Memes

He's not wrong, but having people work like that is more of a desperation work than a "I'm not going to die" work. Tbh he should've defended hiring addicts because they need money for drugs and the like, similar problem with starving people though in the root of the need to work. The minor difference is that addicts won't die, it'll just feel like it.

So he's not defending/promoting "world Hunger", just arguing that it's not a bug but a feature developed to have cheap labor, and that the people in power don't want to end it

This is such a clickbait, and it backfired.

The actual point conveyed in the article is that world hunger is beneficial for the rich as it allows to operate sweatshops and employ people under tyrannical conditions over low pay, which is not far from modern slavery. Which is super bad for everyone else, hence world hunger must be stopped and rich should get the taste of their own medicine.

But people did react to the headline, and possibly rightfully so.

hunger is "fundamental to the working of the world's economy"

I mean, he's probably right, but that means we should work to change the system, not throw more orphans into the crushing machine

Before you have an opinion on it, just read the article, it's just one page. https://www2.hawaii.edu/~kent/BenefitsofWorldHunger.pdf

The UN really shot themselves in the foot by deleting it, because the title only looks bad if you don't actually read the rest of the text, which they now made more difficult.

FEE is an American Libertarian think tank.

Let that help you figure out what’s actually happening here.

Well, he's not wrong about hunger being an intended part of capitalism so workers are coerced into working for even less pay.

Calling it a "benefit" is very clickbaity though.

The article is NOT satire -- it's provocative. The author argues that world hunger benefits the rich. Capiche?

I hope the UN restores the article.

Interview with author: https://fee.org/articles/un-deletes-article-titled-the-benefits-of-world-hunger-was-it-real-or-satire/

Read that fee article as well and it seems like the author just stated, that certain institutions benefit from world hunger.

In the interview, Kent explains he was not advocating global hunger but was intending to be “provocative” by saying certain individuals and institutions benefit from global hunger.

“No, it is not satire,” Kent told Marc Morano, founder and editor of Climate Depot. “I don’t see anything funny about it. It is not about advocacy of hunger.”

It doesn't look like he's advocating for global hunger, but criticizing those who do benefit from it

Yo I see this shit posted all the time. The article was written in 2008 for the UNs magazine and meant to be satire. It has since been removed by the UN for being ambiguous.

https://communist.red/the-benefits-of-world-hunger-un-blurs-the-line-between-satire-and-reality/

“No one works harder than hungry people”

While this is probably true, the problem is that their reward for this hard work in no way comes close to fixing their hunger problem.

Meanwhile the assholes in control of the economy and responsible for their hunger problem are taking all the rewards and hoarding it for no better reasons than to compare with other assholes.

Contending that it was what, assholes?

The article:

https://archive.is/MObDZ

He calls it "not satire" but "provocative". So he doesn't mean it, but says it to provoke a reaction... Like satire.

@sharkfucker420 It's a good thing "A Modest Proposal"[1] wasn't titled "The Benefits of Cannibalism" because I guess people would have taken that at face value as well.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

Kinda like how Kevin O'Leary thinks more poor people incentivizes more business startups. As if homeless people and poor families are just a few business courses away from millionaire status.

Even if this article was some sort of thought experiment, what the fuck value does it have? Even if the outcome was very much “I’m against this,” I’m not sure what the point is, unless it does a good job of explaining what kind of fucked up things this has lead to in society (like sweat shops and modern day slavery). Even then, this kind of nonsense serves wealthy scum.

Edit: the article is very much satire. Thanks for the added context and commentary!