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Dame Anita Roddick dies
Topic Started: Sep 11 2007, 12:39 AM (167 Views)
TBlack
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The baby killer
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"She was the first to introduce socially and environmentally responsible business onto the High Street and she was talking about fair trade long before it became a buzz word."

Dame Anita brought awareness into the High Street and took it beyond. There are a fair few issues I wasn't aware of before she introduced me to them, everything from hemp production to slums in the USA.

I can't help but feel that we have lost a good one.
"You would think it obvious to anyone, with a grain of intelligence, that there are far too many people born in England."
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Kenny
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They have slums in the United States?! Honestly, I thought all those post-Rodney King rioters were just vigilante fashionistas protesting Marcia Clark's abysmal hair style! Silly me. Posted Image

Rest in Peace, old girl. :(
"Yeah, I do have some American attitude. Touch me and you get punched." --Ericka Dunlap, Miss America 2004
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TBlack
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Kenny,Sep 11 2007
03:38 PM
They have slums in the United States?! Honestly, I thought all those post-Rodney King rioters were just vigilante fashionistas protesting Marcia Clark's abysmal hair style! Silly me. Posted Image

I was 14 at the time... I didn't know everything then. I'm better now.
"You would think it obvious to anyone, with a grain of intelligence, that there are far too many people born in England."
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Ecopoeia
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Sad news.

Driving through the US outback was a shock. I'd never seen such poverty at the time. The crazy thing is that we grow up here in Blighty assuming that the US's immense wealth is distributed across the board, so even their 'poor' are doing better than anyone in, say, Cambodia. The truth isn't as easy to come by as you might think.

I'm sure there are equivalent surprises regarding the UK.
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The Palentine
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If y'all want to see some real pverty in the US some of the Indian Reservations are really bad. Sen. Barry Goldwater said his biggest regret in the Senate was not being able to do enough for the tribes lining in Arizona. Even worse it came out in the late 90's that the Department of the Interior misapropreated or lost billions of dollars set aside for the Indians from a trust fund(money from oil,and uranium found on Reservation lands). To this day nobody knows how much is missing.
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Kenny
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Ecopoeia,Sep 11 2007
09:53 AM
Driving through the US outback was a shock. I'd never seen such poverty at the time. The crazy thing is that we grow up here in Blighty assuming that the US's immense wealth is distributed across the board, so even their 'poor' are doing better than anyone in, say, Cambodia. The truth isn't as easy to come by as you might think.

Appearances are deceiving. Most of those listed below the "poverty line" in the United States have televisions, VCRs, cell phones, running water, personal computers, Internet/cable TV access, and all manner of "luxuries" it would be considered ridiculous for any poor person to own in third-world nations. Obviously, you'll find poverty everywhere, even in the wealthiest nation on Earth. Driving through Atlanta's inner city my senior year in high school was a real eye-opener for me. And the university I attended was situated in one of the absolute worst (white trash) neighborhoods in Cali's Inland Empire. But in terms of standard of living, even for the poor, the United States and Canada rank near the very top. We used to be the very top, but a lot of European nations have eked past us in recent decades.

"US outback" = the Midwest? :huh:
"Yeah, I do have some American attitude. Touch me and you get punched." --Ericka Dunlap, Miss America 2004
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Allech-Atreus
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not to bang the American drum, but Kenny's right. Poverty in America is not defined by the same terms we define other nations. Even the poorest still have basic luxuries and ample access to food- poverty in the US is gauged by income, not by access to necessities.

That's not to say that some people live very low on the scale. Detroit is one of the most depressing places to drive through, forget the stereotypes. There are some many old buildings that you can see used to be absolutely beautiful, stately homes, and the riots and subsequent economic depression took that all away.

the "West", when compared with traditional or "third world" nations, doesn't even compare. How can we consider the ?Kung of South Africa to be "third world?" Sometimes economic politics just drives me crazy.
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TBlack
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Quote:
 
That's not to say that some people live very low on the scale.

I wasn't claiming other wise. I wasn't talking about the statistically poor or the relatively poor. I was talking about the exceptional.
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Ausserland
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I'm curious, Eco. What part(s) of the country are you calling the "US outback"? That might help us to discuss this better.

And just one comment.... "Poverty" is indeed a relative term. I've been in some of the worst slums in the US and the poorest parts of the rural South. Still, when I went to India, I was heartsick at the conditions I saw.
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Allech-Atreus
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TBlack,Sep 11 2007
03:33 PM
Quote:
 
That's not to say that some people live very low on the scale.

I wasn't claiming other wise. I wasn't talking about the statistically poor or the relatively poor. I was talking about the exceptional.

Oh no, I wasn't questining what you said... that was my way of discounting my own examples as indicative of the whole. :D
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Flibbleites
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Count me in amongst those who are wondering what the "US Outback" is.
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Rubina
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The U.S. has a lot of hidden poor. They tend to be rural, elderly, minority (especially Native American), mentally ill or a clusterfuck of all four. For every "below the poverty line" household that still has cell phones and cable, there's a granny out there deciding whether or not she'll eat peanut butter (and nothing else) for another week so she can afford her meds.

It doesn't rise to the crushing poverty* of the poor in India or Mexico or ..., but then again we're not routinely exposed to the effluent side of those countries either so our view is skewed there as well.

*Yet. One of the biggest problems with the working poor in the U.S. is that they're one paycheck away from having literally nothing.
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Randomea
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It's usually the contrast that gets people between the poor and the rich in area. And the most likely place for the next revolution <_< My bet's on the Philippines
- the mega rich living next to the slums with a guarded fence in-between.

In Texas I could contrast the fact my 'sister' got a VW Beetle Convertible for her 15th birthday and the Hispanic men standing on street corners in the morning waiting for a job.
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Altanar
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Rubina,Sep 12 2007
04:15 AM
The U.S. has a lot of hidden poor.  They tend to be rural, elderly, minority (especially Native American), mentally ill or a clusterfuck of all four. For every "below the poverty line" household that still has cell phones and cable, there's a granny out there deciding whether or not she'll eat peanut butter (and nothing else) for another week so she can afford her meds.

It doesn't rise to the crushing poverty* of the poor in India or Mexico or ..., but then again we're not routinely exposed to the effluent side of those countries either so our view is skewed there as well.

*Yet. One of the biggest problems with the working poor in the U.S. is that they're one paycheck away from having literally nothing.

Add to this list another hidden group: people with dysfunctional family situations. I got out of government work recently (because I couldn't stand the BS involved) and now work at a non-profit that helps people who have been victims of domestic violence or sexual assault. Some of the stories I run across here are heartbreaking, and it's appalling how widespread the problem really is, yet it's a hidden problem because people don't like to talk about such things openly.

People in those situations, especially domestic violence, are faced with a stark choice: leave their abuser, and often lose their home, phone, vehicle and even income in the process, or remain with their abuser and continue to be abused. The worst part is that a lot of people don't realize that there's help out there for them, and they end up remaining with the abuser, or trying to make it on their own and suffering badly as a result.

Another thing about the U.S. is that your situation can vary widely depending on where you live. Some states have strong social safety nets, and others really have little to none. I live in Texas, and I can vouch for the fact that Texas (like a lot of southern states) often seems like it really could care less whether or not people have access to education, food, housing or anything else. Then again, this is a state that executes the mentally handicapped for crimes they commit, so that says a lot about it.

*gets off soapbox now*
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