“Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

Re:“Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbin... by fredsir on Saturday December 24, 2016 @03:56AM (#13249137)

It would be dangerous if everybody not poor wanted nothing to do with poor areas and poor people. All kinds of poverty counted. That is the direct route to segregated communities and cultures of poor and rich, as seen already many places, except that right now, in 2016, most know that there is "lesser" communities and cultures next to theirs, having experienced them themself. If the fortunate communities would shield themself from the "truth beyond the wall" for a long enough time, kids would grow up only hearing tales of these other cultures, and at last, not even hearing the tales anymore. Rich communities - or modern, as the would be called - would be tight bound around themself, governments would work to shield the truth from their citizens. A future that has been depicted by many a movie, many a tv show, for many a year.

It's horrible future, but a future to come if people dont "want nothing to do with it", it being the very reality that they have diced a 6 on, and somebody lesser fortunate being born beyond the wall has diced a 1 on, only guilty of having another mother and father.

Some say it's a future only distant in the eyes of the rich. I think that is, sadly, very much true.

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Re:“Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbin... by noir_lord on Saturday December 24, 2016 @05:03AM (#13249223)

> That is the direct route to segregated communities and cultures of poor and rich, as seen already many places

We have that in the UK, some of the poorest areas are council estates, lots of people never have to go onto them and have little to no incite into the lives of the people who live there, I grew up 'poor' (by the standards of the UK, not talking living in a shanty town or anything) and it leaves a mark on your thought processes that never entirely goes away.

Things are getting much worse here, 6 years of austerity has removed many of the services that poor/disabled people rely on gone or in a perilous state but there isn't widespread anger about it because it has dis-proportionally hit the least 'powerful' in our society the hardest.

Frankly I think we are headed down (if not already some way down) a very dark path and I wouldn't blame the people who are hit by this in the slightest for rioting/rebelling.

Society should be about making sure that the poorest members have at least a decent standard of living otherwise what is it for.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:“Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbin... by lacampbell on Saturday December 24, 2016 @02:30PM (#13251257)

I would love to be in a position where I could have nothing to do with (western) poor areas and poor people. Why would I want to be in areas with high incidences of domestic violence, crystal meth abuse, alcohol abuse, muggings, sexual assault, dog-baiting, and low education?

I can't change anything. I can't help them. It's not my responsibility. I'm out and I want to put as much distance between myself and that as possible.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:“Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbin... by fredsir on Saturday December 24, 2016 @05:35PM (#13251911)

You are lying to yourself if you think you can't do anything about it. You can change anything if you try enough. There's only people in your way. Choose the red pill and you'll see.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:“Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbin... by sheepmullet on Saturday December 24, 2016 @05:37AM (#13249297)

I don't think that's a natural outcome at all.

I think wealthy "first worlders" tend to be very "aware" of poverty and want to make a difference despite being quite far removed from it.

On the other hand in countries with serious poverty where the middle class live in the same communities as those in desperate poverty there is a lot less focus and sympathy.

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Re:“Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbin... by usrusr on Saturday December 24, 2016 @07:41AM (#13249574)

That wealthy first worlder sympathy has a tendency to stop at puberty. Everybody loves the idea of helping children in need, but once those children grow up, it'd better be someone else's turn. It's more satisfying to help the next batch of children, or maybe even a puppy.

Being aware of suffering in the world and living with a minimum of class segregation are orthogonal concepts, or maybe even inversely coupled, with the comforts of segregation helping superficial salon socialist ideas.

But the way I understand the root post (grandparent or deeper), the idea of avoiding the segregated bus is not directly about helping, it is just a routine reminder that the people outside the bus are persons. Maybe with their individual flaws and imperfections, but not the fearsome mass of zombies or orcs that they become in the eyes of those who spend too much time in comfortable isolation. Fear is difficult to get rid of once it is there, but it can be trivial to not allow it to start.

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Re:“Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbin... by fredsir on Saturday December 24, 2016 @05:42PM (#13251931)

Have you ever been to USA? Ever been to Washington DC? You'd think at least the people in the White House would do something about their capital city, but no, not even that. It's littered with poor people everywhere. Even more the rest of the USA. It's a frightening shit show over there. Even more since the election of course, and that is no matter who would have won. Both were horrible candidates. Shit show indeed.

[ Parent | on HN ]