why dont people care much about poverty in their own country?

Question

everyone is concerned about poverty in Africa but i live in Australia and there is a lot of poverty here. Walk through Sydney or Melbourne and there are many people begging. I m not saying that it doesnt happen overseas but i think we should get the countries we live in right before we can fix other countries in Africa or South America. Also why does everyone worrie about the state of Africa (I know its the poorest contenent) but South America is heading the same way. I dont do much for poverty but i dont see the point when Australians at least are being hit with a huge blow because of the price of petroil. and because petrol is expensive then food is expensive and prices of everything have gone way through the roof meaning people dont have money left to bring up families or keep themselves out of debt. Anyway i think that we should concentrate on poverty in our own coutries before we think about helping Afrrica..... Any thoughts please let me know!!!!

Answer 1

The same thing holds true in America. We are so busy helping "third world countries" feed their poverty stricken people that we forget there are people in our own country who go to bed hungry at night. I think we should all, each country, take care of our own first, and then, if there is anything left, help others. It's not right for a child in your own country to go hungry while we are feeding people in other countries.

Answer 2

i agree. there is plenty of poverty in the u.s. too, and it keeps increasing. people that have never had to experience poverty, or even a middle-class lifestyle, know what its like. they see all these pictures of all the poor and starving people in africa and forget about the ones here. but the rich arent the only ones hurting us. i work in a grocery store, and there a lot of people who use food stamps. most of them leave the store in cadillacs and mercedes. there are so many people who get help from the government who dont need it, and they're hurting the entire country. now granted, there are plenty of people who do need financial help from the government and im all for helping them, but only the disabled and people who work their asses off day and night and can still only BARELY pay the bills and buy enough food for their family. i agree that a country should take care of its own problems before it helps others. as the old sayin goes, "charity starts at home."

Answer 3

i understand your point of you, but this is how i feel. I live in America and I live off of disability income which is considered "poverty level". Even I have the opportunity to help the poor. Poor, hungry people in America can at least beg on the streets. the rich people driving by in their Mercedes will hand them maybe $5, if a homeless person gets $5 from three people a day he can at least eat and there are clinics here who will treat them for practically nothing. so being poor in civilized nations is not like being poor in Africa. poor in Africa means there IS NO FOOD PERIOD. people die from hunger, and they get AIDS. so to be honest i don't feel sorry for the beggers in countries like ours, they can do pretty good for themselves and they have homeless shelters for them.

i live off of disability income and I can afford to hand out $5 dollar bills, sometimes ten dollar bills to poor people here. i do it on a regular basis. i don't drive a fancy car and that's fine with me b/c i'd rather help those who need a meal here or there then try and save up for something stupid and meaningless that i don't need like expensive shoes or a nice car. i'm happy with that. the world has blessed me with a roof over my head and food on my table and hell i go out to eat at least a few times a week. so i'm doing pretty damn good. i think there are too many people focused on the problem and not the solution and therein lies the problem.

people do care about the poverty in their own country, but our first goal across the globe should be to save lives and no where in the world is that more needed than in Africa right now.

Adina

Answer 4

I don't know the statistics in Austrailia however the dirty little secret in America is that poverty, REAL poverty, is overwhelmingly White and overwhelmingly RURAL.

This however is not politically correct and it does not play well in the media that depends on endless video of "poor urban youth" to frighten and induce guilt in the White upper middle class. The poor urban youth screaming about his rights and discrimination from the system is doing so while wearing three pounds of gold "bling" around his neck and an expensive "FUBU" jacket on his back.

Turn those cameras on the Appalachian mountains or the Ozarks and see what REAL American poverty looks like. Skinny White kids with skinny parents, nobody wearing shoes and eating only what dad can hunt or trap or afford from a job in a coal mine that is slowly killing him. At least they are not screaming for "rights" and hand outs and its THEY who are still the heart and soul of America. They don't scream and demand, so nobody cares about them. They still take care of their own.

Answer 5

It is important to understand that the opposit of "poor" isn't "rich". The opposit of "poor" is "not poor". And, especially here in the US, "poor" is largely a choice.

People, consciously or not, make choices that directly impact their ability to earn an income. They drop out of school, they make poor decisions concerning relationships, they use drugs, etc, etc.

And the very worst thing we do as a society is support these poor decisions with liberal-guilt driven social programs and/or charities that, in reality, do more harm than good.

Don't get me wrong, there are people that do need societies help. These people, however, are so few and so far between, that it is unlikely that you know or have even seen someone who was truly in need

The overwhelming vast majority of "poor" people, are only poor because society enables them to be poor. If you truly, deeply, honestly, want to help these people, STOP HELPING THEM. Nothing motivates like an empty stomach.

Answer 6

i think that poverty is in all country but africa is the worst .oz cant have to much poverty because they are so rich countries and they dont have safety like police , but in africa its worse czs they dont hav emuch safety .thats why most countries have bein sending police officers to this county 4 protection . oz doesnt have more than 99.6 people dieing from poverty EVERYDAY i know that price of petrol is gone up but we have to accept it
iam from nz and our fuel price is very high like 170 think of others before pointing out .

Answer 7

If we prepare them, they gained't favor to be bringing little ones right into a international the position they could't be good cared for thus my answer is practise and then enable them make recommended alternatives to no matter if and what percentage little ones they could truly deliver into the international and preserve

Answer 8

If I don't see it, if it doesn't affect me, then there is no problem.

When's World Cup on?

Answer 9

why should they, when they have America to do that for them?