xabad Posted July 13, 2014 <cite> @DoctorKenney said:</cite> Fly over Africa, fly over Somalia. You'll see literally millions of square kilometers of unused land. Empty land. Land where you can grow all sorts of fruits and vegetables. Where you can raise cattle and grow wheat. Where you can maximize production and feed the population. Somalia and Burkina Faso and all these countries just need proper economic policies. Our country can easily handle 100 million people. The bottom half of Somalia is fertile and we can definitely grow enough food to feed the population. We live in one of the emptiest countries in the world, and you wanna talk about limiting the population. Somalia is a large country with a tiny population. Give me a break. your talking about potential am talking about the reality. doesn't matter how much empty land you have but what you can do with it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoctorKenney Posted July 14, 2014 Well then instead of focusing on decreasing the population, you should focus on maximizing production and making our farms more efficient. We clearly have the capacity to provide for ourselves. All of Africa does. We have some of the richest farmland in the world and if we learned how to utilize it properly we wouldn't have widespread famine Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xabad Posted July 14, 2014 <cite> @DoctorKenney said:</cite> Well then instead of focusing on decreasing the population, you should focus on maximizing production and making our farms more efficient. We clearly have the capacity to provide for ourselves . All of Africa does. We have some of the richest farmland in the world and if we learned how to utilize it properly we wouldn't have widespread famine you don't and the gist of my argument. no sub saharan african country is self sufficient in food to date, relatively well off kenya imports a third of its maize staple despite having some of the most fertile land with plenty of water. tabartooda hala jaanqaadaan marka, by having smaller populations because subsistence farming will not feed millions of new people added to africa's population every year. malthus ideas still apply to africa sxb. all the wonderful advancements you mentioned apply to another planet called the first world. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoctorKenney Posted July 14, 2014 You're repeating yourself xabad. Yes, Africa isn't agriculturally self-sufficient. We should go through some major agricultural reforms which is what Europe went through in the 1700's. You're acting as if this situation can't be changed. China did it recently and so did India. So why can't Africa do it? You are arguing that Africans should just stop having children and use contraception and this will be the solution to our problems. That's ridiculous because we were going through the same problems in 1980, when we had less than HALF the population we have today. The problem isn't our population. The problem is failed economic policies. It's pretty clear Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fermi Posted July 14, 2014 <cite> @DoctorKenney said:</cite> Why in the world would Somalis want to adopt contraception? I mean, if a Somali couple wants to use birth control, then that's up to them. It's their choice. But to adopt population control as a policy, why on Earth would you want that? Somalia is an extremely underpopulated country. We are more than twice the geographic size of Germany, with less than 1/8th the population size. Just look at the population density figures. Somalia's population could increase to 100 million people and we'd still have the room and resources to accommodate more. Don't fall for this B.S. Liberal propaganda. There's enough food, water and resources for everyone in this world. We just need to learn how to utilize our resources and maximize production, while making sure that this has no adverse effects on the natural environment. I was responding to a question posed by Hobbesian. I didn't advocate for, or even raise the subject of, population control. My position on population control methods is quite simple, you cannot enforce the use of contraception without compromising basic human rights, as per China. As for the rest of your comment it's apparent you didn't read my first post, the last comment on page one, as you would have noticed our arguments are on par. Here it is: The idea that a small population is vital to economic prosperity is a Malthusian myth that has been propagated by capitalism. A small population is not conducive to economic progress, contrarily it may deter it in developed countries. If you look at the population pyramid of all first world nations, minus the U.S, you will notice retirement age groups, between 50-75, form a larger part of the population than the working age group, 15-65. This means there aren’t enough workers to support the pensions of retiring/ed workers. Countries such as Japan, Germany and Italy are facing this problem. Natalist policy ebbs and flows according to the specific population needs of a given nation. however, the advent of contraception, urban development, and women’s rights has created a linear trend toward smaller families that is nearly impossible to control/combat. Population has very little to do with resource depletion as a mere 16% of the world uses more than 80% of world resources. This discrepancy tells a clear story of resource mismanagement and injustice. Environmental organizations and governments alike have engaged in a malicious campaign to paint the developing world as a problem population. Their campaign was so successful that population is now, erroneously, synonymous with environmental degradation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoctorKenney Posted July 14, 2014 My mistake Fermi, I was responding to the entire idea of population control in Africa. It's a very popular concept. I've heard it being advocated everywhere from university circles to actual academic journals and I wanted to respond to it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fermi Posted July 14, 2014 <cite> @DoctorKenney said:</cite> My mistake Fermi, I was responding to the entire idea of population control in Africa. It's a very popular concept. I've heard it being advocated everywhere from university circles to actual academic journals and I wanted to respond to it. The idea that a woman's vagina needs to be controlled is disturbing, if not inhumane. It is also reminiscent of colonialism. "The colonization of the brown vagina", if you will. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoctorKenney Posted July 14, 2014 <cite> @Fermi said:</cite> The idea that a woman's vagina needs to be controlled is disturbing, if not inhumane. It is also reminiscent of colonialism. "The colonization of the brown vagina", if you will. It's disgusting how they want to follow one mode of development when it came to building and developing Europe/America/Japan/South Korea But when it comes to developing and building Africa/India, they want to focus on population control. Instead of focusing on production, agricultural reform, and economic growth...these people want to focus on population control. It shows their true intentions. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xabad Posted July 15, 2014 <cite> @Fermi said:</cite> The idea that a woman's vagina needs to be controlled is disturbing, if not inhumane. It is also reminiscent of colonialism. "The colonization of the brown vagina", if you will. first of all stop using foul language, i don't know if your being flippant or just trolling but equating colonialism with birth control is stupid. self discipline and planning your family is a good thing for all people black or white just like education is. just look at the report on this poor nigeri woman if you doubt the necessity of contraception. A 37-year-old woman, weary and wailing with labor pains, was trying to give birth to her 13th child in Niger, a country with one of the highest birth rates in the world but where millions are now facing food shortages due to drought. "I am exhausted, my uterus too," said Zeinabou, as she struggled through labor at a birthing center in Maradi in southern Niger. http://reliefweb.int/report/niger/nigers-high-birth-rate-caused-religion-poverty Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoctorKenney Posted July 15, 2014 Xabad, good job showing extreme examples and making it look like this is the ideal, or the norm. When I say Somalis should have more children, I was saying something in the range of 4 or 5 kids. Not this outrageous 13 children example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xabad Posted July 15, 2014 <cite> @DoctorKenney said:</cite> Xabad, good job showing extreme examples and making it look like this is the ideal, or the norm. When I say Somalis should have more children, I was saying something in the range of 4 or 5 kids . Not this outrageous 13 children example. somali fertility rate is upwards of ~ 7 in somalia and somali inhabited places sxb. we are the highest along with Niger, Burkina Faso & Mali. There is urgent need for contraception amongst somalis. also, if you advocate for 4 or 5 kids then why are you against contraception ?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoctorKenney Posted July 15, 2014 <cite> @xabad said:</cite> somali fertility rate is upwards of ~ 7 in somalia and somali inhabited places sxb. we are the highest along with Niger, Burkina Faso & Mali. There is urgent need for contraception amongst somalis. also, if you advocate for 4 or 5 kids then why are you against contraception ?? But how many kids in Somalia actually SURVIVE? The fertility rate is very high only because the death rate is extremely high as well. There's absolutely no need to have population control in our sparsely-populated country when the circumstances won't allow it. And BTW, I'm not against contraception. I'm totally for it, and I've said I have no issue if a Somali couple wants to adopt contraception. I'm just against the Western policy of having population control in Africa. That's all Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xabad Posted July 15, 2014 <cite> @DoctorKenney said:</cite> But how many kids in Somalia actually SURVIVE? The fertility rate is very high only because the death rate is extremely high as well. There's absolutely no need to have population control in our sparsely-populated country when the circumstances won't allow it. And BTW, I'm not against contraception. I'm totally for it, and I've said I have no issue if a Somali couple wants to adopt contraception. I'm just against the Western policy of having population control in Africa. That's all Actually the mortality has come down significantly but the fertility rate has not. this has caused an explosion of population causing all sorts of problems environmental, social, security and so on. stop believing in conspiracy theories there is no western agenda for population control in africa. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoctorKenney Posted July 15, 2014 Conspiracy theory? Do I have to cite the countless proposals by Western policy-makers for population control in Africa? Do I have to cite the countless journals by Western Academics? Do you have your head stuck in the sand? I don't believe in ridiculous conspiracy theories, but some things are just very true. You just have to look around and see for yourself. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xabad Posted July 15, 2014 <cite> @DoctorKenney said:</cite> Conspiracy theory? Do I have to cite the countless proposals by Western policy-makers for population control in Africa? Do I have to cite the countless journals by Western Academics? Do you have your head stuck in the sand? I don't believe in ridiculous conspiracy theories, but some things are just very true. You just have to look around and see for yourself. cite them. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites