Compassion anyone?

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

I cannot understand this whole SNAP debacle that is being played out and talked about. I do not understand how ANYONE can be against feeding the hungry. I am willing to concede that there will be waste and fraud. I cannot imagine what system(s) would not have *some* waste and fraud. That said, waste and fraud are bad, but, let's not go throwing the baby out with the bath water, eh?

Food is NOT an option for people. Neither is water. These two things are HUMAN RIGHTS as far as I am concerned. Nobody, anywhere, should be deprived of access to food and water. And you know what, these things, in their most basic form (ie. basic food staples, not fancy food feasts), should be free. That's right, free. For *every single person*.

I understand that to some cold-hearted demons out there, people only deserve food and water if they *work* for it. Well fuck that. Work is not the pre-requisite, IMO, for food or water. Those should be denied to NOBODY.

I have a question to ask folks here, and I'm not sure I will be able to stomach the responses, but here goes:

Under what circumstances should a hungry person be denied food/water?

Comments

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Third world problems don't apply to the US

You'd be surprised.

why should they, they have rivers and stuff were they can get free

The ignorance radiating from this statement is mind boggling. A megapolis of many millions should rely on how many rivers, now? Rivers that have been polluted by the private mining industry, by the way.

Access to clean fresh water is of paramount importance for life. Access to electricity, not so much. Sure, water should be paid for when using the water-delivery infrastructure. But monopolist practices pushing prices to unbearable levels should be countered with regulation.

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

You'd be surprised.

Clean water and the energy grid cannot be described as third-world in the US.

The ignorance radiating from this statement is mind boggling.

Well, I would tend to agree, but lighten up! It isn't like these South Africans who don't even have access to a flushing toilet can just walk down to their local University and take some courses on microbiology and civil engineering so they can learn the dangers of drinking water from a river.

Rivers that have been polluted by the private mining industry, by the way.
Its a shame that so many are forced to drink from them simply because lack of funds for infrastructure.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Water and electricity issues in the US? Nah, I was rather referring to some aspects of the quality of life of vast segments of the US society which have been steadily deteriorating in recent times, particularly in comparison to other industrialized countries and emerging economies. Not exactly to a Third-World levels yet, but with the social gap widening, the direction is now very clear.

As for lack of access to information about the dangers of poor sanitation, you're totally right. Which makes the argument that "people have wells and rivers, so there's nothing to worry about", to put it mildly, rather naive.

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

Nah, I was rather referring to some aspects of the quality of life of vast segments of the US society

Fair enough.

As for lack of access to information about the dangers of poor sanitation, you're totally right. Which makes the argument that "people have wells and rivers, so there's nothing to worry about", to put it mildly, rather naive.

I'm not sure who is making that argument. I was discussing why there is a culture of not wanting to pay for water. The reasoning being, as you already pointed out, ignorance.