Opinion of the “there are starving children in Africa” line?

[Atlas Force]

?

[GeorgiaModerate]

My mother used to say this when we didn't want to eat something.  One night we offered to pack it up and mail it to Africa.  She was less than amused.

[Goldwater]

It always seemed dumb when I saw parents on TV say that. Luckily my parents never did anything like that, although TBF I didn't recall ever really complaining about any food they made me.

[dead0man]

it doesn't making any sense as as argument
1.whether I eat this food or not, there will be the same number of kids starving in Africa
2.if you're point is "you should be grateful you have green beans to eat", then
2a.say that
2b.I am grateful, grateful to live in a land of bounty, where we don't have to eat what we don't want to eat as there is a plethora of options

my mom was mixed on this.  She did use the line and there was more than a few times where I had to sit there until I ate the 14 peas on my plate before I could go play (or have another piece of chicken).  But once she knew my lines (lima beans, pineapple, salmon patties), she didn't make a stink about it and just gave me better options.  There were a couple of meals we'd eat occasionally that were just for my dad (corned beef, some weird stew thing), and everyone else (including my mom) would eat something else that was simple and delicious (hotdogs, leftovers, hamburgers).

Never used that line on my kids, the stupid thing we chose to make a stink over and they (at least two of them) chose to be bull headed idiots in response to was cleaning their rooms.  I didn't really care if a room was a bit messy, but those kids were just gross, we'd tell 'em "stay in there until it's clean" and it would take them hours, days sometimes (they could leave for meals and such, obviously) to do something that should have taken then 12 minutes.

[Rand]

Cleaning my plate won’t cure their AIDS.

[Meclazine for Israel]

I actually don't mind any argument as long as it is based in fact.

Go work in Africa and you will see what this means.

Not only do they have less food, they have no means of escape from their country which I found more troubling.

[Dr. MB]

same logic as "you're protesting for x but I didn't see you protesting for y so you're a hypocrite and obviously don't actually care about x"

[T'Chenka]

Finish your p___y
There are horny kids in Africa

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

it doesn't making any sense as as argument
1.whether I eat this food or not, there will be the same number of kids starving in Africa
2.if you're point is "you should be grateful you have green beans to eat", then
2a.say that
2b.I am grateful, grateful to live in a land of bounty, where we don't have to eat what we don't want to eat as there is a plethora of options

my mom was mixed on this.  She did use the line and there was more than a few times where I had to sit there until I ate the 14 peas on my plate before I could go play (or have another piece of chicken).  But once she knew my lines (lima beans, pineapple, salmon patties), she didn't make a stink about it and just gave me better options.  There were a couple of meals we'd eat occasionally that were just for my dad (corned beef, some weird stew thing), and everyone else (including my mom) would eat something else that was simple and delicious (hotdogs, leftovers, hamburgers).

Never used that line on my kids, the stupid thing we chose to make a stink over and they (at least two of them) chose to be bull headed idiots in response to was cleaning their rooms.  I didn't really care if a room was a bit messy, but those kids were just gross, we'd tell 'em "stay in there until it's clean" and it would take them hours, days sometimes (they could leave for meals and such, obviously) to do something that should have taken then 12 minutes.

Also the reason there are starving kids in Africa isn't lack of food (on the contrary Africa is a huge food producer) but the massive government corruption, incompetence and lack of infrastructure. (And yes European colonialism played a role in this.) The world produces like 5x as much food to feed every person on Earth fully. Africa is not lacking at all in natural resources, farmland or livestock either as noted.

Ignorance of this hurts too. Like remember Toms Shoes and its promise to give a free pair of shoes to Africa for every one sold? American dumbs ate that up and thought they were helping poor shoeless orphans. Actually the program only hurt the economies of African countries by devaluing shoes and hurting shoe sellers (yes Western ignoramuses, Africa has shopping malls and shoe stores too) and really just ended up giving extra shoes to people who didn't need them.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Sometimes a relevant comeback, sometimes a eye-rolling cliche.

[°Leprechaun]

It's a true statement. Therefore, option 1.