Meanwhile in Africa



You guys are hobknockers

But the difference is, I don't give a ♥♥♥♥ about people dying in Africa, because people will always be dying in Africa, while BF3 will only be on sale for like another week.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH
Calm down son

That's an ouch for the africa

Are you telling me that I should, beyond going "oh my god I feel terrible", actually give a ♥♥♥♥? Because really, nothing I do is ever going to change the quality of life for the people in all those heartfelt commercials. Sure, as a poor college student I can afford to give $5 maybe, which'll totally probably not even make it to Africa before it's sucked up by bureaucrats and corruption. So, instead, BF3, where I can blow people's craniums out and be told that my mother sucked a ♥♥♥♥ by 13 year olds.

who are you
why are you shitposting

Also, "Other people have it worse, so stop being happy" is a terrible argument, and you should feel bad.

Sure, Africa may have pretty much the highest death rate, but they also have the highest birth rate as well, higher than their death rate.

Meaning, even with the terrible conditions they're in, Africa will still become overpopulated, and saving more of them will decrease the time it takes for them to overpopulate.

I hate to say it, but they're not dying fast enough.

Unless you like join the Peace Corps, then there is like no way to help Africa.
Unless you're part of a program to set up entrepreneurs with contacts to ship their products, there is like no way to help Africa.
Unless you personally know someone in government and can sway them to cut systematic aid to Africa, there is like no way to help them.

But with 5$ you can help yourself to some Battlefield 3

If anyone ever tells you that your problems are invalid because other people have it worse, they're wrong. All issues are relative. There's no such thing as "first world problems".
Just because you aren't literally dying of famine doesn't mean you shouldn't be upset at something that makes you upset.

Kinda like how all rich people are ♥♥♥holes
this is sarcasm please have a sense of humor bill gates is like a billion times more important than me

Meanwhile, in the Humble Origin Bundle,



Notice something odd? Y'know, something...missing?

The more observant members of the forum have probably noticed that EA is not taking a cut. As in, all the money made goes to either charity or to the humble bundle guys. So, by buying the HOB, you are helping Africa, probably more than most gamers would.

Pretty much. I'm more in favor of technical aid, such as helping them setting up filtration systems for water and other things that they might not have the technical know how to do, or supplying them with materials that they themselves might not the ability to produce, such as medicines and the like.

Trade with China is a big helper in Africa right now for public services like roads and power lines, but that isn't a permanent solution because they're only their for extracting like coal and gemstones I think. Asia was fortunate (holy ♥♥♥♥ they've exploded, like Africa should have) to have industry so their "beneficial dictators" would put their stolen money into the market, unlike African politicians stealing their money and putting it in a bank or buying a fancy car from another country.

Dead Aid is a good book about systematic aid in Africa, so just read that I guess.

One of the problems with infrastructure is that after the educated people that come over to build wells etc leave, the people they built the things for don't know how to keep it up or fix it if it breaks.
Yet another issue with aiding third world countries.

This is a fairly ethnocentric view which while it might not be strictly incorrect really obfuscates the issue. Developing nations are in such dire straits largely due to white people's attempts to force their technology and modern ways on them. For the hundreds of thousands of years everyone was doing pretty good, it's only after the introduction of the global system that we see widespread poverty.

A good example of this is high yield crops, corn and stuff that's been genetically modified to make more food per square foot of land. Sounds like a good thing to give other countries but the problem is that these crops require very specific conditions of ideal soil, water and fertilizer. Furthermore since it's a monoculture you need a shittonne of pesticides and stuff. All this requires very specific materials and technology, many of which can only be purchased from white people countries. This makes developing nations even more dependent on developed nations. Even worse, the high operation costs make it so that small scale agriculturalists can't compete with large scale operations and the superior yield of these large companies make it so that even if the mom and pop farmers stick to the old ways the price of crops drops so much that they can no longer support themselves. Not to mention all the pesticides and fertilizers and land requirements take a heavy toll on the environment, often destroying other traditional means of living. Higher water demands mean that rivers often get dammed which often destroys traditional fishing or grazing grounds. Pesticides ♥♥♥♥ everything up and fertilizers run out into rivers and poison fish.

There is so much more like how having to pay for all the equipment puts pressure on farmers to really overwork the land and/or grow cash crops rather than food.