Politics & Stuff

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Todays thought;

The richest 400 Americans now own more wealth than the bottom 180 million taken together.. Its just over $2 Trillion, and their wealth has doubled in the last 10 years of,hahahaha, er..mainly recession.

Half of the world’s population lives in poverty, with one person in every eight suffering from malnutrition. Poverty kills approximately 19 people around the world every minute of every day of every month.

If a virus was discovered to be responsible for more than 25,000 deaths a day, the world would stop at nothing to find a cure. But poverty? Nah , thats just capitalism.

Just sayin...

Same goes for environmental issues as well. By 2025, 70% of the world population will not have access to clean water. But no one seems to care...

[Fulham Broadway 17,333]

Same goes for environmental issues as well. By 2025, 70% of the world population will not have access to clean water. But no one seems to care...

Very true. Most people seem to spend their lives trying to acquire possessions and consuming, leaving general humanity behind.

Its crazy the way this ball spinning in space is divided up into territories, each with their flags and separate ways. Mmm bit like football clubs...

[SinineUltra 1,170]

@Fulham Broadway,@CHOULO19,

A bit late, but still:

I get where you guys are coming from - equality, harmony etc - but that's utopia. It's human's nature that prevents this from happening. Even if the wealth of all the people would be distributed evenly among everyone - it wouldn't stay that way even for a day. Naive and silly minded would be ripped off by others and this sort of discrepancy would once again be an actual problem. Poor would want to become richer and the rich would be reluctant to give up their position and power. Money and wealth changes people and as soon as someone less fortunate would get his claws behind all the wealth - there's nothing that could be done to make him let go, albeit being from a poorer background and having the understanding how unfair all this can be towards others. Ignorance is a bliss I guess.

Out of curiosity: what have you guys done to relieve these kind of problems? (Poverty, environmental etc.)

[CHOULO19 24,332]

@Fulham Broadway,@CHOULO19,

A bit late, but still:

I get where you guys are coming from - equality, harmony etc - but that's utopia. It's human's nature that prevents this from happening. Even if the wealth of all the people would be distributed evenly among everyone - it wouldn't stay that way even for a day. Naive and silly minded would be ripped off by others and this sort of discrepancy would once again be an actual problem. Poor would want to become richer and the rich would be reluctant to give up their position and power. Money and wealth changes people and as soon as someone less fortunate would get his claws behind all the wealth - there's nothing that could be done to make him let go, albeit being from a poorer background and having the understanding how unfair all this can be towards others. Ignorance is a bliss I guess.

Out of curiosity: what have you guys done to relieve these kind of problems? (Poverty, environmental etc.)

It's not that Boolean though. It's not either the current world or Utopia. You can make improvements that can go a long way without really going against the human nature. And it's not just human nature that causes the huge financial gap, capitalism plays a huge part in that. Instead of system that encourages the widening of the gap, you can have a system that decreases the gap. I don't think anyone expects to change human nature, but just start with the small things like don't leave the water running needlessly when people are dying because they don't have water, don't waste food when starvation is the biggest humanitarian issue in the world, use paper bags instead of plastic ones...etc If I, a university student who doesn't work, can donate something like $5-10 per month to the poor or the orphans, then why can't multi-billion dollar companies donate 0.1% of their profit?

Equality and harmony are ideals that will never happen, but that should never mean that you should settle for their opposites.

[Amblève. 4,995]

Talking about equality and harmony... the Austrian right-wing party FPÖ received more than 22% of all votes today which is almost 5% more than at the last general election. Let that sink in.

[Peppen 934]

Talking about equality and harmony... the Austrian right-wing party FPÖ received more than 22% of all votes today which is almost 5% more than at the last general election. Let that sink in.

Same here mate. The Social Democrats (biggest socialist party in Denmark) has gone from 25 % to 19 % percent of the votes (opinion polls though, expecting it to be even more significant). There is clearly a tendency throughout many European countries to increase inequality and grant privileges to the rich. Denmark has one of the lowest GINI-coeffecient in the world (second to Sweden I think) and people are now arguing about politically increasing the inequality. The Right Wing Nationalist Party is now almost the second largest in Denmark. Frightening.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Talking about equality and harmony... the Austrian right-wing party FPÖ received more than 22% of all votes today which is almost 5% more than at the last general election. Let that sink in.

Same here mate. The Social Democrats (biggest socialist party in Denmark) has gone from 25 % to 19 % percent of the votes (opinion polls though, expecting it to be even more significant). There is clearly a tendency throughout many European countries to increase inequality and grant privileges to the rich. Denmark has one of the lowest GINI-coeffecient in the world (second to Sweden I think) and people are now arguing about politically increasing the inequality. The Right Wing Nationalist Party is now almost the second largest in Denmark. Frightening.

That is more than normal though, at crisis, people deposit their hopes at more conservative political parties...

[Weckerz 3,781]

The biggest Belgian party are nationalists as well. These francophobes aim to split the country. Way to make yourself even more insignificant in the world.

They invented GAS-fines. A friend of mine got a GAS-fine because the music in his car was too loud, windows closed. A women in Antwerp got fined for throwing a cherry seed on the ground.

People are encouraged to call the police when they see vehicles in their neighbourhoods they feel don't belong there

This is just the beginning, fascism is on it's way.

[SinineUltra 1,170]

The biggest Belgian party are nationalists as well. These francophobes aim to split the country. Way to make yourself even more insignificant in the world.

They invented GAS-fines. A friend of mine got a GAS-fine because the music in his car was too loud, windows closed. A women in Antwerp got fined for throwing a cherry seed on the ground.

People are encouraged to call the police when they see vehicles in their neighbourhoods they feel don't belong there

This is just the beginning, fascism is on it's way.

If it is how you described then it's harsh. Though, them being the biggest party means that the majority is voting for them? I mean the people are as adequate as their elected parliament/government.

[Weckerz 3,781]

If it is how you described then it's harsh. Though, them being the biggest party means that the majority is voting for them? I mean the people are as adequate as their elected parliament/government.

You come over as a smart guy, you surely realise the majority of the population are ignorant sheep.. They don't know what they're voting for.

This is a party that has it's roots in the VNV and Verdinaso, 2 Belgian Nazi-parties during WWII.

[Weckerz 3,781]

To all who is interested in the Syria-situation, this is very interesting and a must see:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/83519924/

[SinineUltra 1,170]

You come over as a smart guy, you surely realise the majority of the population are ignorant sheep.. They don't know what they're voting for.

This is a party that has it's roots in the VNV and Verdinaso, 2 Belgian Nazi-parties during WWII.

Do you know which age group is favouring them? I had a look at the demographics of Belgium and the age pyramid showed that the majority of the population is 40 or below (wikipedia so it's not set in stone). WW II ended in 1945, that's 68 years ago. Maybe the current voters really aware what such totalitarian regimes bring. We all have read it in the history books, but we can never grasp it ourselves unless we have gone through it.

[SinineUltra 1,170]

I'm quite surprised Kenya's Westgate Mall shooting didn't come up in this topic. Another religious vendetta that actually was a revenge slaughter done in feud.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Guess i got it right

[Weckerz 3,781]

Do you know which age group is favouring them? I had a look at the demographics of Belgium and the age pyramid showed that the majority of the population is 40 or below (wikipedia so it's not set in stone). WW II ended in 1945, that's 68 years ago. Maybe the current voters really aware what such totalitarian regimes bring. We all have read it in the history books, but we can never grasp it ourselves unless we have gone through it.

I'm not sure but going from their public rallies I'd say the majority is the aging population. There is a very sensitive underlying problem in Belgium, going back to the 19th century, the different language groups.

There's always been tensions, mostly caused by the ridiculously complicated government structures over here; all comes down to Flemmings feeling too much money is flowing to Wallonia.

The second big problem is immigration. NV-A, being a right-wing nationalist party has ofcourse used this crisis as an opportunity to promise better things to the public.

Then there's Brussels, but I'm not even gonna go there

[SinineUltra 1,170]

To all who is interested in the Syria-situation, this is very interesting and a must see:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/83519924/

The real question is: what is USA getting from this? Are they giving weapons etc out to them to keep both sides busy? To weaken the region?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

The real question is: what is USA getting from this? Are they giving weapons etc out to them to keep both sides busy? To weaken the region?

What the US gets from this is the security of Israel. Al Asad is the last Arabic regime that supports the Palestinian cause. Syria is also where Hizboullah get all their weapons through. Ending the Asad regime isolates Iran and basically ensures that no Palestinian would ever get their land back or that anyone ever questions Israel's "right" to occupy Palestine.

[xPetrCechx 13,573]

What the US gets from this is the security of Israel. Al Asad is the last Arabic regime that supports the Palestinian cause. Syria is also where Hizboullah get all their weapons through. Ending the Asad regime isolates Iran and basically ensures that no Palestinian would ever get their land back or that anyone ever questions Israel's "right" to occupy Palestine.

Isolates Iran is a good thing for all the world.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Isolates Iran is a good thing for all the world.

Your world, not mine.

[Azpinator 2,325]

To all who is interested in the Syria-situation, this is very interesting and a must see:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/83519924/

Thank you.