Rita Greenwood
"How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him—he has known a fear beyond every other." Steinbeck,1939
Location London
Activity
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
The poem by Behzad Khosrravi Noori was quite powerful in its simplicity; the presentation of just one form and the tension conveyed as nearly all answers were 'No'. The form is an application for assistance, for help and yet the continuous 'No' after 'No', gave the strong impression of very little help, a sense of helplessness and a desperate situation.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
The Singapore concept of a medical examination every 6 months, is very troubling - if you are domestic worker and subject to this, it must feel mentally destabilising; you are trying to build a life, and yet are marked for treatment not expected of the rest of population. Psychologically, you are always 'different' while you are there.
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Rita Greenwood replied to Nisha Joseph
'It is something like everybody loves food and but the cook should not appear in the living room!' - this is great!
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Rita Greenwood replied to M M
I really disagree that people are just looking for an 'Eldorado'. People do not risk their lives in rubber boats, for the sake of money. They risk it because their very survival is at risk - this is why it is important to understand the difference between 'migrant' and 'refugee'.
Migrant can encompass those looking for better education or work etc, but a... -
Rita Greenwood replied to Barbara C
You're welcome!
I wanted to read it myself, not only to read good literature, but to learn something of the Biafan War also as currently, my knowledge of it is zero! -
Rita Greenwood replied to Rita Greenwood
I do watch Al Jazeera sometimes, also WION and more regularly, Novara Media, Democracy Now and Double Down News! :)
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Rita Greenwood replied to Rita Greenwood
@BarbaraC Barbara, I 100% agree with you. The phrase 'dog whistle' is often used in the press over here, and with the same meaning.
Control of the narrative, it seems, along with 'divide and rule', are tactics that sadly have never gone out of fashion; when they are so successful in their objectives, why would you do something else, yet we fall for it time... -
Rita Greenwood replied to Rita Greenwood
@BarbaraC I wonder when it was that the term 'economic migrant', became synonymous with 'un-desirable'! To me, it implies someone 'moving up' in their world, an employment upgrade or segue. It has become corrupted, by anti-migrant rhetoric to mean someone with 'suspicious financial intentions' in relation to the host country.
I have noted the links,...
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Rita Greenwood replied to Barbara C
@BarbaraC I watched the talk 2 days ago and was thoroughly engrossed. I have just started reading one of her books 'Half of a Yellow Sun', too! It is good to talk and be open to new thoughts and ideas!^^
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
It's somewhat dispiriting to read the statistics from the Global Data Institute, that Ukrainian refugees are the fastest refugee group to gain entry into their sponsored countries labour market. It is right that Ukrainians are supported and have access to the right to work, it should be the same for all, but understandably, commonality of language is likely...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I have never moved out of the country, but my mother came to the UK as a child at the age of 5, as part of the Windrush generation. I have known friends that have migrated from Australia, to the UK and back to Aus again; another that was born in the UK and recently migrated to New Zealand. A Dutch friend, married to a British man and now has a family both here...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Aside from historians and fans of history, the average person is too short-sighted to remember how people have had these issues before. Things rarely seem to be new, but more likely cyclical.
I haven't read it yet, but Ray Dalio's book 'The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail, seems to contain some information on the cycles of economics and... -
Rita Greenwood replied to David Philpot
@DeniseCarter-Evans Maybe it freed us from the 'grandfather' as you say, but the grandfather is still family and maybe we were just not mature enough yet to hold our own purse strings. Elders are generally respected for their experience and wisdom after all, but more seriously, the union was about not making repeatable, horrors of the recent past.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Factors such as Brexit, with regard to the UK, and the loss of freedom of movement, has already impacted many sectors with a reduction in the labour force - to the point, that the current government are appealing to the older generation who are perhaps retired, to get back in to work.
Couple this reduction with the fact that fewer people are choosing to... -
Rita Greenwood made a comment
The interview with Nina Zhang was really interesting and important - for the sake of facts, we need to know how to interpret migration numbers accurately to determine where the global shifts are happening and why and what that does to population numbers in those regions.
When main stream media reports on migration, it rarely looks at the individual... -
Rita Greenwood replied to Barbara C
Thank you for sharing this Barbara, you have really given me pause for thought, with the problem of starting a story in the middle. I will watch the TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; she is someone I have listened to before and learned from.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
The first listing on my search for the term 'migrant', was the Oxford Languages, dictionary definition via Google. Following this were several listings for further definitions and a migrant helpline. There were 4 thumbnails for newspaper headlines mentioning 'upscale in skilled migrants', 'anti-migrant sentiment in Tunisia', the European Commission on...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Hello, I'm Rita from London. I'm taking this short course as a follow up to the Global Ethics course I completed a little while ago now. I enjoyed learning about Global Ethics and hope to gain the same learning and enjoyment from this one too.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I’ve been fortunate enough to never have experienced either a geographic or human-made disaster directly, but have and continue to be affected by the the stories of others around the world. This has led me to donate where and when I can, but sometimes all you can do is listen and acknowledge someone else’s lived experience.
I once met a tremendous person…
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Learning online can be an isolating experience compared to learning in physical community spaces like colleges with classrooms, so it is important to try and get involved online to help alleviate that possible factor. Some people don’t feel great about public speaking, but still have ideas and opinions they want to share, so online learning is a good platform…
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I would think at the very outset, ensuring the safety of the key workers going in to provide aid along with interpreters and local area guides would be an initial priority. Establishing a base, preferably near to where the majority of people in need of aid are, so that your presence is known and they know help is coming. Establishing a way to both treat the…
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I don't use herbs that often to justify growing them specifically, though do like to drink basil in hot water. It would be nice to grow foods I use weekly like peas, carrots and broccoli.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Really good chapter. The Latin and Greek names can be intimidating, but understanding why they are used is so helpful and informative. I have a little Kalanchoe Tomentosa (Chocolate Soldier) and he is very downy! lol
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I've tried twice to sustain potted herbs such as basil, coriander, mint and rosemary, also lavender and was very disheartened at how short a time I was able to keep them going so it is good to know that it is not just me being bad at it! Rosemary, I have heard is difficult to keep alive anyway, requiring quite specific conditions, but I had to try.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I do love trailing plants like Pothos and Philodendrons and enjoy watching their rapid growth. I'm not too drawn to flowering plants, but have in the past had an orchid. I like shopping for plants that fit low-light spaces, but overall I enjoy the maintenance, shopping, photographing, and community aspects of houseplant ownership. I don't do well with Peace...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Enjoyed the info about the tropical plants as I would have assumed they'd be the hardest to look after and was pleased to hear about the relative ease of Kalanchoe's as I have 2, one that looked like the Flaming Katy here and a Tomentosa that I think is beautiful, but such a slow grower; I'm impatient!
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I do enjoy the grooming aspect of plant care, picking off the dead leaves, making macrame plant hangers, and rearranging them in the room.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
The majority of my plants are surrounding my one large living room window, I could not keep count of how many times a day my eyes drift towards looking at them and that must be good on a mental level. So far, I think my favourite aspect of keeping houseplants is picking off the dead leaves! I think my Tradescantia Sitara in particular loves this - she's like...
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I kept a Christmas Poinsettia too, though it died 2 years ago. When I read about them, I thought it was sad that the majority were discarded after Christmas, especially when they started to lose the red colour. Congrats on keeping your one alive for so long! :)
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I am from London and as a child, I would potter about in our garden in Hackney by myself - I would make mud pies and bake them in the sun, I watched the red ants collecting their dead and transporting them to the ant 'graveyard', I had no problems with digging around in the dirt (though I don't like worms). Now living in a small flat with a communal garden,...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Hello :)
Having no access to a garden of my own, I have started to create a green space in my 2-bed flat. I currently have 23 plants, some from propagating, the number could have easily been doubled, but many didn't make it! For some reason, I struggle with Spider Plants, Snake Plants and Peace Lillies, but have done well with Pothos, Phillies and a couple... -
Rita Greenwood made a comment
In the UK, it's Philosophy and as I understand it comes from the ancient Greek language, meaning 'love of wisdom'.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I think at the most basic level there is good reason to have some common philosophy; how we approach one another and the world when stripped of the ways in which we classify ourselves, some kind of fundamental human philosophy (which might be a relation to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Other than at this base level, I believe 'Philosophies' is...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
When considering the origins of western philosophy, it's easy to grasp why it has dominated to the extent it has as historically the Romans took over from the Greeks and we know how vast the Roman empire was in Europe. With the demise of the Roman empire and then dominance of colonial empires, I can imagine western philosophy was 'seeded' in these new...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I chose moral philosophy as I think it comes close to Global Ethics previously studied before this course. Global Ethics seeks to understand the implications of involving ourselves both locally and globally with the view to the choices people make with regard to themes such as migration, the responsibilities of countries to help those in need and how the...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I believe philosophy is a way of understanding human concepts, ways of thinking, behaviours, understanding ourselves and the world around us within an agreed framework. I think there are no topics that philosophy cannot be applied to, but in order for more than one person to understand the thought process behind it, there has to be some form of applied structure.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Hello, I'm Rita from London. I have an interest in philosophy studies generally and completed the course in Global Ethics that was enjoyable. I appreciate the opportunity to learn about other cultures and have an accord with eastern philosophies in particular.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Yes, we do have obligations to future generations, otherwise it's a bit like throwing your toxic rubbish into the street and leaving children to clean it away!
I think especially in the last 5 or so years, I have seen terrifying catastrophes happening to the natural world and don't yet understand the inaction from world 'leaders' to make rapid change. We... -
Rita Greenwood replied to Luke J
@StephenWheat Sure, but I'm not going to ignore austerity measures as they are intrinsically linked with a populations perception of their own wealth.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
It's tricky to answer this question as some information is missing -
are we allowed to tell others about the Doomsday scenario; even if we did, people would most likely just ignore us as some kind of cultist nut?How would I know, I was the only person with this information also? All others reading this page would have this knowledge too?^^
Taking it...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Of the principles, I would think that polluter pays is the most logical of the three proposed; however, if they are no longer around to do this then the compensation still needs to come from somewhere.
A hybrid approach implies a workable solution that comprises at least 2 of the prinicipals combined as a minimum; a way of cherry picking the best parts to...
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@EleanorFreeman Good point! :)
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To have the best outcome whereby future generations are not afflicted with our energy supplier decisions, there would have to be wholesale uptake of only energy supplier A, which in order to have the desired effect on the wellbeing of future generation A, surely it means there is no real choice to be decided. Future B people don't exist.
This question...
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It's a strange argument and maybe too much comes down to wording - we live our lives in a continuum; people are born every single day and so we DO know that there are future people, as we literally know people will be born tomorrow, next week and 9 months from right now!^^
It's a bit like the proverbial 'if a tree falls in the woods...' question. Yes, it...
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'I have no idea who will be around, if any, at the time of the explosion.'
Ah, but then why would you choose 'rush hour'! ;)
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Yes, I do think we have an ethical obligation as we are leaving behind us fewer resources that our current lives have been bettered by when we had more.
For example, the massive decline of insects by numbers and species, will have a domino effect on issues relating to biodiversity and maybe agriculture = food supply.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
In order to have human rights you need to have a parallel system of justice - I don't see how one could work without the other in determining 'rights' you have to understand and have clarity of what is 'wrong' and in order for that to mean anything there needs to be some form of consequence; justice. It should be a solid and stable trinity.
How things are...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Justice I would describe as a financial or liberty-restrictive form of compensation for an infringment upon another's rights or liberties, formally set out by law.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I'm enjoying this course and will definitely pursue something similar when it has finished, but I wonder how we get a world to globally agree on just what is global ethics -
It is not a science, so there are no formulae that all agree on; my worry is the subjectivity of global ethics; that as a concept it can help to do so much good for the planet, but only...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
The issue I pick is coffee.
Ethical considerations that come to light are:
Is it ethical that an industry worth billions at times ignores the poverty and child labour used to bring their product to market, generating incredible wealth for a few?
Is it ethical that children of families living in poverty and in nations with no welfare system, be allowed... -
Rita Greenwood made a comment
I think the thing that stands out most for me is how interconnected the world is and how dependent we are on one another country to country.
The issue of borders and some border control still has it's part to play when calculating risk, resources and security; however, that wealthier nations are increasingly seeing more of the consequences of...
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Rita Greenwood replied to Rita Greenwood
@NivaniSadhai Absolutely! :)
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
This is a theme I'm increasingly becoming aware of; I watch environmental and cultural documentaries and combinations of both and find similar stories like 'the tragedy of the commons', played out around the world.
The ethical question or issue raised could be, if you are already a poor farmer or poor fisherman in a rural landscape trying to survive, there...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
In a previous answer, I referred to climate change being researched as a phenomenon since the mid 19th century, so for it to be included within the realms of 'fake news' a very much more recent concept, is just untrue.
Greenpeace had been sounding the alarm on climate change decades ago and in more recent history Al Gore and his 'An Inconvenient Truth'...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I think you need both mitigation and adaptation; you can't just keep putting sticking plasters on a bigger wound and constantly re-adapting to changes doesn't sound realistic.
I would really like to see whatever central international body that oversees these things (if one exists) bring to task countries that are considerably failing to do their part.
I...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
For my pennies-worth, I'm fed up with summits and targets and broken promises. Governments know what needs to be done, they are just too afraid to do it for fear of upsetting either party donors or big business; this myopia leaves me shaking my head; just how long do they think they have to milk the planet for all it's worth? We had global warming, then...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
At the risk of sounding a bit '1984', I like the concept of carbon controls or points and think what would be wrong with implementing something akin to this now as we move forward to hopes of living more sustainably on the planet? If everyone had a certain amount of points to 'spend' per month or annum, we would be forced to confront just how much we consume...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
A quick look at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_climate_change_science
shows that first knowledge of climate change was being noted in the early 19th century, though I would presume this information would have been kept within the academic spheres of the time. On that presumption, I don't think you can blame previous generations if the...
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I understand the cap on children argument, but it is definitely an uncomfortable consideration. I tend to look at the one-child policy in China and why it ended as a failed experiment; it raised other un-forseen and undesirable consequences.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
'You wouldn’t talk about buying and building your way out of a crisis that has been created by buying and building things.'
This point in Greta's speech was the most striking to me because of it's truth. Governments around the world are mostly still thinking in terms of big business models and they are far too slow to change those models. In truth, they...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Yes, I still believe controlled borders is the best option of the three (open, controlled, closed) if only for the sake of monitoring the movements of people especially in light of the various reasons people choose to migrate in the first place (war, disasters, poverty, economic, family etc).
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I don't have a issue with problem 2 and it's solution, only thinking in terms of the current extremes we are facing right now with the pandemic, a sudden change in normal working life, as this has shown us, has left many working people without recourse to funds they may have already contributed to.
Problem 3 seems to be describing someone of refugee status...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
In respect of a country protecting its resources for the general well-being of its population, controlled borders seem to be the most ethical option.
Taxation is not optional (unless you are rich and powerful enough to find the loopholes), so your average employee is especially concerned with how their tax 'contributions' are used and fairly so.
The...
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I agree with the professor's objections.
I think an underlying issue with the idea of cultural preservation is also one of ethnicity and identity and often the lines get blurred. Closing borders to preserve a culture incites 'othering', fosters exclusion and hinders learning more about the world and all people in it.
My personal opinion, what better way to... -
Rita Greenwood made a comment
No, I don't find the argument convincing - I mentioned in my previous answer, not all cultural traditions are positives and the extreme examples I would use to highlight this: arranged marriages and FGM. Migration might be a route to escape both these infringements upon an individuals right to choose how they live and with who and what they do with their own...
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Wish there was just a bit more space to write this better :)
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
'People value their culture and, according to the argument from cultural preservation, it follows that they have the right to prevent others from settling within the country’s borders.'
I think the world would be a much more defensively aggressive place if this were the case! That you would consider barring entry to your country, to someone from another...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I agree that a country has the right to control it's borders, with responsibility.
An easy example of an unethical border would be the one between Cambodia and Vietnam, still to this day dotted with undetected land mines.I briefly knew someone, that worked for a charity 'on the front lines' maybe 20 years ago. She told me she was at the border between...
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Rita Greenwood replied to Philip Smith
'Actual borders are often disfunctional for various reasons - they may have been set arbitrarily by colonial or imperial powers, they may have simply followed a natural feature or line on a map rather than reflecting the people who lived there or there...'
This point reminded me of the partitioning of India and the horrific consequences of drawing that line...
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@SusanneCochary Thanks so much Susanne!^^ The whole series is really worth a watch if you have the time :)
Last night, I watched one from the same series 'Rotten', on garlic! Garlic, of all things, is really a massive crop monetarily speaking and of course again, run very much like a cartel with even some human rights abuses in there too. Very eye opening... -
'Maybe a little more flexibility and willingness to be open is what we need in an ever changing world?'
I agree, we are increasingly more interconnected and interdependent, that a review of our borders should be assessed with more frequence. Seeing how quickly border controls are changed in our current covid situation, it doesn't seem like a tricky thing...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I understand the basic precept of utilitarianism, but wonder just how does a country go about assessing and calculating the well being of the population at large, especially on each individual immigrants merit? It sounds impossible.
It could be viewed, that wherever there is a patient - there should be a doctor to treat that patient; it doesn't matter if...
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The premises and conclusion are true, just not realistic.
As in an earlier answer, there are still problems such as human trafficking and transportation of drugs that make open borders a problem. In light of just these two examples, I think it would be unethical to have open borders as human and drug smuggling bring misery to innumerable people.
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I might be dabbling in pedantry here, but
'We have seen the danger in the USA of people already living in the country feeling (rightly or wrongly) that they have been marginalised or that their culture is somehow being undermined.'
The Native American had 15,000 of not being marginalised until the European settler came. ;)
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I think it's trying to say
Edwin and his family have a better quality of life in France than Ghana, so they are happy.
He makes a contribution with his taxes, so the economy is happy.
The happy economy means there is better future employment opportunity for Charlotte, so she will be happy.
So overall, more people are happy, I thinkI could be very...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I think 'open borders', suggests a free-for-all approach to migration which doesn't seem sensible and some of the concepts offered, abstract. In reality there is always context and a narrative behind migration; terms like utilitarianism are constrictive and quite unhelpful in trying to decide on the multifarious reasons behind the movement of people.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Yes, it is ethical for countries to control their borders especially in light of human trafficking and drug cartels.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Without an open border, how do you make a controlled border ethical? To my mind, you of course need a level of security that may involve guns to deter the very small minority of people that would try to bring deliberate harm to a population. But I think there should be, in the same way as our justice system in the UK works, a view of 'innocent until proven...
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Rita Greenwood replied to Luke J
I struggle with the notion of the UK having a 'tipping point' for one particular reason - I don't think it's that we are filling up like a jug of water about to spill over, more likely it's the continued measures of austerity, 12 years of it and more to come + the massive reductions to services and housing that force a population closer together.
-'1.5...
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P.s. They work in Ghana and Ivory Coast, specifically to try and address some of the issues you covered.
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@PhilipSmith Oh wow, that is so interesting and thank you for the extra research! ^^ I wonder if you saw the documentary on Netflix, series 2 of 'Rotten'? If not, it's a worthwhile-watch series highlighting some of the underhand and heart breaking practices used to bring various consumer products to the rest of the world - I didn't know avocado's could be so...
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@PhilipSmith I agree with your thoughts here and am reminded (though I'm not sure of the origins) of the adage ' you can tell if someone comes from 'old money' as they are the ones re-soling their shoes and patching their jackets! It's often people with 'new' money, that enjoy showing it off^^
I agree that the averagely wealthy and financially restrained...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Two things in particular struck me,
*that people do have a value idea of what their labour is worth and
*that betterment of ones life is a very common goal
both, I think are universal to people across the globe. Thinking on this, the earlier discussions of what global ethics encompasses came to mind and I re-read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.... -
Rita Greenwood made a comment
An ex-partner migrated from Poland to the UK - he was genuinely in love with one of the top UK football teams (Arsenal and rightly so!^^), but ultimately came to work hard and better his life and he succeeded in this; he used to talk of when Poland was under communist rule, queuing for bread and curfews overseen with armed patrols. I visited Poland on one...
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Rita Greenwood replied to Rita Greenwood
P.s. I can clearly see the need to have a security system around movement of people, but a part of me rails against the notion of nations and borders and the problems fostered by these concepts.
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
As a national of a country you are usually (but not always) free to use the resources of that country - so for instance in the UK we have the NHS, providing free medical treatment as necessary for the benefit of the UK population regardless of class, race, gender etc. Another free resource is the education system in the UK, it is free and also a right that...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Really enjoying this course so far and hope I can keep up!
Loving the opportunity to literally 'think', which is harder that it sounds and especially to try and think critically.I want more!^^
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
My initial reaction, yes, on the face of it, it would seem too demanding - the moment you imply something has to be denied, you start with a problem. Like dieting, the wisdom now is to add more GOOD stuff to the plate first!^^
With people becoming increasingly aware of the issues global ethics poses, I think moving forward it can be entirely rational to...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
I'm sure the global poor are not demanding the money of the affluent, only the right to live and live with dignity. But maybe this is semantics.
Taking the national minimal hourly pay rate for the UK of £8.20 for an 18-24 year old, this roughly translates, give or take, to a gross net income of £17000, assuming paid holiday of 4 weeks annually and sick pay...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
No, not all cases are like the Steinhoff cases.
Going back to the drowning child example, even if I know I am responsible for pushing the child in, I can still act to rectify my actions. If I know I have bought an article of fast fashion that in it's making has disregarded the safety and welfare of the worker, I can act, moving forwards, to redress...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
Yes. It is possibly helpful to distinguish between the positive and negative duties as it implies that either duty will bear a consequence on the action/inaction we then take. People respond to different types of motivation - some like the carrot, others the stick!
Regardless of whether the duty is positive or negative, the OUTCOME is that desired...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
The chocolate industry is another along with the fast fashion textile industry responsible for upholding and maintaining modern slavery conditions, knowingly. A sector that is literally worth billions still has the 'little guy', the farmer at the end of chain never even knowing the taste of the fruit he has sown that becomes chocolate yet locked into what...
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
In trying to use the terms literally as either 'do or do not'/rights and wrongs/positives and negatives I would think that 8 of the Ten Commandments were negative duties or bans.
With the 5 pillars of Islam, I would think that all five could be considered positive and they are more 'commanding' of what is to be done as opposed to the commandments that... -
Rita Greenwood made a comment
Knowing how the child got into the water doesn't change anything for me - save the child, ask questions later and wash your clothes.
Not trying to trivialise anything, but a quote from Yoda comes to mind -
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
Help the child or do not help the child; either choice bears a consequence, but the idea of watching a life...
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@LukeJ It's a complicated one; yes as an individual you should not bear the guilt associated with the actions of ancestors, BUT it's the overall economic development of that nation that is the real value - if Britain is a wealthy country now because it built itself on the back of empire, you today are now able to utilise the benefits of that historical...
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Rita Greenwood replied to Adam Giblin
I do! :)
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
The idea of an overfilled lifeboat and the USA giving away all it's resources to eliminate poverty as a parallel seems muddy to me at best. It is not 'like for like' and the reality is that we know people drown frequently in attempts to better their lives and I think it's pretty much a given that the (inward looking) US would never commit such an act of...
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Rita Greenwood replied to Glennis Wood
'In some respects then, Singer's idea of giving to stop poverty & food would only exacerbate the population issue.'
It feels like what is being said here potentially politicizes children and the right to procreate (which as discussed previously is a human right); we would then be in the dangerous waters of deciding who gets the right to procreate and...
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Rita Greenwood replied to Christopher Smith
“Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have the answers.” -
SocratesLol^^
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Rita Greenwood made a comment
It may be that aid alone in the form of donations doesn't work, but there has to be a solution that helps to resolve the fact that many nations benefit from the labours of those living in poverty; those most commonly known about being the cheap labour found in the fashion industry, cocoa and coffee production at the roots level, mining of mica with little...
