Is the comfortable western life come at the expense of the third world?

Question

I believe it does. I've tried to post 2 other variations of this question and they never made it. I guess this is just too subversive?

Answer 1

Hardly subversive. There just ain't enough people in America who can think that deep.

I might be subversive but here goes.....our nation generally feel entitled. Our standards are so high that we have no comprehension of what the rest of the world is like. We continue to buy and drive our SUV's and continue to buy gas no matter how expensive it gets. We don't let oil be drilled off our shores...conservationists throw fits. We have tons of untapped oil under our own earth but we continue to be content with getting our oil overseas. We need to pull our heads out of our you-know-what and face reality-- we either need to use the oil on our ground or create alternative energy sources. But, we are too busy living in one city and driving to another city to work. Many wouldn't ever consider taking a bus and most don't car pool because it is much too inconvient. So....we send our young men and women to the middle east so that they can die for our country. Now, don't get me wrong....I am not a liberal I am non party because the parties spend so much time playing the blame game. If I hear whepons of mass distruction one more time I will scream. They had two weeks to move things like that out of the country. Also, way back when Clinton was in power this war was in the works. If the democrats were in power there would still be a war. If mickey mouse was in power there would still be a war.
It is all about power. And I believe there are a handful of powerful MEN who call the shots.
I am very much a proud American. I have a flag out by my front door. I also believe that 911 would be happening often if we didn't have a military. We need them, and we applaud them, then we mock them and protest that power struggle

I know I am an enigma because I honor our militry and I am also leary of what goes on when it comes to power.

I don't think that the issuse are prayer in school room, or stem cell resaerch, or abortion....those issues are used to sway groups of people. It is just a gamble who will sway more people.

If Kerry were president I bet ya we would still be in the middle east. Afterall anyone who has enough power to be president has to compermise to even get in the race.

Yeah, we are flawed big time, but in the world we have freedoms that other countries can't begin to understand. We can come and go as we please. I don't drive 30 minutes to my daughters place in fear that I might come across a terrorist group.

In a way we need to trust our system. We also can't be a bunch of sheep running off a cliff just because of PC
I am so sick of those who PC then get in their SUV's and go camping.

Men and women over the generations have died for our freedoms. Yet, we are above others. We deserve our rights.Yet we demean those who serve us.

One more thing. Our countries drug issues. We have upper and upper middle class people using without batting an eye. They want the best bud around. We don't blink when we send secret missions to south america to blow up millions of dollors of drugs.
South America is our next worry, also so is Korea and especially China.

I am worried about future generations. When we fall we will fall hard.

Answer 2

I hope not. I hope that we're not exploiting them. I admit my own ignorance on the issue...

I had someone chastise me one day because I was buying inexpensive products that had been made in third world countries (little stickers on the bottom gave them away) and was thereby exploiting the people who made these products in factories where they were paid 10 cents a day (or something to that effect.) So I argued, ok, if I don't purchase these products and no one does, then theoretically, eventually the factory closes down & now instead of making 10 cents the person makes nothing, is out of a job. Now their struggling economy is even worse. How is this helping? Even if it was a low-paying job, if it was the only job that they had... Admittedly I'm not well-versed in global economics, politics etc. Shopping is one of my guilty pleasures but I never thought of it as a moral issue any time I made a purchase. Presumably it's good business to source out products inexpensively from other countries than to produce them here where the markup would be much greater. Businesses in our capitalist, first world society wouldn't feel any guilt if they are exploiting poor countries. I don't know what the answer is because if we boycott every retailer or company that has suppliers in the third world, I don't see how this helps the third world. I guess it would only help if the businesses then gave more money for the products, raising their costs & cutting into their profit margin. I don't know that businesses are this charitable.

Perhaps your question is subversive but this is a free country. You should be allowed to ask any question! That is your right. Just as it's my right to give an (uninformed) answer/opinion...

We are very lucky to enjoy this comfortable western life. I would hate to think that my life is at the expense of anyone else. I work hard to earn the comfortable living that I have. I still struggle to pay my mortgage & bills, but I know that based on where I grew up that there were opportunities available which I would not have had in other parts of the world and I'm very grateful for that.

Peace out.

:)

Answer 3

Depends your deffinition of comfort, as well as expense. There are some in the comfortable western world that become the expense. Look at poverty and study how a person in a poverty situation with the resources around them could get out of that situation and be in the comfort zone. Same goes for the "third world", same situations apply there as they do here. The more you keep poor or in lower reserve finances the easier it is to keep everyone working. Who really lives a comfortable life anyway??? Besides the wealthy.

Answer 4

Western life is materially comfortable. Third world has it own philosophy of life in determining what is comfort and what is not.
Third world Knows that mere possessions do not make life happy.Western life cannot take the comfort of 3rd world so the answer is From the third world those who desire for material comforts go west and from the West those who want peace in life come East. It is a mutual exchange.

Answer 5

No it is does not. If the entire population of the third world were to disappear, the standard of living in the first world would drop only insignificantly.
Most of the 1st world countries COULD be entirely self-sustaining while maintaining a healthy 1st world economy.
IN the end the comfortable western life comes from high level of technological development both in industry and in agriculture not from exploiting anyone.

Answer 6

No. A society can only utilize the resources they have. If they are incapable of doing so, then they cannot compete with those who do. Resources can be people, location, materials, and even culture.

An outstanding example of this is Japan who went from fuedal to technical in two generstions with nothing but their drive, people, and culture.

Answer 7

I took a sociology course is college which taught that it does indeed. The third world (African, Asian) nations were colonized and subjugated by some of the first world nations, which exploited their resources to use for their own benefit. Although these countries are (for the most part) independent, they are still struggling to get things back the wat they were centuries before.

Answer 8

No,it comes at the expense of an uncomfortable life.The third world creates their own lives.

Answer 9

You may not understand but those in the "third world" have created their conditions of life,just as we in the west have earned ours. It is a matter of Karma,you lived before you had this body and you will live after it is gone.

Answer 10

No I don't believe it does. If every country was like the U.S, and produced valuable trade items necessary to every other country (i.e if everybody actually cooperated) the world would be almost perfect.