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Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued

theguardian.com

341–350 of 569 posts

Re: Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued

#341
post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a great book, just finished listening to it. Afterwards I heard a lot of people thought it had a pro military/war bent; I don't think they read the book

A lot of people consider Starship Troopers to be pro-military (the US military itself has it on the recommended reading list for the enlisted). Heinlen's background and the situation surrounding the writing of the book also suggests it would be pro-military. I'm curious as to what would make you think otherwise? Sources: https://sites.google.com/a/newmyths.com/nmwebsite/non_fictio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sta…

I always thought that the concept that you had to earn your right to vote was an interesting one. In the book, in order to vote, you first had to complete [onerous] military service.

“Under our system every voter and officeholder is a man who has demonstrated through voluntary and difficult service that he places the welfare of the group ahead of personal advantage.” - Startship troopers [1]

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2534973-starship-troop...

Re: Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued

#342
post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> concentration camps This does nothing, but underplay the significance of the holocaust.

But they are literal concentration camps. Concentration camps have existed before and after the Nazis; that's not some idea they invented. The horror of the Holocaust is focused around the death camps more than the concentration camps.

Technically true. Also technically Holocaust could refer to the Armenian Genocide, or the USSR genocide against Ukraine or whatever other catastrophe and yet it doesn't and comparing what is absolutely aweful to one of the worst genocides in human history shouldn't win you any points.

Re: Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued

#343
post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> who die of malnutrition Do they die of malnutrition or governmental corruption? I thought it was proven in the 1980's that the problem isn't a lack of food, it's the degenerate political systems blocking aid from reaching those who are dying. At least that's the prevailing narrative on reddit.

It's both corruption, and economics. A lot of places with famines are capable of being self-sufficient, in terms of food production, but it's just not profitable for farmers to grow it (And sell it domestically). When a million people died in the Irish potato famine, it wasn't just because the United Kingdom prevented foreign aid from reaching Ireland. Ireland was the breadbasket of the empire - throughout that entir…

[deleted]

Re: Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued

#344

I'm more surprised by the fact that they went that far into the cave in the first place! The coach should be in prison now for putting so many kids in danger and be the cause of a rescue diver death!

A good friend of mine is heading to prison for a car accident in which one of his friends died. He wasn't drunk or texting, just unlucky. The family of the victim is horrified the prosecutor is doing this. This is an ugly and poisonous attitude. I don't usually downvote for pure spite... I did just now.

Easy win for the prosecutor.

Re: Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued

#346
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call me cynical, but I couldn't help but notice Musk seemed to be going about his effort with the maximum amount of tweeting and publicity possible.

Agreed. The man is a master of public relations.

In my discussions with people, it seems like he’s becoming increasingly polarizing. His fans are idolizing him, but others see his behavior as attention-seeking theatrics. Interesting to see how it plays out in the long run, in terms of company PR.

Re: Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued

#347
post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We can comprehend 13 people and the struggle against nature, while the scope of world hunger is far too complex and emotionally incomprehensible to mobilize enough people These are different disasters. The cave impacted 13 random children. Hunger impacts millions of poor children. One is random, the other more predictable. There are utilitarian arguments for numbing oneself to tragedy which predictably strikes thos…

Define random. The million of poor children are randomly selected too.

Not really; their fate is practically predetermined. As in, any child that will be conceived in those areas of the world is highly likely to die of malnutrition. We cannot similarly predict that a not-yet-conceived child will end up trapped in a cave.

Re: Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued

#348
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're arguing the point that because his help wasn't needed in the end that he shouldn't have offered to help. But it's conceivable that his expertise could have been useful. Did any other organisations offer subterranean expertise? Genuine question, e.g. mining companies, drilling, or was it just that Musk made the most noise about it?

Actually, I believe that other people were exploring the options of drilling a rescue tunnel from the surface. IIRC, there was even the beginning of projects to make a usable tunnel launch site for such a rescue tunnel.

Right, and so you don't think the expertise he was providing could have been valuable there?

Re: Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued

#349
post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you tease apart the effects of capitalism and industrialism? Or are they inextricably linked in your world view?

Look at the noncapitalistic countries that industrialized and compare outcomes.

Russia made gigantic leaps from 1917 to 1956. They went from absolute backwards shithole to contending world power in 39 years (even less considering ww2 was over 10 years before that).

Re: Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet who shows up for the 3.1 million children who die of malnutrition every year? Billionaires like Bill Gates. Countless volunteer aid workers with organizations such as MSF. Fact #1: Since 1960, child deaths have plummeted from 20 million a year to 6 million a year. [1] This was posted quite recently here on HN. Perhaps you missed it. At the end of the day, the problem of child poverty and the death and suffering i…

I hear that argument a lot. 6 million is a holocaust a year, I don't know if that is worth celebrating.

Focus on celebrating the 14 million not dying, and the trajectory that it represents.
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