--- In LivingInThePhilippi
<andre_westbrook@
>
>
> Last week, I spoke to a Filipino medic who had spent several months
> in the UK. At first he was highly impressed by what he found; he
> thought he had encountered a higher civilisation. No one went
hungry,
> no one was abandoned to his fate, everyone was treated to the best
of
> the doctor's abilities. No distress, however caused, failed to
evoke
> any attemtpt to relieve it.
>
> 'If only we could have your welfare system,' he said.
>
> Some months later, his views had altered considerably. He had
noticed
> a strange indefinable malaise among many of the Brits he. Although
> fortunate by the standards of Manila slum-dwellers, they lacked
life
> and spirit. They were bored and malcontent, and yet apparently
> unwilling to do anything to alleviate their situation. It did not
> take him long to make a connection between this state of suspended
> but disgruntled animation and the welfare system which, initially,
he
> had thought so humane.
>
> The idea behind giving people welfare is noble. It was too
alleviate
> the dire social and economic conditions countries like America,
> Britian and Germany found themselves in during the 1930s. And who
> would wish for a return to 1930s style unemployment and depression?
> But the fact is welfare undermines notions of self-respect and over
> time cultivates a social pathology which in America ultimately
> required zero tolerance to even begin to turn back the tide of anti-
> social behaviour on the streets of large American cities.
>
> Undoubtedly, there are those posters who will flick through their
> college books on liberal social studies courses and insist that
there
> is a statistical relationship between poverty and crime. In fact,
the
> explosion of crime in countries as diverse as Brazil and the UK is
> soley down to a weakening of law and order and ineffective courts
> which give sentences that are too lenient.
>
> What the Filipnions do not need is yet more welfare and charity
from
> those who insist that all Westerners in the Philippines
have "excess
> finances". I am sure there are many here who go to the Philippines
> with no more than a pension and some savings to live on. If so, do
> not allow the liberals here to persuade you that you are obligated
to
> give, give and give again. Do not let them persuade you that to
judge
> people as unworthy of your help is a sin - to give money to an idle
> man is to encourage him in his idleness just as to give money to
the
> drunk is simply to prolong his dependence on alcohol. Above all,
> insist that if you do give money it is spent on something useful or
> worthwhile and that it is for the highest good of all concerned.
>
One needs be very careful when discussing this topic to not
overgeneralize.
Comparing that to the US for example,with no universal healthcare is
not the same. Many,especially seniors, are forced into relative
poverty by medical problems and high drug cost.Is it destructive
welfare to assist them with healthcare?Does a stroke or diabetes
prove they are lazy and shiftless?
Some of the rhetoric on this thread is almost verbatum what was
said in the British Parliment during the Irish Famine.Google it.There
is a point where we need to help if we are going to have any self
respect for ourselves.
The PI is another matter.IMO there will always be massive poverty
until there is a handle on population growth.This takes time but is
not hard to do. Education and availability of contrceptives are
proven to work.A little land reform and higher min.wages would help
also. Opportunity is a scarce commoditity from what I have seen.
For an individual to get involved seems to me that supporting
microfinance institutions with personal investment is a good way to
go.There is plenty of poor people with plenty of drive to succeed.
They just need the opportunity,
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