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UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

reuters.com

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Re: UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

#131

Post by fakedang »

buildmonkey wrote: post #72
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NGOs are primarily money laundering operations for political purposes. It’s one of the primary mechanics for how capital controls the execution (or not) of policy. Very powerful tool.

Try https://www.charitynavigator.org , which tells you what percentage of donated money is directly spent on the cause versus administration, staffing, etc. Charities vary widely, and it’s worth comparing charities in the same space, e.g., healthcare, hunger relief, veterans, because different spaces have different overheads.

And Susan G Komen has a 93% rating on that site. What an absolute joke.

Re: UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

#132

Post by beowulfey »

CMCDragonkai wrote: post #129
ants_everywhere wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who's done a lot of volunteering at soup kitchens and such as well as things like public policy research, my take is exactly opposite. Typical soup kitchen volunteering is pretty low impact. It's the first thing a lot of people think about when it comes to volunteering, and people like that they get to interact with the less fortunate. So they show up with their church group a few times, ladle some soup an…

I recently had an experience at a soup kitchen. It was my first time in an entirely new group and new place. Naturally I found that everybody only interacted with each other - the volunteers, not the people lining up for food. I realised it was more like a social gathering but there was a clear divide between the volunteers and the people getting the end product. In that sense I'm not really sure that soup kitchens d…

> I'm not really sure that soup kitchens do much besides allow a surplus time of the more fortunate to gather socially together for a pro-social benefit

You say this like it is a bad thing, which confuses me

Re: UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

#133

Post by egorfine »

EA-3167 wrote: post #73
simpaticoder wrote: post #30

This is an institutional reflection of the individual tendency to talk about problems rather than solving them. Or, an important variant, where the urge to help those in need is expressed as directing them to "appropriate resources", which are also services that direct those seeking help to other appropriate resources, ad infinitum. The net result is a whole army of people who's expressed goal is to help people but w…

It must be said that as far as that goes, the UN is designed to be a place to talk about problems, to air grievances, and the idea of it as a universal problem-solver and half-assed world government isn't particularly a part of how it started. Unfortunately as we're seeing what the UN has become is a plodding bureaucracy that occasionally has good intentions, and rarely sees them through. Mostly the UN is a clearing…

> countries like Iran chairing the Human Right's Council

Council chair is a more or less ceremonial position, so it doesn't really matter all that much who's holding it. The irony of the chain being Iran is immense though.

Re: UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

#134

Post by egorfine »

simpaticoder wrote: post #30

This is an institutional reflection of the individual tendency to talk about problems rather than solving them. Or, an important variant, where the urge to help those in need is expressed as directing them to "appropriate resources", which are also services that direct those seeking help to other appropriate resources, ad infinitum. The net result is a whole army of people who's expressed goal is to help people but w…

> endless communication

Having worked with WHO and ILO in Geneva... so much this. People have no idea - literally no idea - how mind-boggling the bureaucracy is inside the UN.

This is a dysfunctional org.

Re: UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

#135

Post by philipallstar »

mschuster91 wrote: post #123
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree. The important corollary to that is that policy , in many cases, matters a lot more than boots on the ground (obviously good policy and manpower together are usually required). I've volunteered with a prominent animal rescue charity for over 2 decades. While the work does require a lot of people, after you do it long enough you quickly realize bad policy is a giant contributor. For example, Texas is…

[flagged]

> And if there is one cornerstone of modern Republican politics, it is: the suffering is the point

This sort of deliberate mischaracterisation has no value in discussion. Republicans have definitely ridden high on stopping the suffering - perceived or otherwise - caused by objective, Democrat-led encouraging of illegal immigration across the southern border of the US. And even they wouldn't be as bad faith as you and claim that Democrats wanted that suffering.

Re: UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

#136

Post by robertlagrant »

j16sdiz wrote: post #120

Looks like they are trying to use this metric to justify cutting meeting / reports. I think this is just wrong. The number of download does not reflect how important or impactful a report is.

It doesn't seem like a bad metric, though. There will be some "fluff" reports that are widely read but don't say much, but I doubt the inverse is true: reports 2 people read but are extremely impactful. I'd say that's really bad if it happens.

Re: UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

#137

Post by raxxorraxor »

EA-3167 wrote: post #73
simpaticoder wrote: post #30

This is an institutional reflection of the individual tendency to talk about problems rather than solving them. Or, an important variant, where the urge to help those in need is expressed as directing them to "appropriate resources", which are also services that direct those seeking help to other appropriate resources, ad infinitum. The net result is a whole army of people who's expressed goal is to help people but w…

It must be said that as far as that goes, the UN is designed to be a place to talk about problems, to air grievances, and the idea of it as a universal problem-solver and half-assed world government isn't particularly a part of how it started. Unfortunately as we're seeing what the UN has become is a plodding bureaucracy that occasionally has good intentions, and rarely sees them through. Mostly the UN is a clearing…

> countries like Iran chairing the Human Right's Council!

I don't think this is bad because you want to influence these countries in particular and inclusion here has a domestic effect. It isn't meant for grandstanding on certain values.

You could pick the most social countries for such a position, but that is more like preaching to the choir.

Re: UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

#138

Post by mschuster91 »

philipallstar wrote: post #135
mschuster91 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> And if there is one cornerstone of modern Republican politics, it is: the suffering is the point This sort of deliberate mischaracterisation has no value in discussion. Republicans have definitely ridden high on stopping the suffering - perceived or otherwise - caused by objective, Democrat-led encouraging of illegal immigration across the southern border of the US. And even they wouldn't be as bad faith as you and…

> And even they wouldn't be as bad faith as you and claim that Democrats wanted that suffering.

Tell me as what else than deliberate want for suffering I should perceive the actions of ICE? There are rules and processes to deport people that are deliberately being broken by masked thugs not identifying themselves.

A discussion about enforcement of rules or even if these rules make sense (with the conclusion, say, of handing everyone who has legally worked and stayed out of trouble for anything but traffic tickets and smoking pot a permanent residence) might be had, I don't deny that. But the way the current administration runs rampant? That doesn't answer any of the multitude of questions, it just makes life hell for everyone affected - children that are US citizens who come home only to find out their parents got snatched by an ICE raid on their workplace, people who get deported to CECOT or other hellholes with no due process at all on sometimes not even evidence but outright fabrications, employers who have half their work force either snatched up and deported over night or the work force just vanishing because they are afraid of ICE even though they have legal status...

Oh and even before that, 'member Covid? People trying to apply for unemployment benefits who got stuck in bureaucracy?

With the current Republicans I am far beyond giving them the usual excuse of "don't assume malice when stupidity is sufficient".

Re: UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

#139

Post by yunohn »

beowulfey wrote: post #132
CMCDragonkai wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently had an experience at a soup kitchen. It was my first time in an entirely new group and new place. Naturally I found that everybody only interacted with each other - the volunteers, not the people lining up for food. I realised it was more like a social gathering but there was a clear divide between the volunteers and the people getting the end product. In that sense I'm not really sure that soup kitchens d…

> I'm not really sure that soup kitchens do much besides allow a surplus time of the more fortunate to gather socially together for a pro-social benefit You say this like it is a bad thing, which confuses me

They’re arguing along the lines of “it’s not the /better/ thing I envisioned”, rather than a “this is good” baseline.

Re: UN report finds UN reports are not widely read

#140

Post by asacrowflies »

philipallstar wrote: post #135
mschuster91 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> And if there is one cornerstone of modern Republican politics, it is: the suffering is the point This sort of deliberate mischaracterisation has no value in discussion. Republicans have definitely ridden high on stopping the suffering - perceived or otherwise - caused by objective, Democrat-led encouraging of illegal immigration across the southern border of the US. And even they wouldn't be as bad faith as you and…

It's not a mischaractisation just a plainly self evident reading of fact and reality and the current situation. Just cause you don't like it doesnt make it untrue.
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