My Slum is bigger than your Slum.....

[UstadKhanAli]

 

I totally agree, Ken. I haven't visited since 1991, but not a day goes by without me dreaming of India. For a country that has only been in charge of it's own destiny since 1947, it has made phenomenol progress in every area, on it's own terms. The spirit of the less fortunate people there is truly humbling. I'm looking forward to returning for another reality check soon.

 

 

You're going to see a LOT of changes since you haven't been there since 1991. And despite all these new changes, they've still kept their cultures intact.

[philbo]

 

There are many factors contributing to these situations. A major factor is over population caused by lack of access to contraceptives. There is a direct correlation between lack of access to family planning techniques and information and poverty. Unfortunately "pro-lifers" on the right have thwarted efforts to provide the needed services. And many on the left consider family planning efforts to be a form of genocide. It has gotten to the point that the topic of over-population has become taboo in USA politics. When was the last time you have heard a politician acknowledge that there is an over-population problem? Instead we pretend that the only issues are poverty and immigration.

 

 

An excellent observation. Blind spots like this are what will bring down civilization one day... methinks.

[venkiee]

In India, things getting modernised day by day..and the culture is still the same...You need atleast 6 months to tour around major locations in India...Places I have visited

 

North India:

Accessible from New Delhi.....

 

Hill Stations :- Simla, Dehradun, Mussorie, Kulu Manali

Historical Places :- Delhi, Agra (Tajmahal)

Religious Places :- Haridwar, Varanasi...

 

----more to come........... :-)

[elsongs]

 

I have been truly shocked at the slums of the world. This has become a newish sorta-thing as everyone has been migrating from the farming-type of lifestyle to the metropolitan, actually for a century.

 

 

True. I've seen some slums for myself as well as my parents came from a third-world country (The Philippines), though fortunately none of them grew up in slums (which didn't really exist like they do today when they did grow up).

Actually my Philippine relatives - most of whom are not of the privileged class -- live in small towns or farms in the provinces, the same places where slum dwellers originate from.

 

In most cases, people are FAR FAR FAR better off staying in the farms or small provincial towns, where even if they make no money, they would never gohungry due to a support system provided by family or fellow townspeople, never be lonely, alienated or isolated due to a strong community/village social network and where violence is either rare or nonexistent.

 

The majority of third world countries have only one city - usually the capital city - where people migrate to and where slums exist and are overpopulated.

The largest city could have several million people while the second largest city would have a population in the six figures.

Contrast that to developed countries whose economy is distributed into several metropolitan areas, and not just one.

[elsongs]

 

When was the last time you have heard a politician acknowledge that there is an over-population problem? Instead we pretend that the only issues are poverty and immigration.

 

 

I'm no anti-immigrant redneck, but census figures DO prove that the number of people who immigrate to the US is considerably higher than the number of live births...And you have to admit that any sort of overpopulation problem in the US is a far lower priority than in many third world nations.

 

Of course, many third world countries DO have a population control system...it's in the form of low access to health care, high pollution/lower health standards, and buildings purposely not built to withstand natural disasters.

[joel Oporto]

In my opinion it is the nation's character and most especially the character of the people in Government that creates the conditions that spawn slums and slum dwellers. Take for example the Philippines. In 1950s, the U.S. dollar was a little less than 2 pesos. The Philippines was THE major technology in Asia, what with the ruins of Japan, Korea was unheard of, even hongkong and Singapore were very much behind, and China languishing in the red brigade cummunist empire. In the 70's partly because of OPEC but also because of the onset of Martial Law, Peso jumped to 7 per dollar. The Philippines has been sliding ever since to 50 pesos a dollar presently. We've been overtaken first by the Asian dragons of Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong and Singapore, and now even Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand are in many ways more advanced!!!

 

The only foreign influence that has affected the economy that I could see in the past 50 years was OPEC and the cost of oil, but that has affected others as well. So it is not valid.

 

So If I have to sum it up, the presence of slums (If only in the case of the Philippines) is representative of the character of the people in its government and the people itself, and not because of what other people in other countries are doing. Don't get me wrong, I love the Philippines, there are a lot of warm, caring and loving people here, but somewhere along the way our character has deemed us wanting.

 

I cannot generalize the other countries but IMO, its all about work ethics and character, not just of a segment of the population but of the whole population itself. In most cases its probably a "betrayal" by the governement.

[UstadKhanAli]

One of the greatest measures of a government is how it treats its citizenry in need.

[Hard Truth]

Elsongs wrote: "And you have to admit that any sort of overpopulation problem in the US is a far lower priority than in many third world nations."

 

I agree that the US does not yet have a serious local overpopulation problem. But the world does have an overpopulation problem, esp. in the poor countries that lack access to contraceptives. The world is now too small (due to advances in transportation and communications technology) for people to continue pretending that we will not be affected by the serious problems in other parts of the world. That is why I think that the so-called "immigration problem" in the USA is actually a worldwide over-population problem. (also a worldwide inequality in resource distribution, economic and political instability problem)

[UstadKhanAli]

We are of course affected by what goes on in other parts of the world far more than ever before. But this sort of thinking is sometimes difficult for people to imagine when they live in a country as large and physically isolated as the U.S. is. Only about 20-21% of American adults even have a passport (!). This extreme sort of ratio among American citizens can't help but shape U.S. foreign policy.

[Lakesidedave]

 

Only about 20-21% of American adults even have a passport (!)

 

 

And I wonder how many of these have actually used them to travel beyond Canada or Tijuana?

Seriously, I really feel that US citizens need to travel out of the country more, in order to begin to understand the world they are a part of. Spread the word, Ken!