Are you blind? I did say she was 20. How observant regarding the tractor. I was a champion ploughman and have a degree in agriculture.
Greta Thunberg
- Thread starter bobk
- Start date
It was your repeated reference to her as a child that prompted me to remind you of her age.
The die was cast many years ago. By the time she is 20 she should be her own person but she has been groomed and manipulated for many years beforehand. I have grandchildren of 11 years of age who have inclusion in a book of poetry regarding climate change. I have no idea who influenced their thoughts but I am slightly disturbed. I am very aware that we have treated our planet badly and things must change but we have a serious problem . Too many people demanding too much. Your suggestions as to how this should be addressed would be welcomed but please do not involve children or carefully groomed young adults.
You should post this in the Ukraine war thread.
- Location
- DD9.
I feel sorry for her missing out on her childhood.
I do not feel at all sorry for the persona and the pr machine she has become.
One that wants to work in the coal industry or perhaps become a oil tycoon, they will do more for the climate change cause than any farmer
I have three very talented grandchildren and all have received great support from both parents and grandparents in order to promote their skills. We take great pride in their achievements but have to continuously question whether we are living our lives in their shoes and pushing them for our own glorification. Fortunately none of them are politicos and we would certainly not seek public recognition for their skills. It is a thin dividing line between support and pressurisation.
Absolutely horrendous, have seen similar reports before but never cease to be appalled by the willful blindness of western society to the misery and exploitation of others on it's behalf.
Those stupid ridiculous mindless "just stop oil" f**kwits should be locked in a cell for a week with this piped in to them on a loup until it becomes etched on their tiny narrow minds.
I agree with it being exploitation and slavery but these people would be starving without these meagre earnings. Without colonisation by white men in previous centuries it would be difficult to imagine whether these people would or would not have a better life today or even any life at all. Rhodesia was considered the breadbasket of Africa under colonial rule but when it became Zimbabwe under Mugabe`s rule it quickly reverted to a basket case. Without doubt the natives were exploited but may have also been offered a better life than previously experienced. When we imposed our culture in their country we saw no evil and considered that it was mutually beneficial even if not equally so. When the natives decided that they wanted equality the problems arose. It is seen by many as a crime to try to impart our civilisation. I do not consider that it was a crime but maybe a mistake. Easy to judge with hindsight...or is it?
I fully take your point, further supported by the way in which it seems that South Africa is on a similar course to Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. I recently posted a link to a BBC report highlighting the fact that many areas of it no longer even have a regular supply of clean safe drinking water due to corruption and theft within the municipalities responsible for maintaining the infrastructure. Indeed so dire is the situation that there are now people in South Africa dying from cholera, .....................appalling!
That having been said, I see this on another level.
This isn't about culture, values, or even an attempt to 'civilise' those that they view as inferior to themselves, this is just sheer economic exploitation based in nothing other than greed. A relatively small number of brutal power hungry warlords are enrichened beyond their wildest dreams and in return they contain the masses using any combination of murder, torture, rape of the women, etc, etc, necessary to keep the minions under control and working for their corporate masters.
The slaves are no longer shipped out of Africa, they now work in Africa, but as the report says, sufficient links are created in the supply chain so that all those entities which benefit from this appalling treatment of our fellow humans just need to throw a bit of craftily constructed advertising in to the mix and they somehow manage to remain snowy white despite their products containing materials originating under these appalling sub-human conditions.
There are nowhere near enough reports of the way these people are forced to live their lives, but there are some, so sadly you'd have to conclude that a lot of people simply don't want to acknowledge that this is happening and is the stinking underbelly of their shiney new tech, be it from Apple, Tesla or whoever.
Ironic that even a chocolate bar nowadays has a good chance of coming with an assurance that the ingredients have been responsibly sourced, yet the tech industry seems not to be subjected to such scrutiny.
Plainly the buying public just don't really give a sh!t as long as they get what they want, or even worse, have been conditioned to want.
That having been said, I see this on another level.
This isn't about culture, values, or even an attempt to 'civilise' those that they view as inferior to themselves, this is just sheer economic exploitation based in nothing other than greed. A relatively small number of brutal power hungry warlords are enrichened beyond their wildest dreams and in return they contain the masses using any combination of murder, torture, rape of the women, etc, etc, necessary to keep the minions under control and working for their corporate masters.
The slaves are no longer shipped out of Africa, they now work in Africa, but as the report says, sufficient links are created in the supply chain so that all those entities which benefit from this appalling treatment of our fellow humans just need to throw a bit of craftily constructed advertising in to the mix and they somehow manage to remain snowy white despite their products containing materials originating under these appalling sub-human conditions.
There are nowhere near enough reports of the way these people are forced to live their lives, but there are some, so sadly you'd have to conclude that a lot of people simply don't want to acknowledge that this is happening and is the stinking underbelly of their shiney new tech, be it from Apple, Tesla or whoever.
Ironic that even a chocolate bar nowadays has a good chance of coming with an assurance that the ingredients have been responsibly sourced, yet the tech industry seems not to be subjected to such scrutiny.
Plainly the buying public just don't really give a sh!t as long as they get what they want, or even worse, have been conditioned to want.
The buying public don’t know what goes on and it is only right that they should be made aware. Greed is at the root of this but what do you suggest, a £10 per hour minimum wage? Most of those kids might turn up one day a month because their expectations are so low. I get the impression that the Congo has reverted to a tribal culture. Are you suggesting that someone should launch a regime change.
Should we be once again be interfering in someone else’s business?
Wow! What a post. What absolute sheer arrogant utter drivel. What total horse manure.
Would you like to know a bit about what economic and social conditions, in some of the coloured man’s lands, before the white murderers, I mean colonists arrived. Sit back, watch, listen and ponder…..
Yes, it's a difficult one.
Now that the full story of the Rwandan genocides is more fully known and understood, the finger is frequently pointed at NATO and individual nations, specifically the US, as to why they didn't do more to prevent the slaughter.
But, what were they ultimately going to do, yet another war in yet another foreign land? Sub-Saharan Africa is probably just about the largest and historically most unstable region on the globe, if they had become more deeply involved at that time they'd probably still be there. Knowing that, just like Afghanistan, no matter how long they'd been there, no matter how much money they'd thrown at it, and no matter how many servicemen killed, injured or maimed for life, as soon as they'd leave, the entire region would rapidly revert to how it would have been had they done nothing anyway.
However, again, I think this is a bit different. It's huge global companies, and ultimately the consuming public, creating the demand for the product and if they cared enough they could bring about at least some degree of change. We've seen it with some other products, notably chocolate as mentioned above, there is no reason whatsoever that I can see why it couldn't be done with precious minerals as well.
Other than public apathy that is.