We are rich - source of all tensions and hate

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

Recently, a French? religious man, L'Abb? Pierre died, he was a priest who fought against poverty and founded Emmaus, a organization for the poor.

and i came across this speech he gave years ago


(in French) " les premiers violent, les provocateur de toutes violences c'est vous. et le soir dans vos belles maisons, vous allez embrasser vos petits enfants avec votre belle conscience. Au regard de Dieu, vous avez probablement plus de sang sur vos mains d'inconscient, que n'en aura jamais le d?sesp?r? qui ? pris les armes pour essayer sortir de son d?sespoir "

The first violent, the ones who provoke all violence: you.
And at night, in your beautiful houses, when you are kissing your kids with your good conscience.
Through God’s eyes, you do have more blood on your unconscious hands than will ever have the desperate who took the weapons to try and get out of despair

THE VIDEO
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dS1Sjl1EaX8

any thought on that?

[Robman?]

Sounds like he'd rather we lived in mud huts 

Something does have to be done about poverty. I think countries should think about the poverty within their own borders before they think about Africa. Of course, thats not to say Africa doesn't deserve it.

I remember a study not too long ago that said there wasn't enough copper wire in the world to bring everyone out of poverty. The copper just doesn't exist.

[Izzy]

Recently, a French? religious man, L'Abb? Pierre died, he was a priest who fought against poverty and founded Emmaus, a organization for the poor.

and i came across this speech he gave years ago


(in French) " les premiers violent, les provocateur de toutes violences c'est vous. et le soir dans vos belles maisons, vous allez embrasser vos petits enfants avec votre belle conscience. Au regard de Dieu, vous avez probablement plus de sang sur vos mains d'inconscient, que n'en aura jamais le d?sesp?r? qui ? pris les armes pour essayer sortir de son d?sespoir "

The first violent, the ones who provoke all violence: you.
And at night, in your beautiful houses, when you are kissing your kids with your good conscience.
Through God?s eyes, you do have more blood on your unconscious hands than will ever have the desperate who took the weapons to try and get out of despair

THE VIDEO
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dS1Sjl1EaX8

any thought on that?

I think his rambling point isnt even that - its just rambling...

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

Recently, a French? religious man, L'Abb? Pierre died, he was a priest who fought against poverty and founded Emmaus, a organization for the poor.

and i came across this speech he gave years ago


(in French) " les premiers violent, les provocateur de toutes violences c'est vous. et le soir dans vos belles maisons, vous allez embrasser vos petits enfants avec votre belle conscience. Au regard de Dieu, vous avez probablement plus de sang sur vos mains d'inconscient, que n'en aura jamais le d?sesp?r? qui ? pris les armes pour essayer sortir de son d?sespoir "

The first violent, the ones who provoke all violence: you.
And at night, in your beautiful houses, when you are kissing your kids with your good conscience.
Through God’s eyes, you do have more blood on your unconscious hands than will ever have the desperate who took the weapons to try and get out of despair

THE VIDEO
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dS1Sjl1EaX8

any thought on that?

I think his rambling point isnt even that - its just rambling...

alright ... i guess it's easier to think that - our little mental shield ....

[The Dog]

wat-ever, didn't you just go on vacation recently or something?  How dare you spend money on yourself when people around the world are dying.  Their blood is on your hands you selfish bastard!!!

 

[Axl4Prez2004]

Okay, maybe I'm wrong, but is the fellow quoted here trying to say the haves should feel guilty for what they have?  That's pretty pathetic if I'm understanding the quote.  To make it worse, he advocates violence to reverse the have-not's situation, not hard work.  If this guy wasn't a priest, he'd have a future in rap music.  What an ass. 

"Pop a nine in his hand, shake your fist at The Man,
he owns all the land, domination's his plan!"  -insert repetitive bass beat here. 

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

Okay, maybe I'm wrong, but is the fellow quoted here trying to say the haves should feel guilty for what they have?? That's pretty pathetic if I'm understanding the quote.? To make it worse, he advocates violence to reverse the have-not's situation, not hard work.? If this guy wasn't a priest, he'd have a future in rap music.? What an ass.?

"Pop a nine in his hand, shake your fist at The Man,
he owns all the land, domination's his plan!"? -insert repetitive bass beat here.?

ahaha that was funny
no really, the guy is, in all sincerity, a saint.
he is the number one celebrity in france, and god knows how much we like to diss people.
his character is not the issue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abb?_Pierre


it's really about the haves and the have-not - as you said.
i know i own a nintendo wii.
but i can't help myslef but think that i am part of the problem. considering their are kids dying.

hannahat ... i know ... it's crazy.
i? know we can't do shit about it.
i just wanted to know if everybody thought the same as me, i guess not ....

i really think that every crisis in the world (from al quaida to venezuela) is mainly driven from our ever changing form of capitalism: we want more, and some have less.

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

the end of the speech

those who took the whole dish in their plate, leaving other's plates empty, and, having everything, say with good concience, us, who have everything, we are for peace. I know that I much shout to them, first violents, creators of every violence, it's you.

no really.
how can we put aside that argument.
just think of 5 kids in a room, and one kids enter with a bag full of candies and do not want to share ... i mean ... really. just logic.

[TAP]

wat-ever, didn't you just go on vacation recently or something?  How dare you spend money on yourself when people around the world are dying.  Their blood is on your hands you selfish bastard!!!

 

He should sell his computer, and use the proceeds to feed s few hungry people.

Anyway....the irony of a catholic priest promoting redistribution of wealth is immense.

[MadmanDan]

This is comunism !!

[Axl4Prez2004]

Yo Wat-ever, I am by no means a 100% "survival of the fittest, winner-take-all" capitalist. ?Of course we must care for those who don't have the power to care for themselves, the elderly, the physically and mentally challenged, that's the mark of a civilized society.

But, about the kids with the candy. ?The other kids are better off, candy will just rot their teeth. ?

Here's the deal. ?As long as your economic system provides an opportunity for folks to rise above their "born into" status, you're in good shape. ?Education and hard work are the ingredients for success. ?Those who are jealous of folks richer than themselves waste their life away with negative emotion. ?Money may make people more secure in their finances, but money doesn't bring happiness. ?I've never been rich, but I know that my family is worth more money than there is in the world. ? ?

Tensions and hate, they'll always be around. ?They are human emotions. ?If you feel guilty about playing Wii, go down to a homeless shelter and play with the less fortunate. ? ? ? ?

While going to post this, Tap1966 made me laugh my ass off!  Thank you for this quote. 
"Anyway....the irony of a catholic priest promoting redistribution of wealth is immense."

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

grrrr .... alright ... i'm off to L'Oreal's office, i'll answer from there 

[-Jack-]

This is comunism !!

 . Sorry made me laugh.

I agree... it would work in an ideal society.. but everybody would have to do it.. and it just wouldn't happen.

[Gordon Gekko]

I've always been more of person who is looking for some kind of logical synthesis between two movements. Perhaps I am idealistic, but I simply believe there are socialist components that will deliver benefits to both society and business, and capitalist components that will do the same. We have had leadership very infrequently that sees that. I suppose I am more of a Moralist - I want whatever benefits people the most without making life lose its competitive zest, that satisfies the requirements of fairness and morality. I also think these requirements change with the times.

[The Dog]

Okay, maybe I'm wrong, but is the fellow quoted here trying to say the haves should feel guilty for what they have?  That's pretty pathetic if I'm understanding the quote.  To make it worse, he advocates violence to reverse the have-not's situation, not hard work.  If this guy wasn't a priest, he'd have a future in rap music.  What an ass. 

"Pop a nine in his hand, shake your fist at The Man,
he owns all the land, domination's his plan!"  -insert repetitive bass beat here. 

hannahat ... i know ... it's crazy.
i  know we can't do shit about it.
i just wanted to know if everybody thought the same as me, i guess not ....

i really think that every crisis in the world (from al quaida to venezuela) is mainly driven from our ever changing form of capitalism: we want more, and some have less.

I do agree with you somewhat - but the guy shouldn't be using such dramatic phrases like "their blood is on your hands".  When I watch these shows of how rich people spend their money on 30,000 dollar necklaces and 2,000 pair of pants, yeah it makes me wonder a little....  I know if I had that kind of money there is no way I could purchase things like that, I would feel almost compelled to give a lot of it away.  of course I wasn't raised rich though, so who knows if I was if I'd still have that same attitude.

I agree about the crisis stemming from different economic situations.  I've said a dozen times on here before, if we were able to fix Iraqs economy/unemployment rate you'd stop half the violence right there and the number of recruits for terrorist groups would plummet.  People with a job, food, a roof over their heads and some disposable income would think twice about blowing themselves up....  Right now they have nothing to lose.

[freedom78]

I certainly agree that poverty is a source of conflict and violence around the world.  What I'm not clear on is whether this is meant as a comment against everyone in "the West" or just the wealthy (yes, I know that most citizens of Western states are wealthy by the standards of most of the world). 

I don't think a guy who works hard to buy a house and put his kids through college is a bad guy with "blood on his hands."  I'm just not sure what this priest wants.  Do we redistribute the wealth of the West, equally across the world?  Is that what he wants? 

Some figures:

The "West's" Population:
US: 300 Million
Europe: 730 Million
Canada: 32 Million
Australia: 20 Million
Japan: 128 Million 

Rough Total: 1.2 Billion

China: 1.3 Billion
India: 1.1 Billion
Rest of the Less than Wealthy World: 3 Billion

Total: 5.4 Billion

A thought: Spreading the wealth of the West equally across the rest of the world would not overcome poverty.  It would simply increase the poverty in the West.  This is not a solution.  I'm guessing the recently departed L'Abbe Pierre wasn't a math whiz.

In sum, I certainly respect someone who dedicates his/her life to eradicating poverty.  But if every man or woman who has even the slightest bit of disposable income gave that income to the poor, it would not eradicate poverty.  Poverty needs better solutions than wealth redistribution (and guilt trips!).  Issues of birth rate in countries like China and India are paramount to solving problems like this.  African states can't develop strong agricultural economies because, with each guilt trip, the West floods their markets with free grain, absolutely devastating any local agricultural economy.  Our goodwill often hurts the poor, in the long term, more than our complacence.       

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

I'm glad you guys responded.

I know the guy used dramatic terms, he is ... was a priest after all. And "the blood on our hands" is just an image afterall - maybe true image.

Surprisingly, i do not blame Paris Hilton and the very rich people.
I think our blindness comes from the fact that we think we don't have blood on our hands.
It Comes from the fact that we see our unemployed and our hard working middle class men as poor people and think that we are clean.
But the fact is that we ALL want to get richer and bigger - that's why we work - this is the biggest break on world peace.
200,000 middle class men working hard to buy a fridge and a car is doing more harm than Paris Hilton buying a Humvee.
That's my opinion.

Let me explain.
Hannahat, you say that it would the right choice to fix iraq economy and bring jobs that everybody.
But doing that we are transfering our Sacred Theory of Growth to the rest of the world.
There is ONE thing that NO ONE - expect some crazy revolutionnaries - want to discuss in the media and the business world : GROWTH.
We think that growth is the key.
We don't even question it.
And i think that, there lies the problem.
Growth means "more". i work in L'Oreal and Growth is a religious word here. We are going 8% this year, and my division is doing 12%.

In France, we have socialists, they're strong, and even them don't question growth.

But, if you look closer, you will see that our world has changed:
- Turn off the light when you're not in a room
- Turn off the water when you brush your teeth
- Save power
- Save water
- save gas
- buy hybrid cars

it's starting with ecology and environnment, but i predict that it will soon transfer to the economy : we will stop growing.
Because it's killing us.

Ressources are limimted we all know that.
Locally and globally.
Going to a poor country and applying the same model there won't fix anything.
Because our model is based on a simple fact: you work you win.
But if i win, you lose.
If there is 100 dollars, and i work harder than you, i get the 100 dollars. Simple.

Basically we cannot all go up. And i think that until we go down, africa will stay down. And that one day tensions will get bigger and bigger. And will come to us, like 911.
911 is an example of the crisis coming to us. Touching us.
I know there are other parameters, but if you take it down, it all comes back to poverty.


One escape might be that our economy needs to quickly shift to a real "knowledge and immaterial" economy.
when we will be trading words and though, maybe then, we will all be driving jaguar limousines.

?_?

[freedom78]

One escape might be that our economy needs to quickly shift to a real "knowledge and immaterial" economy.
when we will be trading words and though, maybe then, we will all be driving jaguar limousines.

There will come a time when the nature of growth changes, due to technology.  Given how we use computers today, I'm sure anyone can imagine a future where nearly every repetitive task (production) is handled by machines. 

[MadmanDan]

My god, WAT-EVER, are you for real?? I just read your last post, and now you're not just being a communist, but your theories are beyond stupidity !


   Working hard for your money is wrong, evolving is wrong....and don't even tell me I misread, because I didn't.

  Why should we all be the same? Why should we all drive Jaguar limousines?? This is bullshit, even in theory!

If you truly believe what you're saying, then quit your job, sell your house and go live in a village somewere...but as long as you're living in our market economy-based society, just shut the fuck up !

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

My god, WAT-EVER, are you for real?? I just read your last post, and now you're not just being a communist, but your theories are beyond stupidity !


   Working hard for your money is wrong, evolving is wrong....and don't even tell me I misread, because I didn't.

  Why should we all be the same? Why should we all drive Jaguar limousines?? This is bullshit, even in theory!

If you truly believe what you're saying, then quit your job, sell your house and go live in a village somewere...but as long as you're living in our market economy-based society, just shut the fuck up !

thank you, you can go now.
come back when you're calm

[The Dog]

My god, WAT-EVER, are you for real?? I just read your last post, and now you're not just being a communist, but your theories are beyond stupidity !


   Working hard for your money is wrong, evolving is wrong....and don't even tell me I misread, because I didn't.

  Why should we all be the same? Why should we all drive Jaguar limousines?? This is bullshit, even in theory!

If you truly believe what you're saying, then quit your job, sell your house and go live in a village somewere...but as long as you're living in our market economy-based society, just shut the fuck up !

thank you, you can go now.
come back when you're calm

i have to agree with madman here....i don't think you are thinking realistically wat-ever.  if your company doesn't have growth, and lets say you have a LOSS of profit - its likely people will be fired/laid off.  how is that good? you are just creating MORE poor people.  Economic growth leads to MORE jobs which leads to more people getting employed which leads to LESS poverty.

conserving and doing "less" with the environment is MUCH different then economic conservation.  it almost sounds like you want to have a society where EVERYONE lives on the bare minimum?