World Debt, Nothing we can do?

[Hankaveli]

NOEL GALLAGHER is convinced LIVE 8 will never achieve its lofty aim of persuading politicians from the world's richest countries to eliminate debt owed by poorer nations.

The outspoken OASIS guitarist believes rock stars simply don't have the influence needed to affect the G8 decision makers - and believes all their hard work will be in vain.

He says, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but are they hoping that one of these guys from the G8 is on a quick 15 minute break at Gleneagles (in Scotland) and sees ANNIE LENNOX singing SWEET DREAMS and thinks, 'F**k me, she might have a point there, you know?'

"KEANE doing SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW and some Japanese businessman going, 'Aw, look at him... we should really f**king drop that debt, you know.'

"It's not going to happen, is it?"


NOEL GALLAGHER is convinced LIVE 8 will never achieve its lofty aim of persuading politicians from the world's richest countries to eliminate debt owed by poorer nations.

The outspoken OASIS guitarist believes rock stars simply don't have the influence needed to affect the G8 decision makers - and believes all their hard work will be in vain.

He says, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but are they hoping that one of these guys from the G8 is on a quick 15 minute break at Gleneagles (in Scotland) and sees ANNIE LENNOX singing SWEET DREAMS and thinks, 'F**k me, she might have a point there, you know?'

"KEANE doing SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW and some Japanese businessman going, 'Aw, look at him... we should really f**king drop that debt, you know.'

"It's not going to happen, is it?"
http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/gallagher live 8 will never work

 

[Salar]

Moving to words of wisdom.

 

[Duke]

Figures. G8 isn't going to be influenced.

 

[not really ken]

Its not only about influencing G8 but about making people aware as to what's going on. I think Live Aid has already served its purpose by getting people to realise Africa and its problems.

 

[Cooper]

Remember the legend of King Arthur? As in the real one, not the bullshit movie.

Remember what it was to be a knight? Chivalrous, moral guardians of the people, right?

Warriors, fighting hard to serve and protect the weak and innocent, like a Dark Age SWAT team. And in King Arthur's court, they had a great quest to seek the unfindable goal - the Holy Grail.

Well modern knights are a little different, although they often get confused and think they're the same. Instead of Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad and Sir Bedivere, we now have people who aren't warriors at all - they're popstars.

Sir Bob Geldoff, Sir Paul McArtney, Sir Elton John. The new moral guardians of the people, and they've even got their own quest too.

They no longer seek a religious symbol, they seek something even less plausible or achievable. They seek an end to all poverty.

But, like all great quests, there's a problem, a major flaw in the knights' plans. It will never happen.

Think of it this way. Right now you have the poor on one side of the scale, the ones Live8 is trying to save. You have the majority of us in the middle, the ones the knights are telling to send money. And then you have, at the far end of the scale on the opposite side from the poor, the knights themselves and all of their kind.

People like Sir Bob "I'm so rich because I don't buy soap" Geldoff. While he tells the council estate single mum to send some of her measly earnings, will he be willing to give up his standard of living, and that of snot-nosed teenager, Peaches, who's now going on reality TV to remind everyone just how awful it is to be a fucking rich and famous teenager with your whole life of no-work ahead of you?

Or how about Sir Paul "If I catch a poor person downloading my music for free I'll take every last penny they have in the courts" McArtney. Will he give up his share of the royalties from the Beatles, Wings, and solo records, and his £1 billion fortune, to a cause he tells us is more important than him or us?

And Sir Elton "I bet I'm the richest gay guy you know" John, will he give up his decadent lifestyle and sell off his wigs to improve the lives of some African kids?

Or "I wear Gucci but I really care about poverty, honest" Bono from U2. Will any of these people give up their wealth and fortune and go back to living in a semi near you?

No they wont, because that'd put them on the same mark as you and I on the scale - they'd be the same level as the people they're telling to give hard-earned cash.

I have no problem with anyone helping anyone else, I do it all the time. What I resent, however, is rich people getting richer by telling me to get poorer and enhancing their own images.

It happened after the Asian tsunami, when we were told to give everything. We did, they ended up with more money than they needed, and now Indonesia's corrupt leadership plans to build business parks where fishing communities used to be, with OUR money.

Fashionable causes come and go. In a few years, no one will care about the tsunami, no one will care about Live8, no one will care about Africa. And for once, maybe its for the best.

I'm going to be honest now, and speak the truth that no one ever likes to hear. World poverty can never end, because in order for people to be rich, people have to be poor. If you like your cushy lives, I'm afraid Africa has to suffer. If you like your loved ones getting cures for cancer, I'm afraid Africa will have to make the best of AIDS.

It's been realised recently that for everyone on the planet to have the same quality of life as we do in the West, we'd have to colonise FOUR more planets to make room. So if we want everyone to rise to our standard of living and go beyond the poverty line (after all, there's still people in Britain living below the poverty line, I'm one of them), we'll run out of room quicker than a fat guy in a phone booth.

If we mindlessly send money to Africa and save all their lives, then the 3000 kids that die of Malaria every day would live, and Africa's population would explode, leaving Africa with war, famine, strife and yet more trouble for us to try and solve.

Therefore the sad truth is that Africa is a perpetual nightmare that will never end until we solve the overpopulation crisis, and, as the scientists say, that wont happen until we colonise other worlds and make space.

So should you give your money to the selfish, immoral Knights of the Africa-Shaped Table, or would it be better spent in contributions and campaigns to NASA?

To be realistic isn't to be immoral. We can all give our money to the poor while the rich get richer, leading to 5% owning everything and 95% dying of hunger and fighting over land and resources, or we can do what we can for the poor but put our real effort into going outwards and making more room for our growing species, which is now a very real concern.

As Sir Bob says, it's in your hands.


paradoxicitis@paradoxicitis.com

 

[k69atie]

^^^ very interesting read, thanks

 

[Cooper]

^you should read paradoxicitis.com, he writes some interesting articles (and is from the same town as me )

 

[Glockmatic]

hasn't debt in the 10 most poorest countries been wiped clean by the richest countries already?

 

[Cooper]

^yea and they workin on clearing some more

 

[CalcuoCuchicheo]

The only thing that's going to happen with this latest push is Edinburgh is getting fucked up.

^you should read paradoxicitis.com, he writes some interesting articles (and is from the same town as me )

You know, I read a few of his articles a while back & emailed him about his nationality. I was impressed with the way he asserted himself in some articles & refered to Scots.

 

[Cooper]

I like most of what he writes...he's english yea?

 

[CalcuoCuchicheo]

I like most of what he writes...he's english yea?

I thought you said you from the same town as you? Making him English, no?

Because he never replied

 

[Cooper]

we have other nationalities in our town....

but i assume he's english, i'll ask my mate who knows him.

 

[CalcuoCuchicheo]

we have other nationalities in our town....

but i assume he's english, i'll ask my mate who knows him.

Good point. I assumed - perhaps naively - that if he was "from" you town, he was born there.

Anyway, get me his address so I can be a proper stan.

Edit: So he tells us where he's from in his Kilroy thread. Being that I'm not English I don't know if he's from your town, but I know he lives in England. And your mate might want to tell him to revise that Knights article as it comes with a plethora of mistakes.

 

[Amara]

I'm going to be honest now, and speak the truth that no one ever likes to hear. World poverty can never end, because in order for people to be rich, people have to be poor. If you like your cushy lives, I'm afraid Africa has to suffer. If you like your loved ones getting cures for cancer, I'm afraid Africa will have to make the best of AIDS.

It's been realised recently that for everyone on the planet to have the same quality of life as we do in the West, we'd have to colonise FOUR more planets to make room. So if we want everyone to rise to our standard of living and go beyond the poverty line (after all, there's still people in Britain living below the poverty line, I'm one of them), we'll run out of room quicker than a fat guy in a phone booth.

If we mindlessly send money to Africa and save all their lives, then the 3000 kids that die of Malaria every day would live, and Africa's population would explode, leaving Africa with war, famine, strife and yet more trouble for us to try and solve.

Therefore the sad truth is that Africa is a perpetual nightmare that will never end until we solve the overpopulation crisis, and, as the scientists say, that wont happen until we colonise other worlds and make space.

Screw that. It is not about "giving" those in the third world the quality of life as we have in the West, it is about realising that a lot of what we have and much in our way of life is unnecessary and extravagant. We are wasteful and greedy, meanwhile people are dying. What we ought to "give" them is a chance at life - the means for basic survival and some kind of lasting sustainablility so that their children and children's children wont suffer from disease and malnutrition. THAT is what it is about. Therefore, our lifestyle is not at risk due to the overcoming of poverty - what a selfish and ignorant attitude... our sense of humanity is at risk because we are all so self absorbed to realise that our fellow human beings are lving in circumstances that should not exist... Never could the economic system be so fragile as to suggest we cannot spare small portions of money or food to keep human beings from needlessly dying because of mere misfortune of birth. I'm disgusted with the notion that we need poverty in order to sustain our lifestyle and prevent over population... if that is really an issue of concern we should consider refraining from the overproduction of greedy, selfish and capitalistc fools in the West... perhaps it is our existence that is causing the problems, not the "perpetual nightmare" of the Africans...

 

[CalcuoCuchicheo]

Screw that. It is not about "giving" those in the third world the quality of life as we have in the West, it is about realising that a lot of what we have and much in our way of life is unnecessary and extravagant. We are wasteful and greedy, meanwhile people are dying. What we ought to "give" them is a chance at life - the means for basic survival and some kind of lasting sustainablility so that their children and children's children wont suffer from disease and malnutrition. THAT is what it is about. Therefore, our lifestyle is not at risk due to the overcoming of poverty - what a selfish and ignorant attitude... our sense of humanity is at risk because we are all so self absorbed to realise that our fellow human beings are lving in circumstances that should not exist... Never could the economic system be so fragile as to suggest we cannot spare small portions of money or food to keep human beings from needlessly dying because of mere misfortune of birth. I'm disgusted with the notion that we need poverty in order to sustain our lifestyle and prevent over population... if that is really an issue of concern we should consider refraining from the overproduction of greedy, selfish and capitalistc fools in the West... perhaps it is our existence that is causing the problems, not the "perpetual nightmare" of the Africans...

This is what the guy said.

In order for us to live our lifestyles, others have to take a loss - I don't see how you can deny this when resources are limited. And this is why the guy is clear that we are the stumbling block in solving world poverty.

 

[Amara]

This is what the guy said.

In order for us to live our lifestyles, others have to take a loss - I don't see how you can deny this when resources are limited. And this is why the guy is clear that we are the stumbling block in solving world poverty.

Rubbish, resources are not so limited that we cannot prevent death. Think of the billions we waste on brandname clothes, new CDs, households with three tvs etc -examples of wasted resources - mindless spending. So what my point is, fuck the maintenance of this extravagant lifestyle in order to supplement with the betterment of humanity. I dont want maintain this greedy lifestyle if it means continually subjecting others to conditions of poverty.

 

[CalcuoCuchicheo]

Rubbish, resources are not so limited that we cannot prevent death. Think of the billions we waste on brandname clothes, new CDs, households with three tvs etc -examples of wasted resources - mindless spending. So what my point is, fuck the maintenance of this extravagant lifestyle in order to supplement with the betterment of humanity. I dont want maintain this greedy lifestyle if it means continually subjecting others to conditions of poverty.

But the man's point is, people will not give up their lifestyle & while these lifestyles remain intact, resources are limited.

It is an unescapable fact.

 

[Amara]

But the man's point is, people will not give up their lifestyle & while these lifestyles remain intact, resources are limited.

It is an unescapable fact.

I understand that, just let me have my rant at the horridness of society. lol.

 

[Cooper]

so it seems i need pverty to support my extravegent lifestyle...never thought of it like that.