News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully rescued. Parent comment

Re:Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully ... by chongli on Tuesday July 10, 2018 @11:39AM (#17499020)
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 it causes is an enormous one but we are making progress on it. Could we do better? Yes. Could we do worse? Oh yes, way way worse.

[1] https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Max-Roser-three-facts...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully ... by nojvek on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @02:18AM (#17504816)
I’d say Bill & Melinda gates foundation + charities that fight preventable diseases have saved more lives than super heroes.

It’s so easy to forget how nasty Spanish flu, small pox and polio was. My grandfather has stories where they would burn people’s houses/huts with the people alive inside if they had contracted the disease. It was brutal. A curse that would wipe an entire enpire.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully ... by tomjen3 on Tuesday July 10, 2018 @11:43AM (#17499064)
I hear that argument a lot. 6 million is a holocaust a year, I don't know if that is worth celebrating.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully ... by coryfklein on Tuesday July 10, 2018 @12:03PM (#17499299)
You literally turned the number on its head. Obviously OP is not celebrating 6 million dead, but celebrating the 14 million saved.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully ... by armenarmen on Tuesday July 10, 2018 @12:11PM (#17499392)
And if you look at that as a percentage of the current population. The number of deaths went DOWN as the population grew by billions. It’s amazing
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully ... by dkasper on Tuesday July 10, 2018 @11:46AM (#17499107)
It is worth celebrating because 14 million per year were saved.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully ... by AnimalMuppet on Tuesday July 10, 2018 @11:47AM (#17499124)
20 million a year minus 6 million a year is 14 million a year. That's over two holocausts a year that are no longer dying. That's worth celebrating...

... without forgetting the holocaust a year that is still happening.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Thailand cave rescue: all 12 boys and coach successfully ... by mikepurvis on Tuesday July 10, 2018 @11:53AM (#17499189)
Focus on celebrating the 14 million not dying, and the trajectory that it represents.
[ Parent | on HN ]