Rich and Poor by Peter Singer - Essay Example

Rich and Poor by Peter Singer Peter Singer in his article “Rich and Poor” has elaborated the differences between the nature of poverty faced by the purported poor belonging to the advanced nations of the world, and that of the populations belonging to the third world countries. He is of the view that the lower or poor stratum of the advanced nations, including pensioners and workers, observes the problem of limited income, which cannot be compared with the thick magnitude of poverty prevailing in the third world, which deprives the overwhelming proportion of the entire population of even the very basic necessities of life, including clean drinking water, sufficient food, proper education and sports facilities and much more; consequently, millions of the children born in the third world, die of starvation and absence of medical facilities as well before reaching their fifth birthday. It is therefore there could not be any possibility of comparing the level of deprivations between the two culturally and economically pole-apart zones of the globe. The rich nations, according to the author, spend millions of dollars in feeding their pets, while they are unable to realize the bitter fact that by doing so, they are adding their share in respect of depriving the millions of humans of adequate food and proper nutrition. Although, the animals should not be deprived of the food, yet humans must be considered at first stance in order to make the world healthy, productive and beneficial one for the collective benevolence and progress of humanity at large. The affluent do not acknowledge the sufferings of the extremely poor and downtrodden nations, which neither do have any access to purchase seeds and fertilizers for their fields, nor can they grow grains and other crops properly to feed their people subsequently. As a result, hunger, diseases, crimes and deprivations dominate these meager and underprivileged regions of the globe, and the large number of people leads their life amidst the drab, dull and dismal dance of illness, hunger, scarcity, illiteracy and high mortality. The author looks to be capturing the attention of the affluent nations by awakening them from their deep sleep of negligence and indifference from their duties and obligations towards their fellow-humans. The affluent are, accorder to Singer, so much absorbed in their everyday chores and personal and professional activities that they pay almost no heed to the miseries of others, which is equivalent to a grave abandonment in the light of moral values and ethical law. Although, the statutes of law do not impose any bar or restriction on the negligence, witnessed by the affluent, yet the principles of morality and justice certainly regard such an act as perversion and offence on the part of the rich and well-to-do towards the downtrodden strata in general. It is partly due to the very reality that the rich do not have to sacrifice anything for supporting or feeding the deprived ones; on the contrary, they just have to consume few dollars from the extra amount of their income for the financial and social uplift of the poor. Hence, spending something, from their surplus wealth, Singer asserts, for the cause of humanity, as well as to combat with the awkward clutches of poverty, serves as an essential moral obligation of the wealthy and prosperous individuals, communities and nations of the world. The author stresses upon the eradication of the misconception that little contribution for the cause of helping the starving would not be the effective one to challenge the ugly and enormous face of poverty, as tiny drops of help and support to the deprived strata, would become a huge ocean of help for defeating the large scale starvation, hunger and diseases with an iron hand. Though such contributions would not offer a high quality life to the poor, yet they would certainly be beneficial in pulling them out from the whirlpool of hunger by fulfilling their basic needs and offering of the most essential provisions. Singer also argues in support of the condemnation of nationalism, racism and regionalism, as all such principles are strictly against the universal law of justice, equality and humanity at large. Supporting one’s neighbors, community members and the countrymen is certainly admirable, but such sheer feelings of utter patriotism and racism may put the health and life of the individuals belonging to divergent ethno-racial, regional and religious groups and factions into grave jeopardy because of the prejudice haunting the minds of the narrow-minded affluent. Helping the countrymen and community members at the hour of need is certainly appreciable thing; though saving the people drowning deep into the sea of absolute poverty must be kept in top priority, over the people observing some financial problems only, for the best interest of the humanity without discrimination. This attitude will halt the nefarious advancements of the absolute poverty ruling over the African and Asian countries for the last several decades, which is actually ‘beneath any definition of human decency’ in the words of McNamara. The author quotes the sayings of the distinguished philosopher of all times, Thomas Aquinas, and the intellectual Robert Nozick, both of whom oppose the right of having the ownership of private properties particularly at the stage where a large population is undergoing the adverse poverty and deprivation. Such type of preserving money and purchasing properties, on the part of the affluent, is not only strictly against the noble principles of Christian teachings, but also could invite the wrath and opposition of the haves-not out of utter rage and unabated feelings of hatred and retaliation against the rich and prosperous, but negligent and careless stratum of society. Thus, class discrimination may create chaos and anarchy because of the conflict between the haves and haves-not. Hence, aiding the poor people through financial help is not only an admirable act, but actually the right of the poor on the wealth of the affluent, in the light of the Christian doctrine. Singer vehemently argues in favor of the poor countries, which are rich in natural resources, but are poor in food and cultivation because of some natural circumstances. Some of the desert regions of Africa contain huge oil resources; however, absence of wealth, equipments, resources, techniques, skills and education, they are not in a position to discover and explore these mountains of liquid gold existing beneath their foot. The developed nations must take the miseries of the poor nations into serious considerations, and must strive to solve their problems on emergency basis, in the same lines as the very few doctors treat the bulk of injured and wounded soldiers during the course of war. Though fast growing population of the African countries is a sure obstacle on the way to providing them with quick and sufficient financial aid, yet overpopulation should not be taken as the serious impediment to destroy the sincere efforts of saving the starving humanity from the clutches of poverty. Consequently, acknowledging one’s responsibilities towards humanity would play decisive role in mitigating the woes and worries of the suffering humanity. Work Cited Singer, Peter “Rich and Poor: Some Facts about Poverty” Read More