What are the media’s moral obligations in making society aware of extreme poverty in the world?

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Elizabeth502 said:
Because I have no less right than you, Robert, to be on this forum, and to register an opinion about what you are doing, that’s why. Same as the others here, the majority of whom similarly disagree with you. You opposed me several times, and I have a right to oppose you back and defend myself against unfounded charges. Since you’re not the moderator, you’re not in a position to tell me that I shouldn’t be on the thread to register the fact that you are harassing posters by constantly opening similar threads and reposting over & over the identical thumbnails which you have already posted.

When you open a thread, be prepared for criticism & opposition.
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And when you post on a thread, be prepared for criticisms and opposition.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Do the media have a moral responsibility to report on the current status of extreme poverty in the world? Showing news videos of how children in poor countries are forced to search for food from trash heaps? Perhaps interviewing the homeless here in America and showing what daily life is like for these people? To investigate what is being done to alleviate extreme poverty and what needs to be done? Is extreme poverty a crime against humanity, and if so reporting it as such? Reporting the statistics on starvation and the physical wellbeing of those suffering from extreme poverty?
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Ideally, we would hope the press reports on many many issues. We forget that most of our media is owned by large corporate interests who have the goal of maximizing profit and not much more.

With regard to poverty, I believe it is is a crime against humanity. When John Paul ll visited Canada he said that on judgement day, the poor south shall rise up to judge the rich North. He was underscoring the fact that most world poverty is caused by rich Northern nations. In fact, 80% of the resources we rich nations consume come directly from poor nations. The global system works against the vast majority and favors the rich nations. Even we, the middle class, are rich when compared to the rest of humanity. I guess, the crimes against humanity of which you speak would mean all of us are actually committing crimes against humanity as our lifestyle of consumerism is also the cause of this poverty. Our constant demand for goods and our materialistic over consumption is really robbing food from the poor.
 
Jessie5000 said:
Ideally, we would hope the press reports on many many issues. We forget that most of our media is owned by large corporate interests who have the goal of maximizing profit and not much more.
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“We” don’t.
Elizabeth502 said:
Also, as ex-MSNBC commentators Keith Olbermann and Dylan Ratigan used to point out, **the mainstream media is in bed with Wall Street and its global moneymakers. ** The Leftist media may have a moral compulsion, due to their liberal zeitgeist, in exposing Third World poverty (which is where I obviously learned about it, not through some obscure search engine), but the MSM is at best ambivalent about any radical reform of an international monetary system and interconnected monetary interests which contributes to extremes in comfort vs. discomfort in standards of living. In fact, the MSM tired of the constant call-to-conscience messages of Messieurs Olbermann & Ratigan, which is probably one reason they are there no longer.
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Jessie5000 said:
Even we, the middle class, are rich when compared to the rest of humanity. I guess, the crimes against humanity of which you speak would mean all of us are actually committing crimes against humanity as our lifestyle of consumerism is also the cause of this poverty. Our constant demand for goods and our materialistic over consumption is really robbing food from the poor.
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Elizabeth502 said:
What an outstanding point about the waste! This comes not just from being an overly consuming society, but also from other assumptions.
(There will always be more products, not just for “me,” but for everybody.)
(I will always have more cash.)
(Replacement of commodities, including food, is automatic and inexpensive.)
(No one is affected by my waste.)

I myself have become more careful about tossing what is usable, merely “less desirable.” It started awhile back, from need (economy). Now I try to practice it more consciously, and this is your excellent point, and also mine as I have experienced it: Do we need to replace, or do we just prefer to?..Normally I don’t like bumper stickers. However, an acquaintance of mine actually lives by this one: “Live Simpy, so that Others May Simply Live.” It’s a recognition of hoarding of resources in the First World, and I do think of this more often since having known her. Think more about what we need when we shop, less of what we just want. Mentally put aside that money for the “want” item for a donation to a fave charity/cause.

I’m not a radical in terms of “luxuries,” so that we should never indulge. It’s just that with overabudance comes a lack of moderation in the pursuit of luxuries, which was my point in my first post here. When luxury is an everyday reality, then we’re like the caricature of the man in the Gospel parable who wore (expensive) purple robes routinely and ate meat often(Lk 16:19). It clouds your vision and disorders your life.
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Elizabeth502 said:
Then you’re speaking to the wrong audience, because as it’s been pointed out to you abundantly, the people on CAF are probably not the people lacking information, regardless of your repeated denial of what they alone would know.

Do you consider CAF “the media?” If so, sounds as if the forum administrators would be the ones “to really make a difference,” no? The posters on CAF don’t “represent” the owners. We’re just members, and we most certainly are not “the media.” So, as the poster St. Francis or someone else suggested, you should be contacting the media instead of repeatedly harassing us here.

Educated society is quite aware. And most of the First World (which would include “the media”) is educated. Apparently, therefore, awareness is insufficient. And NGO’s are more than aware, and respond by pouring money into sinkholes, when structural change --political, economic, and practical- is what is required to end the cycle.
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He is ‘preaching to the choir’ here and getting attention for it. 🙂 😛 🤷
 
tabycat said:
He is ‘preaching to the choir’ here and getting attention for it. 🙂 😛 🤷
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No kidding. 😉

It’s also a cop-out of personal responsibility, while projecting that onto others via guilt-tripping.
 
Elizabeth502 said:
. Since you’re not the moderator, you’re not in a position to tell me that I shouldn’t be on the thread to register the fact that you are harassing posters by constantly opening similar threads and reposting over & over the identical thumbnails which you have already posted.
When you open a thread, be prepared for criticism & opposition.
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"A one-trick pony? 😉

Peace, Mark
 
Elizabeth502 said:
No kidding. 😉

It’s also a cop-out of personal responsibility, while projecting that onto others via guilt-tripping.
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Who’s copping out on their moral responsibility?

So anything that one has to say about the need to alleviate extreme poverty is ‘guilt-tripping!?!’ My posting pictures showing actual starvation is ‘guilt-tripping!?!’
 
Robert_Sock said:
Who’s copping out on their moral responsibility?

So anything that one has to say about the need to alleviate extreme poverty is ‘guilt-tripping!?!’ My posting pictures showing actual starvation is ‘guilt-tripping!?!’
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So other than broadcasting the pictures what have you done to help those poeple? What have you personally done to put food in their mouths?
 
Robert_Sock said:
Who’s copping out on their moral responsibility?

So anything that one has to say about the need to alleviate extreme poverty is ‘guilt-tripping!?!’ My posting pictures showing actual starvation is ‘guilt-tripping!?!’
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Some times you come across as . . . shall I say? . . . going a bit over board in trying to make a point. 🙂 🙂
 
Robert_Sock said:
Can one ever go over board in talking about crimes against humanity?
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‘Extreme poverty’ is not a crime against humanity, The reasons for poverty are the real crimes which you have not addressed.🙂 good night
 
Robert_Sock said:
Do the media have a moral responsibility to report on the current status of extreme poverty in the world? Showing news videos of how children in poor countries are forced to search for food from trash heaps? Perhaps interviewing the homeless here in America and showing what daily life is like for these people? To investigate what is being done to alleviate extreme poverty and what needs to be done? Is extreme poverty a crime against humanity, and if so reporting it as such? Reporting the statistics on starvation and the physical wellbeing of those suffering from extreme poverty?
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The media have a moral responsibility to report on everything truthfully. Whatever there is. If poverty is part of it they need to report on it. Plus, how about their responsibility to report on disease, AIDS, cancer, crime, corruption? Why single out poverty? There are many problems in the world. They all need to be addressed. And all are a crime against humanity. A crime against humanity? These are things being done by humanity itself. Your question is a puzzlement.
 
I’m currently living under the poverty level. My disability income is just enough to pay my bills, but I have been using some of my retirement money to help feed the homeless ($100 dollars per month) and to help a facebook friend living in a third-world country buy egg-laying chickens for food for her family. It’s not much, but it’s the best I can do at the moment. I usually see homeless people outside my church, and I say to myself: “Something needs to be done!!!”
 
tabycat said:
‘Extreme poverty’ is not a crime against humanity, The reasons for poverty are the real crimes which you have not addressed.🙂 good night
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And the starvation of Jews in Nazi Germany was not a crime against humanity? What’s the difference between these Jews and the starvation of innocent people living in third-world countries?
 
Robert_Sock said:
And the starvation of Jews in Nazi Germany was not a crime against humanity? What’s the difference between these Jews and the starvation of innocent people living in third-world countries?
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In the case of the **12 **million (quite a few Catholics and Protestants and Communists too!) killed by the Nazis, the Nazis rounded the people up at gunpoint, locked them up, and then either killed them outright or neglected to feed them.

Locking people up and refusing to feed them is indeed a specific set of crimes perpetrated directly against people.

[wfp.org/hunger/causes]Here is a very short article](http://www.wfp.org/hunger/causes]Here is a very short article) describing some of the causes of a lack of food. They are listed as drought and recurring drought, war, lack of resources (another description of the problem rather than cause of the problem), lack of agricultural infrastructure, and overuse of land.

Some of these involve actions which could morally be described as crimes. What Mugabwe did to Zambabwe involved lies, theft, terrible policies, and general depsotism resulting in the nation’s becoming an importer of what little food can be brought in from having been a net exporter.

However, much poverty and hunger is caused by droughts and floods–who, may I ask, could be charged with this “crime”?

So what is being done? Everyone from the UN on down is trying to help. In some situations, the national government or some form thereof is blocking aid to the people or otherwise contributing enormously to the problem by misguided policies., N Korea, Zimbabwe, Somalia are examples.

Here are links to what Catholic Relief Services are doing around the world and the different ways they are trying to help.
 
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