twitter and television."

[Oatmeal2]

Trump wanted the planes to land in Venezuela, and why not? But Maduro wouldn't allow it. I've seen videos of defectors from Venezuela, and they say Maduro just seized everyone's money. Can he do that? Yes he can.
This is why Biden doesn't want Cubans or Venezuelans entering America. Because they sure as fuck won't vote for communists.

[Lliam]

I respect you, Oatmeal2, and don't want to argue. I'll just respectfully suggest that you have only heard the 100% dishonest U. S. propaganda on this issue.

The U. S. doesn't care about the good of the people or the will of voters. It was trying to overthrow a democratic government and institute neoliberal corporate control of the economy. And it flat out lies about its motives.

But, again, I don't want to lecture you or get in an argument. We can agree to disagree on this one.
❤️ ✌️

[RealMarek]

The airlift and the convoy that @Lliam mentioned were part of a US-backed regime change operation to replace Maduro with Guaido. Guaido had very little popular support in Venezuela and the attempted coup turned into a farce. However, it was used as justification on the part of the UK to recognize Guaido and transfer Venezuela’s gold that was largely stored in London to his “government in exile.” Stealing foreign reserves is a violation of international law, mind you, and something the Allied powers did not do to the Axis powers during WW2. Adding to the farse, the West later recognized Maduro in order to get Venezuelan oil flowing again after the West’s embargo with Russia, which means that the West has stolen Venezuela’s gold according its own legal standards.

Don’t expect to hear any of this on mainstream news sources. They are pretty much run by Western intelligence and are worthless for figuring out what is actually happening.

[Oatmeal2]

And what version of the story did you hear?

[Lliam]

I have a friend named Eva Karene Bartlett who is an award winning independent journalist. She traveled to Venezuela before the U. S. recognized Guaido as the president. But it was when all the reports from the west were telling of food shortages and popular unrest. She found the opposite of what western media was reporting.

Abby Martin also traveled to Venezuela and reported the same thing as my friend.

But I also read books and am well aware of the tactics used by the U. S. It engineers coups all the time and calls them popular uprisings. Syria is another example of that. Look at what we did to Chili in 1973. The list goes on and on. Ukraine is the most recent example.

The main thing is to never trust any mainstream media source. Their reports are full of lies, spin and bias. Manipulation is their job.

What RealMarek said was 100% true.

[RealMarek]

@Lliam Eva Bartlett is a friend of yours? Cool! She’s a brave journalist.

[Lliam]

@RealMarek. Well, more like a long-time FB acquaintance. She knows who I am and we've conversed there. We have a lot of mutual FB friends, too.
That girl is TRULY brave. And she is 100% objective and honest.

[RealMarek]

She does what a lot of journalists used to do. The only people doing that now are independent.

[Lliam]

@RealMarek. True. And the problem today is, people like her can't get the time of day on any mainstream outlets. Instead they get deplatformed and slandered.

This is an example of the shit you'll find about people like her on Wikipedia:
"Eva Karene Bartlett is a Russian-based American Canadian activist, commentator, and blogger who has propagated conspiracy theories in connection to the Syrian civil war, most notably the disproven allegation that the White Helmets stage rescues and "recycle" children in its videos."

[RealMarek]

Yeah, see, they just state that things are disproven and count on people not listening to the “Russian-based” reporter. Probably 80% of people will just believe the party line even though anyone can find videos of different White Helmet ops with the same child actors.

[Lliam]

@RealMarek. Claiming that she's "Russian-based" gives the impression that she is a Putin puppet or working for Russia.
She published on RT for a while because it was one of the few sites that didn't attempt to influence or censor her. But she's completely independent.

She's been living in Russia lately because she frequently goes to Ukraine to interview citizens and take photos, and report from conflict areas, just as she did in Palestine and Syria. She reported from Venezuela, too. Does that mean that she was Venezuelan-based?

[Sevenpointfive]

i don't think giving them food and aid is a good thing unless people are starving. the aid given is sometimes taken from the people it's intended for. their governments are corrupt and they just need to rise up and overthrow them. we could help with that instead

[Andres77]

Absolutely not. And many of them are insulted that we think they need our help.. they don’t. But every government is corrupt and politicians will take free money. Any chance they get

[exitseven]

Maybe during natural disasters like earthquakes but other than that the US needs to butt out.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

No. If they are eating daily food then they are good.

[Dargil]

They need "us" to enslave their people and steal their natural resources. Like the DR Congo.

[jshm2]

You're too smooth brained, gramps.

What they mean by "helped" is that you've historically stolen from them and are continuing to do so, but are still not giving back enough.

[Lliam]

Okay, dimwit.

[Oatmeal2]

Why do you have to be such an asshole on this site?

[Lliam]

@Oatmeal2. Who are you talking to?

[Oatmeal2]

Not you, you're awesome.

[Lliam]

@Oatmeal2. Awww, thank you. 🤗
I have a hard time dealing with needless, personal insults. People who do that are usually immature and incapable of expressing coherent thoughts.

[Oatmeal2]

This ass from the UK does it for sport, and the mods do NOTHING to stop it. That's why most of the good people are leaving the site. Soon it will all just be scumbags on the site.

[Lliam]

@Oatmeal2. Yet, whenever I have replied in kind to insults, my comment gets removed and they say "We strive to keep GirlsAskGuys a helpful and caring community for all. Please be more considerate with your future posts."