Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/08/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]You must be joking!!!! The EU has a wide range of countries as members. Some are wealthy democracies with good manufacturing bases. Wealth is created there. Depending on the political tendencies this wealth is spread out (Denmark for example) and there is very little poverty. In some, such as the UK not only has the wealth creating infrastructure largely gone, but relatively right wing politics has kept the rich/poor divide large (not as bad as the USA though). I am sure there are people living in the EU in the less developed member countries in conditions similar to those you describe. My wife did a volunteer term in an orphanage in Romania and told shocking stories of life there I will not detail here. No running water or electricity was not the worst of these. I have not visited personally though. I, as I imagine Jayanand also, was rather referring to over 1 billion Indians and over 1 billion Chinese, for starters. South America too. Africa has probably a majority of their population living in poorer conditions than the Americans to whom you refer. Honestly, poor Americans surely feel bad and resentful when they see the vast differences in riches in their country, I certainly would. That does not mean that the majority of human beings in the world are not even worse off than they are. The woman in the "Migrant mother" picture would certainly be seen quite differently in a World context than a US one, which is where the discussion started. Frank On 29 Aug, 2010, at 09:15, Chris Crawford wrote: > You haven't got the first clue. Seriously. The USA is an extremely large > country and very, very few foreigners ever visit the places where the real > poverty is hidden in this very large and economically and culturally > diverse > country. There are areas here where people live in one room shacks with > dirt > floors, no running water, and often no electricity. While those places, > with > their third world poverty are a relatively small percent of the USA's > population I would be willing to bet that the EU, whose size and population > are about the same as the US, has 0% of its people living like that. Right? > > > -- > Chris Crawford > Fine Art Photography > Fort Wayne, Indiana > 260-424-0897 > > http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio > > http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work! > > > > On 8/29/10 3:41 AM, "Frank Dernie" <Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com> wrote: > >> Hi Chris, >> I have travelled the World widely over the last 40 years. I have been in >> the >> USA over 50 times during this period, often for some time. There >> certainly are >> some poor people there, and the contrast between rich and poor in a >> country >> with a democracy I personally find very shocking indeed. >> In my post I was agreeing with others the the "Migrant Mother" photograph >> may >> say it all without needing extra text in a US context. In a World context >> it >> does not. >> That is all. >> Not intending to be offensive, Frank >> >> On 29 Aug, 2010, at 08:17, Chris Crawford wrote: >> >>> Frank, that woman was homeless. She wasn't rich by anyone's standards. >>> Just >>> as Americans often make false assumptions about other countries, >>> non-Americans often make false assumptions about the USA. Contrary to >>> popular belief outside the US, not all Americans are spoiled richie >>> riches >>> surrounded by the latest symbols of conspicuous consumption. Many >>> Americans >>> live in disgusting poverty, now as as the 1930s. I don't blame other >>> countries for this: its the fault of the American people that we allow >>> this >>> in our nation, one of the wealthiest in the world. Nonetheless, poverty >>> is >>> real here and in some parts of the USA approaches third world levels (the >>> Appalacian Mountains region and parts of rural New Mexico are two that >>> come >>> to mind). >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Chris Crawford >>> Fine Art Photography >>> Fort Wayne, Indiana >>> 260-424-0897 >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information