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- nandorocker, on 10/12/2007, -13/+151The point is to sensitize people who are unaware of what percentages really mean.
- poipoipoi, on 10/12/2007, -15/+130i love the part where i'm one of three people with an internet connection, and one of 25 people with a bed, fridge, closet and roof -- it makes me appreciate that stuff a lot more now. Makes me feel very lucky too.
- mhanley, on 10/12/2007, -19/+102Some sobering statistics
- danep, on 10/12/2007, -16/+95Good lord, can we stop calling everything "emo" please? Okay, the music is a bit dramatic (really more weird and monotonous than dramatic, but whatever), but so is the fact that only 7% of the world has a half-decent education, half of it goes hungry etc... I personally would call those facts "sobering", not "emo"
- 5thfreedom, on 10/12/2007, -27/+86Exactly. I was enjoying the video until it told me that I should "appreciate what I have". It kind of reminded me of how my Mom used to tell me to finish all my dinner because there were hungry people in Africa. Whether I eat all my food or not, they are still going to be hungry.
- ajimmykid, on 10/12/2007, -7/+58people don't translate percentages into something tangible. by using this 100 person analogy, you can visualize these percentages. it's suppose to bring everything in a perspective everyone can see.
- bigpeeler, on 10/12/2007, -2/+52I wonder how that one dude got AIDS?
- tainedhero, on 10/12/2007, -2/+47Wait so lemme get this straight.
57 Asians and 1 computer?
Something is terribly wrong with that. - Petrarch1603, on 10/12/2007, -12/+51for what its worth, here's the Snopes page on this topic: http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/populate.htm
- 15charmaxwtf, on 10/12/2007, -43/+79Why? you don't owe them anything.
- Mejogid, on 10/12/2007, -10/+44Here is another version that was distributed about five years ago by the red cross:
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following.
There would be:
* 57 Asians
* 21 Europeans
* 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
* 8 Africans
* 52 would be female
* 48 would be male
* 70 would be non-white
* 30 would be white
* 70 would be non-Christian
* 30 would be Christian
* 89 would be heterosexual
* 11 would be homosexual
* 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
* 80 would live in substandard housing
* 70 would be unable to read
* 50 would suffer from malnutrition
* 1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
* 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
* 1 would own a computer - newevilmind, on 10/12/2007, -10/+40What I want to know is how many asian women there would be, and how many of them would be hot.
- nandorocker, on 10/12/2007, -3/+31sex with monkeys is what i hear...
- MiddleOfNowhere, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24@ ilyaq:
While I see myself as a libertarian/transhumanist and support some of your points, I strongly have to disagree with this:
"The reason it happened this was is because our societies are directly descended from the great empires of the past, those who laid the groundwork. Greece, Rome, Egypt, and all the rest. All the other people in the world? They had no contact with these civilizations."
Oh boy, did Asia und Africa "have contact" with the "great empires". You may want to read up on how badly the British Empire (and the Kaiserreich, and the French and a few others) f*cked Africans and Asians you-know-where.
I don't mean to imply that the Kongo would be colonizing the moon by now if it hadn't been raped by Portugal, the Netherlands, the Brits and other European countries, but I guess you get the picture.
"We" (= white Europe/America) have done a lot of good and important things based on our own merits, skills, courage etc.
But we are also standing on the shoulders of a *lot* of dead Indians, Africans and Asians. And that part is not really something to be proud of. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -24/+45Here's the problem, as I see it:
The majority of the Earth's population is attempting to live outside of their means. Let's take sanitation, for example. The only reason we (those of us who are seeing this movie) have plumbing is because our specific societies and communities have developed the industrial and economic capacity to build it. Let's remember that before Rome was a massive empire, NO ONE had plumbing.
Same thing with medicine and all the rest of it. The only reason we have it is because we've developed our communities to the point of being able to research and make it.
Yes, it sucks to be the majority of the world, the ones who can't have the luxuries of life we enjoy. On the other hand, it's not our "fault" that we've progressed so far ahead of them. The reason it happened this was is because our societies are directly descended from the great empires of the past, those who laid the groundwork. Greece, Rome, Egypt, and all the rest. All the other people in the world? They had no contact with these civilizations. They developed independently and were usually taken advantage of by the other civilizations.
If our world survives long enough, I assure you that several hundred years in the future, all these poor people will be where we are now. On the other hand, we'll probably be living on Mars, in even greater luxury, and making movies about how it must suck to still be stuck on Earth.
I understand that some people wish we'd all live in similar conditions, and they want to dump as much money as possible to get these people "up to speed", as it were, so they catch up with us. It's a HORRIBLE thing to do to these people. The reason? They will see what we have, and what they have not, and they will be envious. They will want what we have, they will kill us to get it, and they will become DEPENDENT on us while neglecting their own progress.
You want to help these people? Stop messing with them, stop giving them *****, and stop exploiting them. Let them build up their own societies just like we have ours.
At least that's my humble opinion on the matter. - rm999, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23"for what its worth, here's the Snopes page on this topic: http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/populate.htm"
That snopes article lists different statistics than this flash animation. I think the guy read it before making the animation. - nandorocker, on 10/12/2007, -13/+32Your mom was right in the sense that if everybody had more of a sense of collectiveness, maybe those kids in africa wouldn't be hungry. Your plate won't make a difference, but everyone's will. America wastes resources and dumps their trash in other countries. That has to stop soon. And that's not coming from overdramatic tree-huggers, it's the numbers.
You don't have to feel guilty, just do your part. And ask people to do theirs. That's all. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -72/+90"Statistics" indeed. What's the point of the emo dramatization? They could've just used PERCENTAGES (this is why they're using 100 people). 50% of people on Earth are men, 50% are women. 57% of the world's population is Asian. Etc...
- Saintlink, on 10/12/2007, -29/+47You are supposed to feel guilty. You're supposed to give more money to U.N. slush funds for countries that are run by clan warfare where the money will be wasted and given back to rich tyrants. Sad video, but it misses the whole point of why 3rd world aid to ultra large groups like the U.N. is largely a waste. Stick to faith-based or smaller organizations if you want to make a difference.
- 15charmaxwtf, on 10/12/2007, -15/+32Yea, thats what I meant---shouldn't be guilt-tripped into making yourself feel bad :-)
- swanny89, on 10/12/2007, -29/+45Jeez now I feel guilty.
- Zique, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20"6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States."
GDP of whole USA amounts to 28% of the world GDP. Someone skipped their statistics lectures in college. - moorey, on 10/12/2007, -16/+31Sorry - urban legend.
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/populate.htm
Claim: If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, that village would resemble one described in this piece.
Status: Not quite.
Click on link above to read more about it. - Mejogid, on 10/12/2007, -10/+25Well I may not owe these people anything, but I feel guilty in that I am living my lifestyle at the expense of billions of others, and that I benefit from the injustice. Just because something is not your fault does not mean you cannot feel bad about it (perhaps guilty is the wrong word, but I never the less have a feeling of responsibility for it).
- ajuc, on 10/12/2007, -6/+19I've read this statistic too, and I always wonder:
If 14 people are from western hemisphere, and 6 Americans (from United States) has 59% of all wealth, and people from USA are 1/3 of Western Hemisphere population (below I write why), there are less than 5 USA Americans, and in this - 6 rich Americans :)
I LOVE statistic.
About 1/3 - info from Wikipedia.pl (it's my native language, sorry)
There are about 558 281 000 people in North America and 332 156 000 in South (data from 2005). It gives 900 000 000 people. 300 000 000 are from USA. So it's 1/3 of Western Hemisphere)
Or am I wrong ?
Sorry for my English. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1598% of people will digg down your stupid comment.
- Matadon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14One computer, yes, but two hundred cell phones with web, email, and MP3 capability.
- DavidTrom, on 10/12/2007, -9/+21ilyag is exposing text-book conservative-republican rationale approach to poverty.
That, of course, is OK. It is a popular point of view. I actually though it was a good point of view when I was about 14-16. There is some truth on it, except that is a intellectually lazy point of view. It fails to see the problem at a deeper level.
Although I mush confess; as a moral argument is very gratifying and swift at that. Indeed it relief the guilt and impose a moral judgment on the poor -they don't have more money because the haven't done anything to deserve it- let you go on with your merry life.
The reason why I don't endorse that point of view is pragmatic. We had learned in the last century that macroeconomics and wealth are NOT a zero sum game.
What made America the colossus wealth machine that it is now, is that it was the first society to create a middle class that is strong broad and wealthy, Thus bringing wealth to everybody including the rich class. Bringing as much people as possible to a middle class status (i.e educated, well feed, with basic need covered and some leisure time) enrich everybody. I don't mean "enrich" in a tree-huger kind of way (although it works that way also) I mean it in a dollars and cents kind of way. Or Euros. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+18you're the one with the offensive username
- MiddleOfNowhere, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13@tjlsmith:
"In fact our culture and our race enabled us to invent and produce them."
Oh, here comes the KKK; inventors and keepers of everything the world should be proud of.
So your "race" blessed you with the capability to invent and produce what you call your own?
Maybe you'd like to do a little reality check at your local library. You may want to start with books on "slavery", "imperialism" and "globalization".
But I guess you are too busy being proud of your race and "culture" (NASCAR? WWF?) to bother.
PS: As a bonus point, you may want to return to your local library and try to name those basic technologies and inventions that were *not* made before your "race" became the currently ruling superpower. Start with Arabic numerals, paper and - here's one you'll probably love - gunpowder. Might be a depressing task, though. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Well, some of the lie is in the fact that the west didn't really invent much stuff in the early days. The seat of learning was in Asia and the Middle east. At one time Muslims were great scholars and taught the early greek most of what we consider to be greek knowledge written in greek. It was actually translated into greek by a team of multilingual muslims and greeks.
Since then the Muslim world has done virtually nothing. The west has taken the early knowledge and built on it, used it and exploited it while the middle east has changed very little. Asia has built greatly on it's knowledge (Japan and South Korea for example) China is just starting this. Much of China is extremely poor and live from their own land, but they have potential. - nstanosheck, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12* 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
...
* 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
* 1 would own a computer
So only 1/6th of the wealthy people have a college education and/or a computer if the 1 with a college education/computer is one of the 6 wealthy?
Well folks I guess you need neither a computer nor a college education to get wealthy! :-) - whisk3rs, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13Sobering indeed. I'm gonna have nightmares now about 3-person internet. That must be quite boring, who'd post all the youtube videos and porn?
/rimshot - libgermany, on 10/12/2007, -9/+18You're wrong because "western hemisphere" does not mean people in America but people in North America, Europe and Oceania.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8^^ failed history
- nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Because it makes you think about things very differently. If there were 100 people in the world and they all knew each other, I bet that the 6 people with 59% of the wealth would help the others. I don't think there would really be a religion either, but I may be wrong on that.
If we were face to face with people suffering from poverty and starvation I bet we would be willing to help them out with a meal and some water. When they're thousands of kilometres away it's easy to forget how lucky we are. The video is just trying to remind/inform people about these things.
(Matadon: Things have changed since 1990, I imagine the statistics are slightly out of date, but the point hasn't changed) - nandorocker, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10That's not the idea. This is just a creative way to portrait current world statistics. It's not saying a village of 100 people would be like that, rather that the world is like that right now.
- Bloc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8@tjlsmith
so the third world deserve to live in poverty with their corrupt governments?
it's not like they're not trying to be successful.
they shouldn't have to pay for others greed and corruption. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11no just a lot of those people, grow our food, clothe our bodies and harvest our resources and we toss them some crumbs..
not saying all but a good bit of them subsidize our lifestyle by keeping our prices low enough, we can afford to live richer.
sure many arent subsidizing us at all and are just dying. But dont say we owe them nothing.
Just because you dont see your clothes being made or chocolate being harvested dont think a bunch of lazy americans making $15/hr are providing it. - BassCadet, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14And 93 of the 100 people all found the music absurdly melodramatic, irritating, and contrary to the message.
- Matadon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Not that I have anything against Adherents.com, but I don't think their numbers add up; a quick totaling of the page given where they list various religions as well as the size of their member base gives somewhere around four billion people. This is a bit over half of the world population, and given that the most populous nations on earth (China, India) have few Christians, these statistics seem, well, to be utter crap.
Anyone care to enlighten me, so to speak? - maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11you shouldnt feel guilty- you should feel RESPONSIBLE.
by pure chance, you have been born in a place where you had the means to make a life that is far better than the lives that most other people in the world have. this means you have the ability and therefore the responsibility to help people who were not as lucky as you. - fnaqzna, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10Thanks for the link.
...but rather than quibble about the statistics, I think I'll still feel fortunate. - sulthernao, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8@tjlsmith
So the rest of the world deserves to be in poverty because they were raped by European countries. African-Americans deserve to be poor because they were slaves to white people?
What terrible logic is that. Go join the KKK and leave as alone. God damn neocons. - Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8You can buy a week's worth of rice in the US for $2. We just choose to eat Big Macs instead.
- Alexius, on 10/12/2007, -8/+14Well done heart breaking flash. It's a reality we hate to believe.
- allenu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8If you liked it and want to feel even more sobered, visit this page: http://www.gapminder.org/ They also present stats on the world using flash, but it is much more illustrative with charts and tables.
- Matadon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6No, they didn't 'take a wrong turn in evolution'. All humans around the globe are so genetically, and thus phenotypically, similar that they are all essentially the 'same person'. That is, you take an 'average' newborn from anywhere in the world, drop them into some other culture, and they will develop normally.
There is no 'genetic deficiency' in any major population. Period.
The deficiencies are, by and large, cultural, and very multilayered, and yes, partially the fault of the West. This is not to say that we haven't earned our success, and we have done some great things, but acknowledges that a whole lot of people got screwed along the way. You spend a few hundred years raping the local population, taking their resources, and forcefully stripping away their local cultures, and you're going to see some serious sociocultural problems emerge.
Poverty, famine, and all these other problems can't be solved through charity. Most people dying of disease and starvation live in areas whose local government lives, pardon the pun, like kings, using high-tech weaponry and religion to keep the peasants in-line. Very feudal, really. There is plenty of food and medicine to go around, but the local governments are too busy raping their own people to distribute it.
No matter how much foreign aid is supplied by foreign powers (and the U.S. government doesn't supply that much, really) and private charities (don't know how well the States stack up here), the fact is that all of this charity goes to the warlords, dictators, and tyrants, and it is used to further subjugate the local population. - ajuc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5World has 1-3 billion population in the past, and famine was here.
It's problem of redistributing goods, not producing. Every help is good, but government driven help helps government, not people. Better would be if developed countries stop donating export to poor countries, so they can develop industry of their own. - maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5good god in heaven, you are an idiot.
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